Pedestrian Deaths in U.S. Have Risen Nearly 50% Over the Past Decade: GHSA

New report finds that the rate of pedestrian deaths have risen seven times faster than U.S. population growth.

Highway safety advocates indicate there has been a 48% increase in pedestrian fatalities during the first six months of 2024, when compared to the same period a decade earlier.

The Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA) released preliminary data on pedestrian traffic fatalities in 2024 earlier this month, indicating that drivers struck and killed 3,304 pedestrians in the U.S. during the first half of 2024. While these figures show a 2.6% decrease from 2023, they still mark an almost 50% increase compared to 2014, resulting in 1,072 additional pedestrian deaths.

Although some may suppose this could have to do with other factors like population growth, research reveals that between the first half of 2014 and the first half of 2024, pedestrian deaths rose at a rate almost seven times faster than the growth of the U.S. population.

The GHSA is a nonprofit organization that provides leadership and advocacy to help states and territories enhance traffic safety and make U.S. roads safer. It supports a holistic approach that establishes a multi-layered safety net to protect everyone on the road, including targeted traffic enforcement against dangerous driving behaviors.

Each year, the GHSA collects preliminary pedestrian fatality data to estimate changes in deaths and rates. This year’s data report was analyzed by Kyle Hickson at Westat.

According to the data, GHSA found that pedestrian fatalities increased in 23 states, decreased in 22 states, and remained unchanged in five. Furthermore, seven states reported consecutive decreases in pedestrian fatalities for the first half of the year, while four states experienced consecutive increases.

The Governors Highway Safety Association attributes the increase in pedestrian fatalities to several factors identified in prior research, including a nationwide decline in traffic enforcement, the growing prevalence of larger, heavier vehicles, and road designs that favor fast-moving traffic over pedestrian-safe slower speeds. Additionally, the lack of essential infrastructure in many communities exacerbates the problem.

“While recent incremental progress is welcome, it doesn’t disguise the fact that the numbers moved in the wrong direction over the past decade,” GHSA Chief Executive Officer Jonathan Adkins said. “The only acceptable number of traffic deaths is zero. We must continue to push for an all-in safety approach that protects people on foot from the dangerous behaviors that are all too common on our roads.”

Pedestrian Deaths in the U.S.

A separate report published by the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) in December 2024 found that traffic deaths declined by 3.2% in the first half of 2024 when compared to 2023, with the largest declines occurring in out-of-state travel, ejected passengers and on urban interstates.

One of the factors pointed to as contributing to the increasing number of pedestrian deaths in the U.S. is the increased height of vehicle hoods, which significantly raise the risk and severity of pedestrian injury when an accident occurs. For example, the presence of SUVs on U.S. roads increased by 57% between 2010 and 2023, while pickup trucks have become 13% heavier during that period as well.