In recent years, driving behavior on the roads has actually worsened, according to statistics. Speeding, reckless driving, and car accident rates spiked, even during the initial phase of the pandemic when fewer people were on the road. It is uncertain what is to blame for this increased risk for drivers on the road. However, what is certain is that a reputable law firm has the skilled and experienced legal professionals you need in case this unfortunate rising trend in driving behavior causes you to be the victim of a vehicular-pedestrian accident.
We have collected over 400 million dollars for our clients and serve the areas of San Francisco, Riverside, Sacramento, San Jose, Los Angeles, Sherman Oaks, San Diego, and various other regions of California. If you’ve suffered injuries as a pedestrian resulting from a vehicular accident, our law firm should be the first phone call you make after dialing emergency services. We will fight to ensure you get the compensation you are legally entitled to from your accident.
General Statistics on Pedestrian Safety
Pedestrians in California and across the nation have to be ever more careful these days, given the increased rate of pedestrian-vehicular accidents in recent years. According to the National Safety Council & the Governors Highway Safety Association, in the year 2020, the pedestrian fatality rate from motor vehicle accidents increased at a rate of 20 percent from the year prior. This increase is quite troubling since far less traffic was on the roads that year due to the pandemic. The study says while vehicular traffic was substantially decreased, pedestrian traffic remained at pre-pandemic levels.
However, that does not provide much explanation for the dramatic increase in pedestrian fatalities stemming from car accidents. The increased pedestrian fatalities under such circumstances appear counterintuitive to the variables involved, as one would think less vehicular traffic leads to a decrease in fatal vehicular-pedestrian accidents. Given this clear pattern of an increased risk for pedestrians being more susceptible to fatal vehicular accidents, one wonders in which cities do motor vehicles pose the greatest threat to pedestrian safety.
According to the Center for Disease Control, pedestrians, in general, are one and a half times more likely to die in a car crash compared to passengers in vehicles. This statistic is logically coherent, given passengers in motor vehicles have the protection of the car exterior to blunt the force of the impact created by a collision, whereas pedestrians are completely unprotected.
The concern over pedestrian fatalities caused by car accidents is further substantiated by a look at the statistics that show how frequently these unfortunate events occur. Of even greater concern is the increasing frequency in which these accidents occur year-to-year. For example, in 2017, 5,977 pedestrians were killed in traffic crashes in the entire United States.
In 2019, the number of fatal pedestrian-vehicular accidents increased to 6,412 in the entire United States. To provide a reference to how these incidents seemingly increase in frequency each year at an astonishing rate, compare these 2019 statistics to a decade prior. According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, fatal pedestrian motor vehicle accidents have increased an alarming 51 percent since reaching a low point in 2009.
The 6,412 pedestrian fatalities in 2019 comprise 17 percent of all fatalities resulting from motor vehicle accidents in the entire country. This significant number roughly equates to about one death every 88 minutes. As mentioned before, 2020 saw these disturbing numbers increase even more. According to the Government Highway Safety Association, the numbers project that 6,721 pedestrians will be killed in car accidents on U.S. roads in the year 2020.
Laws Intended to Protect Pedestrians & the Laws’ Actual Impact
It is even more alarming that this increasing trend is occurring, given how stringent the law is when it comes to protecting pedestrian safety against the threat of motor vehicles. Laws on the books strictly impose requirements that drivers operate vehicles with extreme care around pedestrians. Laws granting pedestrians a right of way at crosswalks or intersections, for example, are strictly enforced, and failure to yield constitutes a severe moving violation that law enforcement zealously enforces. The penalty for failing to yield to pedestrians at crosswalks or intersections imposes up to two points on a driver’s license and results in fines ranging from $150-$250.
Despite such strictly enforced laws directed toward protecting pedestrians from vehicular risks, drivers don’t seem very dissuaded from engaging in driving behavior that endangers pedestrians. Pedestrian fatalities from vehicular accidents do not accurately reflect how frequently drivers operate their vehicles in a manner that endangers pedestrians. Rather, such statistics only represent how often the most tragic outcome of dangerous driving behavior towards pedestrians actually occurs. To exemplify this point, on a national scale, citation rates given out to drivers for failing to yield a right of way to pedestrians at crosswalks or intersections occur at nearly twenty times the rate of pedestrian fatalities resulting from a car accident.
This presents insight into a more concerning overall issue, that being the existence of a common habit or culture out on the roads for drivers to disregard pedestrian safety in favor of their own interests while driving. Often, failure to yield to a pedestrian occurs with drivers who are in a rush or are impatient and do not wish to stop and wait for the pedestrians at the crosswalk or intersection to meander across the road. This problem of impatient and reckless driving is seemingly on the rise in the U.S., a reasonable conclusion drawn from the statistics showing the annually increasing rate of fatal pedestrian-vehicular accidents nationwide.
Statistics like the aforementioned rate of citations given for drivers failing to yield to pedestrians represent a widespread behavioral pattern, exemplifying the type of driving behavior one should expect and be prepared for while walking the streets as a pedestrian. Driving behavior towards pedestrians appears to vary dramatically on a city-to-city basis. Some cities will exhibit very unalarming rates of pedestrian injuries or fatalities due to vehicular accidents, whereas other cities will experience these incidents at rates that should make you very apprehensive about walking the streets there.
The following are some statistics that may shock you regarding pedestrian safety data collected from the Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA):
- As mentioned previously, in the ten-year period from 2009 to 2019, the number of pedestrian fatalities increased by 53 percent. However, in this same time span, the number of all traffic-related deaths only increased by a meager 2 percent.
- GHSA projects that in 2020, the 6,271 pedestrian fatalities from car accidents will be the largest annual number of pedestrian fatalities in the U.S. in over 30 years, and the numbers continue to grow annually.
- The total pedestrian deaths, as a percentage of total motor vehicle crash deaths, increased from 12 percent for the year 2009 to 17 percent in 2018, making pedestrians account for the largest proportion of traffic fatalities in 36 years.
- The number of pedestrian deaths at a rate measured as per 100,000 people increased substantially from 1.3 in 2009 to a rate of 2.0 in 2019, representing a 54 percent increase.
- Nighttime is the most dangerous for pedestrians. From 2009 to 2019, the number of nighttime pedestrian fatalities increased by 67 percent. Compared to the relatively minor 16 percent increase found in daytime pedestrian fatalities for the same time period, this is a significant variable.
- For the year 2017, nearly 20 percent of children aged 14 or younger who were killed in traffic accidents were pedestrians, according to the National Highway Safety Administration.
Executive Director of The Governor’s Highway Safety Administration Jonathan Adkins even commented that “in the past ten years, the number of pedestrian fatalities on our nation’s roadways has increased by more than 50 percent,” exemplifying the growing issue on our nation’s roadways. He elaborated on this statement by saying, “This alarming trend signifies that we need to consider all the factors involved in this rise, identify the high-risk areas, allocate resources where they’re needed most, and continue to work with local law enforcement partners to address the chronic driver violations that contribute to pedestrian crashes.”
Dangerous by Design’s 2021 Report
“Dangerous By Design” is an organization that has been dedicated to improving pedestrian safety for years and conducts very informative studies on the causes and solutions related to the issue of pedestrian fatalities in vehicle accidents. The total statistics for the number of people struck and killed by drivers nationwide while walking increased by an alarming 45 percent rate over the ten-year span from 2009 to 2019. During this same ten-year period, 53,435 total people were struck and killed by drivers on the nation’s roads. The 2019 total of 6,237 people killed is roughly equal to more than seventeen people dying each day.
The following is a graphic created to exemplify the significance of these statistics visually.
Having been more than ten years since the first edition of “Dangerous by Design,” the problem of pedestrian safety on American roads has only been exacerbated. The 2021 edition of “Dangerous by Design” takes a more in-depth look at this concerning phenomenon and helps provide our readers with a better understanding of the dangers posed to pedestrians on America’s roads currently.
Risks Are Not Evenly Distributed
Not all pedestrians seem to experience the same threats to their safety by drivers. Statistics show that older adults, people of color, and people walking through low-income communities are substantially at greater risk in proportion to other demographics, according to data on fatal pedestrian crashes. This statistic stands even after controlling for population sizes and walking rates but does not take away from the fact that people of all demographics suffer from the risks created by dangerously designed streets.
However, some neighborhoods and demographic groups substantially bear a greater risk of becoming pedestrian victims in a fatal car accident, which seems to go unnoticed by indifferent policymakers. For example, during the period 2010 to 2019, African-Americans were struck and killed by drivers at a rate 82 percent higher than white people. Inexplicably, for American Indians and Alaskan Native people, the disparity in fatal pedestrian-car accident rates rises to an astonishing 221 percent.
Furthermore, people aged 50 and up, and especially those 75 and older, are far more likely to become the victim of a vehicle accident while walking as a pedestrian. Sensory deficiencies and unique challenges to these age groups may contribute to these concerning statistics. Such considerations should be taken into account when designing our roads, as the current designs do not give due regard to the impediments the elderly face in ensuring their own safety as a pedestrian.
Lower-income neighborhoods are also a concerning issue when it comes to pedestrian safety. People walking as pedestrians in such neighborhoods are killed in vehicular accidents at a far higher rate than those walking in other neighborhoods. The statistics seem to indicate the lower the mean household income of a neighborhood, the higher risk of danger to those pedestrians traversing its streets.
The lowest-income neighborhood’s fatality rate is nearly twice that of the rate found in middle-income neighborhoods and triple that of higher-income neighborhoods. This problem can be directly attributed to street design. Lower-income neighborhoods generally do not have the recourses of higher-income neighborhoods to dedicate sufficient public spending toward ensuring safe streets for pedestrians. Sidewalks, marked crosswalks, and a street design created to support safer driving, and slower rates of speed by motor vehicles, are common features of high-income neighborhoods yet are scarcely present in lower-income neighborhoods.
This issue is one that public policymakers need to address soon, as protecting the safety of people who use the street must become a higher priority for policymakers. Such priority should be represented in choosing how we fund, design, operate, maintain, repair, and measure successful road design.
To counteract these troubling trends relating to pedestrian safety, we need to pursue policies and street designs that prioritize the safety of pedestrians, particularly those from the demographics that face the greatest risk.
Causes of This Issue
Due to the prioritization of speedy travel for motor vehicles, public policymakers do not place as high a value on pedestrian safety when designing streets and enacting policies as they ought to. When faced with opportunities to redress this improper prioritization, policymakers’ true priorities become apparent. Numerous states and municipalities have spent the past decade focusing on enforcing laws meant to protect pedestrians, funding ineffective public education ad campaigns on pedestrian safety, or even have resorted to blaming the pedestrian victims for these fatal accidents.
Not nearly enough attention has been given by these entities to the crucial role street design plays in these ongoing problems. States and municipalities need to reconsider how they approach designing their streets, as that is the most likely solution to address this epidemic of pedestrian deaths at the hand of motor vehicle accidents.
Where Are the Most Dangerous Places for Pedestrians?
Dangerous by Design has issued rankings for both states and metropolitan areas through the use of their “Pedestrian Danger Index” (PDI), as well as the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS). This measures the risk associated with pedestrians walking in certain areas based on the number of people struck and killed by drivers while traversing the street as a pedestrian. The results are controlled for the number of people and the share of people who walk to work as a proxy for overall walking in the area.
The following report includes fatalities occurring between 2010 and 2019 from FARS, which is a nationwide database for all fatal traffic accidents in the country. The rankings by state and by metropolitan areas are discussed below.
Although in the figure above, “Dangerous By Design” ranks the most dangerous cities for pedestrians based on the total fatalities, we have determined to rank cities’ risk levels to pedestrians based on a different approach.
As previously mentioned, pedestrian fatalities from traffic accidents are not the best reflection of the true dangers to pedestrians, as it only comprises when the most extreme and tragic outcome results and fails to reflect the frequency in which the potential for such tragic outcomes arises. We believe the best metric to use in determining the most dangerous cities in America for pedestrians is measuring cities by their respective rates of drivers cited for failing to yield to a pedestrian violation.
Further Insights
- National average – Across all cities in the U.S., 4.86 out of every 10,000 drivers fail to yield to a right of way for pedestrians. Stated otherwise, that is one out of every 2,000 drivers.
- California’s concerns – Despite the top twenty most dangerous cities for pedestrians being located across eight different states, nearly half of the cities are located in California. California dominates the list. California cities account for eight of the top twenty most dangerous cities for pedestrians in America and are followed by New York with three cities in the top twenty, and New Jersey with two cities in the top twenty. Our California injury firm has dedicated a significant amount of time to the issue of pedestrian safety.
- Safest cities for pedestrians – The three cities that have the best-behaved drivers when it comes to driving safely around pedestrians are Louisville, Colorado Springs, and Columbia. These cities have rates of only .45, .82, and .83 drivers per 10,000 receiving a citation for failing to yield to pedestrians.
The Most Dangerous U.S. Cities for Pedestrians
Using our metric as a measure for what cities pose the most dangerous to pedestrians from their vehicular traffic, the following are the twenty most dangerous cities:
| 1. Staten Island, New York | 11. Gresham, Oregon |
|---|---|
| 53.6 per 10,000 drivers with a failure to yield to a pedestrian violation | Drivers cited for failing to yield to a pedestrian, per 10,000 motorists – 24.3 (5.0 times the national average) |
| 2. Bronx, New York | 12. Perris, California |
| 45.9 per 10,000 drivers with a failure to yield to a pedestrian violation | Drivers cited for failing to yield to a pedestrian, per 10,000 motorists – 22.5 (4.6 times the national average) |
| 3. Sunnyvale, California | 13. Saint Paul, Minnesota |
| 41.2 per 10,000 drivers with a failure to yield to a pedestrian violation | Drivers cited for failing to yield to a pedestrian, per 10,000 motorists – 21.8 (4.5 times the national average) |
| 4. Brooklyn, New York | 14. Apple Valley, California |
| 32.3 per 10,000 drivers with a failure to yield to a pedestrian violation | Drivers cited for failing to yield to a pedestrian, per 10,000 motorists – 19.3 (4.0 times the national average) |
| 5. Hawthorne, California | 15. Fremont, California |
| 31.0 per 10,000 drivers with a failure to yield to a pedestrian violation | Drivers cited for failing to yield to a pedestrian, per 10,000 motorists – 19.2 (4.0 times the national average) |
| 6. Manhattan, New York | 16. Elizabeth, New Jersey |
| 28.4 per 10,000 drivers with a failure to yield to a pedestrian violation | Drivers cited for failing to yield to a pedestrian, per 10,000 motorists – 18.7 (3.8 times the national average) |
| 7. Paterson, New Jersey | 17. Sparks, Nevada |
| 28.1 per 10,000 drivers with a failure to yield to a pedestrian violation | Drivers cited for failing to yield to a pedestrian, per 10,000 motorists – 18.5 (3.8 times the national average) |
| 8. East Orange, New Jersey | 18. Concord, California |
| 27.4 per 10,000 drivers with a failure to yield to a pedestrian violation | Drivers cited for failing to yield to a pedestrian, per 10,000 motorists – 18.4 (3.8 times the national average) |
| 9. Downey, California | 19. Brockton, Massachusetts |
| 25.5 per 10,000 drivers with a failure to yield to a pedestrian violation | Drivers cited for failing to yield to a pedestrian, per 10,000 motorists – 18.3 (3.8 times the national average) |
| 10. San Mateo, California | 20. Dayton, Ohio |
| 24.4 per 10,000 drivers with a failure to yield to a pedestrian violation | Drivers cited for failing to yield to a pedestrian, per 10,000 motorists – 17.9 (3.7 times the national average) |
As you can see, California seems to be facing a significant problem with the behavior of its drivers toward pedestrians. Although not the cities one expects to be the most dangerous when thinking of California, the fact remains that California is clearly the most dangerous state for pedestrians in relation to the risks associated with sharing the road with vehicles. That is why our attorneys at Arash Law headed by Arash Khorsandi, Esq. strive to represent injured pedestrians involved in vehicular accidents and ensure they recover all the financial compensation they are entitled to by law.
Reasons Pedestrian Fatalities Are on the Rise
According to the Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA), a number of variables can lead to changes in the frequency of pedestrian fatalities due to car accidents. These can include economic conditions, fuel prices, street design, the number of cars or pedestrians traveling through a specific area, weather conditions, driver behavior, and visibility. The most significant factors contributing to the higher death rate of walking pedestrians are:
- Poor street design and inadequate community development planning or zoning.
- Distracted driving, and even distracted walking in cases of pedestrians using a cell phone and paying no heed to the cars around them.
- Intoxication, whether occurring with drivers or pedestrians.
- Increased rates of light trucks and SUVs on the nation’s roads.
The GHSA is dedicated to reducing pedestrian fatalities on our country’s roads and has examples of programs currently underway in some states to improve pedestrian safety.
How Do Pedestrian Accidents Affect Car Insurance?
Just like accidents with other vehicles, accidents involving pedestrians can also have an impact on your insurance premium and lead to increased rates.
What to Do If You Are a Pedestrian & Injured By a Car
If you find yourself the victim of being hit by a car while walking as a pedestrian, you have a personal injury claim against that driver. Your claim will most likely go to the driver’s auto insurance company unless the act of hitting you was intentional, as insurance will not cover intentional criminal acts. The driver’s insurance policy’s bodily injury liability program will pay for your medical expenses, but only up to the policy limit. After that, the driver will have to pay out-of-pocket if their liability to you for your injuries exceeds the coverage limits on their insurance policy.
What If You Are Hit & Injured By a Car But Have No-Fault Auto Insurance?
If you are hit by a driver while a pedestrian and have no-fault auto insurance coverage, you must submit the claim to your own car insurance company. Under your personal injury protection (PIP) portion of your coverage, your medical expenses will be covered.
What If You Are Injured as a Pedestrian By a Hit-and-Run Driver?
If this unfortunate circumstance happens to you, you must submit your claim to your own car insurance company unless you can ascertain the license plate number of the fleeing vehicle. The uninsured motorist bodily injury portion of your car insurance policy is what will be used to cover your medical expenses up to the policy’s limitations. In addition, if you have PIP, it too will pay for your injuries, again up to the policy’s limits.
If The Driver’s Auto Insurance Isn’t Enough to Fully Compensate You
As an injured pedestrian, your underinsured motorist bodily injury coverage should cover your injuries. If you lack such coverage, the next step will be to have your health insurance policy cover your medical expenses, a viable alternative so long as your health insurance policy doesn’t specifically exclude injuries resulting from automobile accidents (as some policies do). A second alternative is to hire an attorney and litigate the matter by bringing a personal injury claim against the responsible driver.
The objective of the law surrounding personal injury claims is to compensate injured victims financially so as to “make them whole” again following an accident. In other words, the law seeks to use financial recourses to place the victim in the position they would be in had the accident never occurred. Such compensation you may receive from a personal injury lawsuit can include more than just covering medical expenses.
It can also include compensation for pain and suffering, lost wages, lost earning potential from the inability to return to work caused by your injuries, pain and suffering, emotional distress, and property damage or loss. Our award-winning firm can provide competent and experienced legal representation for your personal injury case if you choose to pursue this path.
If You or a Family Member Is Hit By a Car While Walking and Dies
If this unfortunate scenario happens, it gives rise to a wrongful death claim for the deceased’s family. Such a claim can be pursued against the negligent driver who caused the death, and significant recovery is available for you or the family members you leave behind in the event you or someone in your family is struck and killed by a motorist while walking as a pedestrian.
If You Injure a Pedestrian While Driving
As for insurance, the bodily injury liability portion of your auto insurance policy will cover the medical expenses of the injured pedestrian up to the policy limits. The rest, if medical expenses exceed the cap placed on the bodily injury liability policy, will have to come out of your pocket. The injured pedestrian’s claims for lost wages and pain and suffering, or other additional claims that can arise from this event, will also come out of your liability coverage. If this coverage’s limits are not sufficient to cover these claims, you may be held personally liable if the injured pedestrian pursues a personal injury claim against you for any remaining compensation due.
If You Kill a Pedestrian While Driving
The bodily injury liability portion of your auto insurance will cover any medical expenses associated with the death of a pedestrian struck by you while driving. It will also cover liability imposed by a wrongful death action brought against you by the victim’s family members, up to the policy’s limits.
California Expert Auto Accident Lawyers
The experienced team of pedestrian accident attorneys at Arash Law led by Arash Khorsandi, Esq. is ready to serve you in the event you are struck and injured by a car, truck, bicycle, or motorcycle in California. We are immensely familiar with California law governing the rights of those injured or killed as pedestrians due to the negligence of motor vehicle operators. Pedestrians face severely high risks in California compared to other states and are particularly vulnerable to being injured by motor vehicles. That is why we are dedicated to fighting for you and pursuing your personal injury claim to ensure the maximum recovery available for your claim.
Our team of experienced and competent personal injury attorneys have extensive expertise and familiarity with representing California pedestrians who were injured or killed in a pedestrian-vehicular accident. We know the law inside and out and are well-acquainted with how such law applies under such circumstances. We take the time not just to represent you legally but to get to know our clients and become intimately familiar with their claims, which aids us in obtaining the most favorable settlements or jury verdicts possible for each of our clients for their personal injury claims.
If you are an injured pedestrian, you want us on your team when it comes to pursuing a personal injury claim against the driver responsible for your injuries. Contact us today, either online on our website or by phone by calling 888.398.4017. You will be connected to a California personal injury attorney for a free consultation to determine what your personal injury claim is worth.
