Photo by specimenlifeA new report shows that pedestrians deaths rose in D.C. between the first six months of 2012 and 2013, trending against a national decrease.
Between January and June of 2012 there were three pedestrian fatalities, while that number rose during the same period in 2013 to seven, the Governors Highway Safety Association report says. That means 47 percent of all traffic fatalities during that period last year were pedestrians.
An oversight report from D.C.’s Pedestrian Advisory Council also shows “the total number of pedestrians struck by motor vehicles … has been increasing in recent years.”
The number of pedestrian fatalities declined by 50 percent between 2008 (14) and 2012 (7), according to DDOT crash data. However, the number of serious injuries
suffered by pedestrians has increased by about 20 percent between 2010 (303) and
2012 (362), according to DDOT crash data. The total number of pedestrians struck
by motor vehicles also has been increasing in recent years. While we do not yet have access to final 2013 crash data, we know that about the same number of pedestrians were killed by motor vehicles in 2013 as in 2012.
According to DDOT data, there were 567 pedestrian crashes in 2008, and this number increased to 848 pedestrian crashes in 2012. Further, we understand that only eight months into 2013, D.C. has already matched last year’s number of pedestrian fatalities and could very well surpass this number in the remaining four months of the year.
Both the GHSA and PAC credit traffic cameras with improving pedestrian safety. But as PAC writes, the city “needs to continue making more progress to make all parts of D.C. safer places to walk.”
PAC recommends expanding “the use of photo enforcement to create a safer environment for walking across the District” and giving DDOT $28 million in the FY 2015 Capital Budget to “address the backlog of sidewalk maintenance investment needs.” As of right now, DDOT is only able to complete about 50 percent of the approximately 3,000 sidewalk service requests received each year.
At least 53 pedestrians have been struck this year.
