Two-year trend: Fewer pedestrians died on U.S. roads last year

A report released Thursday by the Governors Highway Safety Association shows pedestrian deaths dropped across the country for the second year in a row in 2024.

Preliminary figures show 7,148 people were struck and killed by drivers across the country, down 4.3% from 7,472 the previous year. Pedestrian deaths dropped 5.4% in 2023, breaking a string of increases from 2019 through 2022 that experts say were mostly tied to bad driving and reduced police enforcement of traffic laws during the pandemic.

Daniel Zimmerman, senior director of government relations and policy for the association, said in an interview that many police agencies have returned their traffic patrols to pre-pandemic levels. He believes that’s one of the primary factors in reducing overall traffic deaths, including pedestrians, the past two years.

Traffic experts have blamed the spike in road deaths on the combination of reduced enforcement and fewer cars on the road during the pandemic, allowing those remaining to engage in dangerous behavior such as speeding, impaired driving and distracted driving.

“It’s certainly encouraging after several years of numbers going the wrong way,” Zimmerman said. “That high visibility [of police officers] itself helped cause people to slow down.”

Zimmerman said there are signs that pedestrian deaths could keep declining. For example, the Trump administration is cutting red tape to make it easier and less expensive for states to receive money for extra traffic patrols, and two states, Virginia and Washington, have started programs to allow chronic speeders to have their vehicles equipped with devices to prevent them from exceeding the speed limit by more than a few miles an hour rather than have their licenses suspended.

Additionally, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has proposed new guidelines to change the design of the front of large vehicles so they cause less serious injuries to pedestrians if they are struck.

In Pennsylvania, preliminary figures show pedestrian deaths for 2024 dropped by seven to 184 after increasing by seven the previous year.

The report also took a deep look at the circumstances of pedestrian deaths for 2023. Here are some of the interesting facts:

• Pedestrian deaths rose 80% between 2009 and 2023 compared to 13% for all other traffic fatalities.
• In the past five years, 25% of pedestrians were struck by hit-and-run drivers.
• The numbers for cars and light trucks involved in pedestrian deaths had been similar for years, but a gap developed beginning in 2019, and for 2023 54% of fatal pedestrian crashes involved light trucks compared to 37% for passenger cars.
• From 2010 to 2023, nighttime pedestrian fatalities increased by 84% compared to a 28% increase in daytime pedestrian fatalities.
• Almost two-thirds of pedestrian deaths occurred in places without sidewalks.