Alabama Ranks as the Eighth Highest State in the United States for Pedestrian Fatalities

ALABAMA – According to an online news report at patch.com, going across a street is more hazardous than twenty five years ago, per a report by the Governors Highway Safety Association.  Recently, the association released its annual “Spotlight on Highway Safety” report based upon state data, indicating that approximately 6,000 pedestrians were hit by vehicles for the second year in a row.  In Alabama, there were about fifty-nine pedestrian fatalities between January 2017 and June 2017.  That translates to a rate of 1.21 per 100,000 individuals and the eighth highest rated in the nation.*

There were five states that accounted for forty three percent of all pedestrian fatalities for the first part of 2017.  These are Florida, New York, California, Arizona and Texas.  These states represent approximately 30 percent of the American population.

Pedestrians now represent sixteen percent of all vehicular deaths, per the group.  Just a few years back, that amount was eleven percent.

Overall, states indicated that they collectively had a total of 2,636 pedestrian fatalities during the first part of 2017.  For the entire year, the group noted that the total amount of pedestrian deaths in the United States for 2017 was at 5,984. This is close to the amount of pedestrians that died in 2016, a total of 5,987.

"Two consecutive years of 6,000 pedestrian deaths is a red flag for all of us in the traffic safety community. These high levels are no longer a blip but unfortunately a sustained trend," the executive director of the group stated. "We can't afford to let this be the new normal."

Accident News is a driver safety and education initiative from Montlick & Associates, designed to help people better understand and thereby avoid common accident causes.  To learn more about our injury prevention programs, including iridesafe.com - click here. We hope you are never in an accident, but if you or family member are injured, call Montlick & Associates 24/7 for your free consultation at 1-800-LAW-NEED (1-800-529-6333) or use our live chat at Montlick.com.

Source:https://patch.com/alabama/birmingham-al/alabama-ranks-8th-highest-us-pedestrian-deaths-report