Pedestrian deaths resulting from car crashes rose last year to the most in at least four decades, according to Reuters. It now makes up about 15% of fatalities from motor vehicle accidents, a U.S. report found.
Pedestrian deaths rose 10% in the first six months of 2015 from the previous year, according to estimates. In that period, there were 2,368 pedestrian fatalities from 2,232 for the same period one year ago, according to the report.
“We are projecting the largest year-to-year increase in pedestrian fatalities since national records have been kept, and therefore we are quite alarmed,” said Sam Schwartz Consulting’s Richard Retting, who is also the study’s co-author.
He said that the higher traffic fatality rates can be attributed to an improving economy and falling gas prices because the extra discretionary income potentially means extra vacations and more travel on nights and on weekends, Retting said.
Moreover, better safety features in cars allows a larger proportion of drivers and passengers inside the vehicles to survive collisions.
The findings highlight the fact that more people are driving and walking, which is leading to more pedestrian deaths.
Yet many communities are not pedestrian friendly, lacking walkways that are separate from roads or traffic laws requiring cars to yield to pedestrians, added Dr. Stephen Hargarten, director of the Injury Research Center at the Medical College of Wisconsin.
“The environments are really designed for cars to flow, not for pedestrians,” Hargarten said. He also added that the distracted, intoxicated or older pedestrians are all at higher risk.
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http://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-pedestrians-casualties-iduskcn0wb08r
