By Member T. Bella Dinh-Zarr, PhD, MPH
5,987. That’s the number of pedestrians who died on our roadways in 2016. That’s 16 people every day across our country. But because these tragedies happen one by one, pedestrian deaths often fail to receive national attention. But as an agency dedicated to preventing transportation deaths and injuries, we know that must change.
In 2016, we held a public forum to address pedestrian safety. Experts from around the country discussed the data we need to better understand the risks, technology that could prevent vehicles from hitting people, and highway designs that offer safer roads or paths for pedestrians. Since that initial public meeting, we have conducted more than a dozen investigations into pedestrian deaths in order to gain insight into how we can prevent these deaths from happening.
Although the pedestrian crashes we investigated were not meant to be representative of nationwide data, the circumstances around the crashes were not unique—a child walking to school, an older man taking an evening walk around his neighborhood at dusk, a man walking his dog after lunch, a woman crossing a crowded city street, another leaving a bar at night. In most of the cases, the pedestrians were in crosswalks at intersections, and many occurred where speed limits were posted for 25–30 mph.
Historically, the NTSB has focused highway investigations on vehicle-to-vehicle collisions. But, having watched the trendline of pedestrian fatalities increasing steadily over the past 10 years, we are now calling attention to the problem of pedestrian safety. After all, although we may not all be drivers, we are all pedestrians. As communities embrace the goal of eliminating highway fatalities, preventing pedestrian crashes must be a top priority.
Tomorrow, September 25, 2018, the NTSB will examine the issue of pedestrian safety during a public Board meeting, beginning at 9:00 am. NTSB staff will present recommendations intended to improve pedestrian safety, and afterward, we will release the investigations, the special report, a supplemental data analysis report, and directions to a website that will allow people to examine the history of pedestrian fatalities in their own communities. In addition to being open to the public, the meeting will be webcast for interested parties who cannot attend in person.
Details of the investigations conducted in support of our pedestrian special investigation report will be available after the Board meeting on our NEW Pedestrian Safety page at the NTSB website: www.ntsb.gov/pedestrians.
NTSB Safety Compass Blog 