Phoenix Has the Sixth-Most Pedestrian Deaths in the Country

Only five other American cities had more pedestrian deaths than Phoenix in 2012, according to a new report from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

It’s remarkable, considering walking and jogging aren’t common activities when it’s 120 degrees outside during a Phoenix summer.

Only New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, and Dallas had more pedestrian deaths than Phoenix, which had 39 in 2012. That year, 151 people were killed in traffic accidents in Phoenix, meaning about one-quarter of the people killed in Phoenix crashes were on foot.

For the purpose of the NHTSA’s report, “pedestrian” includes “any person on foot, walking, running, jogging, hiking, sitting, or lying down who is involved in a motor vehicle traffic crash.” It also excludes anything that happened on private property.

Obviously, a city with more people is likely to have more pedestrian fatalities, but that’s not exactly the case. Dallas has a lower population than Phoenix but had one more fatality. Philadelphia has more people than Phoenix but had fewer fatalities.

But across the United States, there are about 1.51 pedestrian fatalities per 100,000 people. In Phoenix, that’s 2.62, and in Tucson, it’s 2.10.

Perhaps more startling are the statistics of people dying in car crashes in general. Of the 34 American cities with a population of 500,000 or more, Tucson has the sixth-highest rate (10.49 deaths per 100,000 people) and Phoenix has the seventh-highest (10.14 per 100,000 people).

According to the report, most crashes that result in a pedestrian death happen in urban areas, at non-intersections, during normal weather conditions, and at night.

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