Pedestrian safety statistics show a sustained rise in the combined U.S. pedestrian and pedal-cyclist injury-death rate from 2013 through 2022, followed by a slight decline in 2023. The available evidence also points to substantial differences by region, sex, age, lighting, roadway location, and travel purpose.
Key Pedestrian Safety Statistics
The following figures summarize the most broadly useful U.S. measures:
- In 2021, 7,388 pedestrians were killed in U.S. traffic crashes.
- In 2021, approximately 60,577 pedestrians were injured in U.S. traffic crashes.
- During 2017–2021, pedestrians represented 16%–17% of total U.S. traffic fatalities.
- The U.S. pedestrian and pedal-cyclist injury-death rate was 2.1 deaths per 100,000 standard population in 2013.
- The combined U.S. rate reached 3.0 deaths per 100,000 in 2022.
- The combined U.S. rate was 2.9 deaths per 100,000 in 2023.
- The South rate rose from 2.4 deaths per 100,000 in 2013 to 3.5 in 2023.
- The West rate rose from 2.5 deaths per 100,000 in 2013 to 3.6 in 2023.
- The male 45–64 rate was 6.4 deaths per 100,000 U.S. males in 2023.
- The female 25–44 rate was 2.0 deaths per 100,000 U.S. females in 2023.
- Men accounted for 70% of pedestrians killed in traffic crashes in the cited U.S. study context.
- Pedestrians aged 65 and older made up about 18% of pedestrian fatalities with known age in 2021.
- About 76% of pedestrians killed were in collisions occurring in darkness in the 2010–2019 source context.
- About 73% of pedestrian fatalities occurred at non-intersection locations in the cited U.S. research context.
- Hit-and-run drivers were involved in 23% of pedestrian fatalities in 2021.
- Walking trips represented approximately 10.5% of reported transportation-mode trips in the 2016–2017 National Household Travel Survey period.
- The 2016–2017 survey estimated 39 billion walking trips for all purposes in the United States.
- An exclusive pedestrian interval reduced pedestrian collisions by 50% in the FHWA research synthesis.
Contents
- Key Pedestrian Safety Statistics
- U.S. Pedestrian Safety Rate Trends, 2013–2023
- Regional Pedestrian Safety Data
- Pedestrian Safety Statistics by Sex and Age
- Pedestrian Crash Fatalities, Injuries, and Exposure
- Lighting, Location, Time, and Hit-and-Run Risk
- Pedestrian Safety Countermeasure and Roadway Data
U.S. Pedestrian Safety Rate Trends, 2013–2023
The CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics reports a combined measure of unintentional pedestrian and pedal-cyclist injury deaths. These age-adjusted rates use the 2000 U.S. standard population and include motor-vehicle and non-motor-vehicle injuries, so they should not be read as pedestrian-only traffic-crash rates.
| Year | Deaths per 100,000 standard population |
|---|---|
| 2013 | 2.1 |
| 2014 | 2.1 |
| 2015 | 2.3 |
| 2016 | 2.5 |
| 2017 | 2.5 |
| 2018 | 2.5 |
| 2019 | 2.5 |
| 2020 | 2.6 |
| 2021 | 2.9 |
| 2022 | 3.0 |
| 2023 | 2.9 |
Source: CDC NCHS, Trends in Pedestrian and Pedal Cyclist Injury Deaths: United States, 2013–2023.
The rate increased from 2.1 per 100,000 in 2013 and 2014 to 2.5 per 100,000 from 2016 through 2019. It then reached 2.6 in 2020, 2.9 in 2021, and 3.0 in 2022 before moving down to 2.9 in 2023.
Because this series combines pedestrians and pedal cyclists, it provides broad injury-death context rather than a pure measure of pedestrian traffic danger. The CDC’s age-specific rates use population denominators and are not interchangeable with the NHTSA crash counts below.
Regional Pedestrian Safety Data and Trends
The same CDC series shows different trajectories across the four U.S. Census regions. All regional observations below combine pedestrian and pedal-cyclist injury deaths.
| Region | 2013 rate | 2023 rate | Unit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Midwest | 1.5 | 2.0 | Deaths per 100,000 standard population |
| Northeast | 1.8 | 1.9 | Deaths per 100,000 standard population |
| South | 2.4 | 3.5 | Deaths per 100,000 standard population |
| West | 2.5 | 3.6 | Deaths per 100,000 standard population |
Source: CDC NCHS, Trends in Pedestrian and Pedal Cyclist Injury Deaths: United States, 2013–2023.
The Midwest rate was 1.5 per 100,000 in 2013 and 2.0 in 2023, while the Northeast moved from 1.8 to 1.9. The South rose from 2.4 to 3.5, and the West rose from 2.5 to 3.6 over the same endpoints.
Intermediate observations add context: the Midwest rate was 1.4 in 2014, the South rate was 3.0 in 2018 and 3.1 in 2020, and the West rate was 3.7 in 2022. These are regional population-standardized measures, not counts of crashes or walking trips.
Pedestrian Safety Statistics by Sex and Age
CDC age-specific data show higher reported combined pedestrian and pedal-cyclist injury-death rates for males than females in the supplied age groups. The figures are deaths per 100,000 people within each stated sex-and-age population.
| Population | 2013 | 2023 |
|---|---|---|
| Females aged 25–44 | 1.0 | 2.0 |
| Females aged 45–64 | 1.5 | 2.0 |
| Females aged 65 and older | 1.9 | 2.1 |
| Males aged 25–44 | 3.1 | 5.4 |
| Males aged 45–64 | 4.6 | 6.4 |
Source: CDC NCHS, Trends in Pedestrian and Pedal Cyclist Injury Deaths: United States, 2013–2023.
The female 25–44 rate doubled from 1.0 per 100,000 in 2013 to 2.0 in 2023. The female 45–64 rate increased from 1.5 to 2.0, while the female 65-and-older rate moved from 1.9 to 2.1.
For males, the 25–44 rate rose from 3.1 to 5.4 per 100,000, and the 45–64 rate rose from 4.6 to 6.4. The male 65-and-older rate was 4.7 per 100,000 in 2013; the supplied data do not provide its 2023 value.
These CDC figures are combined injury-death measures, not a direct comparison of walking exposure. NHTSA separately reports that men were 70% of pedestrians killed in traffic crashes in its cited study context, while pedestrians aged 65 and older represented about 18% of fatalities with known age in 2021.
Pedestrian Crash Fatalities, Injuries, and Exposure
NHTSA’s pedestrian-safety chapter reports traffic-crash outcomes separately from the CDC population-rate series. In the United States in 2021, 7,388 pedestrians were killed and approximately 60,577 were injured in traffic crashes.
During 2017–2021, pedestrians accounted for 16%–17% of total U.S. traffic fatalities. The five-year average pedestrian death count was 6,502 per year during that period, a count average rather than an exposure-adjusted rate.
The historical series cited by NHTSA identifies 4,109 pedestrian deaths in 2009 as the low point for annual pedestrian fatalities. That historical observation is not a forecast and does not, by itself, explain the later changes.
Walking exposure provides important context, but the supplied measures are not directly comparable to fatality rates. The 2016–2017 National Household Travel Survey estimated 39 billion walking trips for all purposes, with walking representing approximately 10.5% of reported transportation-mode trips.
The survey also found that walking accounted for about 4% of trips to work. Work commuting made up 6.5% of walking trips, while recreational and social purposes accounted for 47.5%.
Source: NHTSA, Countermeasures That Work: Pedestrian Safety.
NHTSA’s statistics mix fatal motor-vehicle crash outcomes, cited research, and travel-survey measures. They use different denominators and should not be treated as interchangeable exposure-adjusted risk estimates.
Lighting, Location, Time, and Hit-and-Run Risk
The cited NHTSA research describes when and where fatal pedestrian collisions occurred. About 76% of pedestrians killed were in collisions occurring in darkness, while another 4% of pedestrian fatalities occurred at dusk or dawn in the 2010–2019 source context.
Darkness-related pedestrian fatalities increased 58% from 2010 to 2019, compared with a 16% increase in daylight pedestrian fatalities. These are changes in fatality counts, not exposure-adjusted changes in individual risk.
About 73% of pedestrian fatalities occurred at non-intersection locations in the cited research context. For 2021, approximately 25% of pedestrian fatalities occurred from 6:00 p.m. to 8:59 p.m., and approximately 26% occurred from 9:00 p.m. to 11:59 p.m.
Hit-and-run drivers were involved in 23% of pedestrian fatalities in 2021. The source notes that driver or vehicle details may be unknown in some involvement records, so the figure describes the reported involvement category rather than a complete explanation of every collision.
Source: NHTSA, Countermeasures That Work: Pedestrian Safety.
The timing and location figures identify recurring contexts in the cited data, but they do not establish that darkness, non-intersection location, or a particular time window independently caused each fatality.
Pedestrian Safety Countermeasure and Roadway Data
FHWA’s report is a historical synthesis of pedestrian-safety research, with studies synthesized through 2003. Its findings are useful for understanding tested interventions and roadway associations, but they are not current national estimates or guaranteed causal effects at every site.
An exclusive pedestrian interval reduced pedestrian collisions by 50% in the FHWA synthesis. This result depends on the study locations, signal design, timing, and other site conditions represented in the older research.
On multilane roads carrying more than about 12,000 vehicles per day, a marked crosswalk alone was associated with a higher pedestrian crash rate than an unmarked crosswalk. The comparison concerns uncontrolled crossings where the marked crossing lacked substantial complementary improvements, and it is an association after controlling for site factors.
Two additional findings concern turning behavior:
- About 21% of motorists violated no-turn-on-red signs when given the opportunity in the intersections studied.
- About 23% of right-turn-on-red violations resulted in a conflict with a pedestrian in the studied settings.
Source: FHWA, A Review of Pedestrian Safety Research in the United States and Abroad.
The FHWA evidence is historical, and its countermeasure effects and roadway relationships should not be read as current national estimates. Site design, traffic volume, signal timing, compliance, lighting, and complementary treatments can change the observed outcome.