A slight increase in pedestrian accident fatalities in the first half of 2010 is puzzling to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, but not to many California accident lawyers. This week, the NHTSA reported that there had been an increase of .4% in pedestrian fatalities in the first half of last year. While the increase is small, the agency is puzzled because it comes after four straight years of declining pedestrian fatalities across the country.
The NHTSA believes this could be a sign that the overall traffic fatality decline of the past few years could be nearing its end. In fact, during the third quarter of 2010, there was an increase of 2.5% in traffic accident deaths. This is the first such increase after 17 consecutive quarters of declining traffic accident fatalities. The NHTSA is also focusing on undesirable pedestrian behaviors, including pedestrians walking while talking on the phone or texting. The agency also cites intoxicated pedestrians, as well as more pedestrians as the movement toward walkable communities gathers steam.
Transportation for America is a group that studies pedestrian safety, and in the past has published groundbreaking reports on pedestrian safety in America. According to the group, one of the biggest factors in this spike in accident fatalities is the dependence on high-speed arterial roads in neighborhoods. According to estimates, more than half of all fatalities occur on such high-speed arterial roads. Unfortunately, urban planning and design in the US has been auto-centric to a large extent, and this has contributed to designs that spell trouble for pedestrians.
Los Angeles personal injury lawyers would stress on greater motorist awareness about pedestrian safety, use of sting campaigns and crackdowns to emphasize pedestrian rights, in order to prevent these injuries.
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