Pedestrian Deaths from Car Accidents at All-Time High
Fort Lauderdale car accident attorney Joseph Lipsky is concerned that over the past year, even with a significant reduction in vehicle traffic for most of the year due to Covid-19, that the number of pedestrian wrongful deaths across America rose by the largest increase in over fifty years.
A report published by the Governors Highway Safety Association for 2020 demonstrated the most significant increase in car accident related pedestrian death rate since the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration established its Fatality Analysis Reporting System. The initial reporting unfortunately found nearly seven thousand pedestrians died during 2020. That number represents a 4.8% increase over the prior year’s deaths.
In fact, the numbers mean there was a twenty-one percent increase in the pedestrian death rate – based upon a rate of 2.2 per billion vehicle miles driven. That increase is particularly concerning as we Americans drover significantly fewer miles over the past year due to lockdowns and pandemic related business closures and work from home requirements of the past year. Those figures, which we must remember represents actual loss of life, occurred despite a 16.5% reduction in vehicle miles traveled nationwide. Last year’s rise continues the pattern of increasing danger for pedestrians – as pedestrians fatalities made up 17% of all traffic deaths in the prior year, a nearly fifty percent increase from the 13% amount of pedestrian deaths in 2010. Basically, pedestrian deaths rose by nearly fifty percent over the past decade, while all other car accident-related deaths increased by only 5%.