Steep Increase In Pedestrian Traffic Fatalities In 2016

Pedestrian deaths rose a projected 11 percent in 2016, reaching a total of nearly 6,000 people killed. That is the highest total in more than two decades, according to data out Thursday. If it helps to think of that increase in terms of real people, it means about 620 more pedestrians were killed by vehicles last year than the year before. The figures are preliminary, based on data from all states and the District of Columbia for the first six months of 2016 and then extrapolated for the rest of the year. During the first six months, states recorded 2,660 pedestrian fatalities — an increase from 2,486 deaths in the same time period in 2015.