According to a new study, cars killed more pedestrians last year than at any point since 1981.
The Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA) counted 7,485 pedestrians killed by cars in 2022 — the highest total the group has cited since the early Reagan years.
Worse, the actual number is likely higher — Oklahoma did not submit data this year due to a technical issue. “Considering that the state averaged 92 pedestrian deaths in recent years, the actual total number of U.S. pedestrian fatalities last year could be as high as 7,600,” the group says.
Related: Traffic Deaths Hit Two-Decade High
Bigger Vehicles Part of the Problem
The group blames several trends for the spike, including the simple fact that Americans keep buying larger vehicles. “Over the past decade, the number of pedestrian deaths in crashes involving sport utility vehicles (SUVs) increased at a far faster rate (120%) than deaths in crashes involving passenger cars (26%). Because of their greater body weight and larger profile, SUVs and other light trucks can cause more harm to a person on foot when a crash occurs,” the group says.
High-Tech Safety Systems Slow to Help
New safety technologies like automatic emergency braking could make a difference in the long run.
Related: Government May Require Automatic Emergency Braking
But David Harkey, president of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, tells NBC News, “It takes a long time for the fleet to turn over before you get the overwhelming majority of vehicles on the roadway that have this technology.” The average car on American roads is now 12.5 years old.
The technology also performs best in daylight. The GHSA notes, “Since 2010, nighttime fatal crashes have increased by 86%, compared with a 31% rise in daytime pedestrian deaths.”
The GHSA believes that redesigning roadways could make a difference. “Some of the proven and promising approaches include designing and building safer roadways, engaging with people experiencing homelessness, focusing traffic enforcement on dangerous driving behaviors such as speeding and driving impaired or distracted, and educating novice drivers about their responsibility to look out for and yield to pedestrians and other road users,” the group says.
