Signature reports
Dangerous by Design: An urgent call to prioritize pedestrian safety
Uncover the urgent truths behind America’s rising pedestrian fatalities and explore transformative solutions to create safer, more inclusive streets for everyone. Join us in reimagining our roadways—prioritizing people over cars to protect lives.
Metro Area Findings
This epidemic continues to grow worse because our nation’s streets are dangerous by design. They have been created to move cars quickly at the expense of keeping everyone safe.
The increase in pedestrian deaths is far outpacing the growth in population
Comparing five-year periods (2013-17 vs 2018-22): The largest 101 metros grew by about 1.7 percent while the total number of deaths in these metros increased by nearly 26 percent. The top 20 most deadly metros grew by 5.1 percent, but total fatalities increased by 37 percent.
The country’s largest metro areas are significantly more dangerous than a decade or more ago
In 2009, there were just eight large metro areas that had a pedestrian fatality rate of over 2.0 per 100,000 people. That number more than doubled to 18 metro areas in our 2014 report. Now, there are 48 metro areas with a rate of over 2.0 people killed per 100k people. This means that just because a metro area is ranked lower than in years prior, it’s not necessarily any less deadly than before—it’s just that other metros have had bigger increases. (Only two metros in the top 20 saw improvements in their rate, as noted below.) The most dangerous metro area in our 2009 report (Orlando at 2.86) wouldn’t even crack the top 20 (#26) in this report.
Florida metros have shuffled spots but still dominate the list
Florida continues to maintain a sizable presence in the top 20 (8 of 20), though two of those areas (Palm Bay and Jacksonville) are on the very short list of metros trending less deadly long term (comparing 2013-2017 average to 2018-2022). However, in Jacksonville, the total number of deaths actually increased across those five-year periods, from 260 to 274, which means their improved fatality rate (-0.20) was due entirely to their population growth.
Fast-growing metros in the South and the Sunbelt are still the most deadly
Pedestrian deaths in these places are either keeping pace with population growth or (far) outpacing it.
Urban areas are increasing in danger faster than rural areas
Since 2013, total pedestrian deaths are up by nearly 61 percent in urban areas, compared to 41 percent in rural areas. (Overall traffic deaths are holding flat in rural areas since 2013.)
Nothing makes a person more vulnerable than lacking the protection of a vehicle
People with lower incomes are more likely to be walking, and walking in the most dangerous areas. In 2022, the share of all traffic deaths that were people outside of vehicles hit the highest share in 40 years. The decrease in the share of in-vehicle deaths are partially the result of safer vehicles thanks to new safety mandates and improved vehicle technology.
States are in total control of the most deadly roadways
Within these 101 largest metro areas, 66 percent of all traffic deaths occur on state-owned roads.
The metro areas with a long-term trend of getting safer were already less deadly
Only 18 of the 101 largest metro areas had a long-term trend of lowering fatality rates, but only two of those metro areas are in the top 20. (Palm Bay and Jacksonville, FL, as previously noted.) The other 16 metro areas were already far less deadly (average rank #82).
Livable places. Healthy people. Shared prosperity.
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