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THURSDAY, Could 19, 2022 (HealthDay Information)

U.S. pedestrian deaths in 2021 had been the very best in 4 a long time, with a median of 20 deaths day by day, in response to the Governors Freeway Security Affiliation.

An estimated 7,485 pedestrians had been killed in 2021, which was 12% greater than in 2020, preliminary knowledge present.

The findings are “heartbreaking and unacceptable,” mentioned Jonathan Adkins, government director of the freeway security affiliation.

“The pandemic has brought on a lot loss of life and injury, it is irritating to see much more lives needlessly taken resulting from harmful driving,” he mentioned in an affiliation information launch.

The pedestrian fatality fee per 100,000 individuals rose to 2.26 in 2021 from 2.02 the earlier yr. There have been 2.32 pedestrian deaths per billion car miles traveled in 2021 — just like 2020 however nicely above the pre-pandemic common of 1.9.

The explanations are clear: There was a rise in dashing, impaired, distracted driving and different harmful driving behaviors in current years, in response to the affiliation’s report.

“We should handle the basis causes of the pedestrian security disaster — dashing and different harmful driving behaviors, insufficient infrastructure, and roads designed for car velocity as an alternative of security — to reverse this pattern and guarantee individuals can stroll safely,” Adkins mentioned.

The report additionally included an evaluation of 2010 to 2020 knowledge from the Nationwide Freeway Site visitors Security Administration. That confirmed that the proportion of pedestrian fatalities involving dashing rose to eight.6% in 2020 from 7.2% in 2019.

The share of pedestrian deaths amongst kids youthful than 15 in which dashing was an element greater than doubled between 2018 and 2020, from 5.8% to nearly 12%. Most of those fatalities occurred on weekdays and through sunlight hours, which is when kids would usually be going to and from college and associated actions.

Wanting additional at the hazards of strolling, researchers mentioned pedestrians accounted for 17% of all visitors deaths in 2020, in comparison with 13% in 2010. Whereas pedestrian deaths have risen by 54% over the previous decade, all different visitors deaths have elevated by 13%.

Most pedestrian fatalities happen at night time. In 2020, greater than three-quarters of deaths with a recognized lighting situation had been at night time.

There could have been a sliver of a silver lining, although: Pedestrian deaths fell by 8% in America’s 10 largest cities in 2020 after years of will increase, doubtless as a result of there have been fewer individuals strolling and driving resulting from public well being restrictions in the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, in response to the freeway security affiliation.

Extra data

There’s extra on pedestrian security at the U.S. Nationwide Freeway Site visitors Security Administration.

SOURCE: Governors Freeway Security Affiliation, information launch, Could 19, 2022

By Robert Preidt HealthDay Reporter