Trending
It’s certainly tough to argue against the health benefits that can come with simply taking a walk.
It’s equally tough to look at the preliminary statistics for 2025 and not be at least a little concerned about the number of pedestrians who lose their lives each year.
According to a report released by the Governors Highway Safety Association in July, there were a projected 6,732 pedestrian fatalities during 2025.
Now, there is some good news in that number -- it’s 7 percent lower when compared to 2024, and the largest annual reduction since pedestrian deaths began falling in 2022. It also continued the downward trend that began after 2022, when the 7,593 pedestrian deaths represented the highest number since 2015.
That said, it also is an indicator of a little bad news -- it’s 5 percent higher than the 2019 level.
“It’s encouraging to see fewer pedestrian deaths for the third straight year -- another sign of the growing momentum in roadway safety,” said Jonathan Adkins, chief executive officer of the GHSA. “Let’s keep this progress going until we reach zero deaths. We must stay vigilant and leverage proven countermeasures like traffic enforcement that focus on high-risk driving behavior, education and outreach initiatives and infrastructure improvements.”
No matter how you look at the statistics, though, the reality is that drivers are still striking and killing 18 people who walking each day.
When you break it down by state, the preliminary 2025 totals from Ohio show an an increase, from 128 in 2024 to 148 in 2025. Pennsylvania, meanwhile, saw a drop, with the 2025 numbers standing at 160 and the 2024 numbers coming in at 173. In West Virginia, the numbers dropped from 31 in 2024 to 23 last year.
Ohio is among the 18 states that reported a higher number in 2025, while West Virginia and Pennsylvania are among the 32 states and the District of Columbia that reported lower numbers. Tennessee’s number represented no change.
While those numbers might seem to be all over the place, they become just a little clearer when you break them down in a different way. When you adjust the numbers so they reflect a total against 100,000 residents, Ohio’s preliminary 2025 figure is 1.25, Pennsylvania’s is 1.21 and West Virginia’s is 1.3.
Those numbers are all lower than the national number per 100,000 residents -- 1.97, which is the first time it has dropped below 2.0 since 2019, when it stood at 1.9.
The report also offers some statistics that seem to follow what you might naturally suspect. During the five-year period that ended in 2024, the percentage of fatal accidents that occur when a pedestrian is crossing a roadway where a vehicle is turning -- 1.1 -- is lower than the percentage that occur when a vehicle is going straight -- 11.9 -- a number that seems to be directly related to the speed a vehicle is traveling.
And, the percentage of deaths that occur when a person is walking or running along a road -- 17.2 -- is greater than the number that occur when people dart into traffic -- 6.
Another given is that speed plays a factor in fatal accidents involving pedestrians -- 8.1 percent during 2023 and 2024, which is down from the 8.4 percent seen in 2020, but higher than the 7.8 percent and 7.5 percent seen in 2021 and 2022,
Sadly, the number of pedestrians who are stuck and killed by hit-and-run drivers remains high -- at 23.8 percent in 2024. That’s 4 percent lower than in 2023, but is significantly higher than the 19.9 percent recorded in 2019. It also should come as no surprise that the greatest percentage of hit-and-run fatalities come at night -- 26.3 -- with 17.7 coming during dawn and dusk and 14.6 percent coming during daylight hours.
Night is the when the highest number of fatal accidents occur overall, with more than 87 percent of the pedestrians killed falling between the ages of 16 and 44.
Another interesting finding is that in fatal accidents involving a pedestrian and a vehicle where alcohol is involved, the pedestrian is more likely to have a blood-alcohol reading greater than 0.08 percent than the driver. It’s highest in the 35-44 age group, where 38.2 percent of pedestrians and 18.8 percent of the drivers were under the influence of alcohol. The percentages among those 75 and older re nearly even -- 7.1 for pedestrians and 6.5 for drivers.
Distracted drivers are involved in 21.7 percent of fatal collisions. While that’s a pretty high number, it’s lower than the 29 percent of pedestrians who were reportedly distracted. Both of those numbers have increased since 2019. When distracted drivers were involved in 15.6 of the fatal accidents and distracted pedestrians were involved in 15.3 percent.
Absence of a sidewalk makes travel more dangerous for pedestrians -- in 2024, 62.2 percent of pedestrian fatalities occurred in areas where there were no sidewalks, a number that has remained fairly steady since 2019.
That’s why communities in the Tri-State Area have been adding and improving sidewalks as part of many different projects. They were an important addition to the widening of Lovers Lane, for instance, and will be a part of the work being down along University Boulevard in Steubenville. Wintersville also is in the process of improving pedestrian pathways.
Another number that should come as no surprise is that heavier vehicles are like to be more deadly to pedestrians. The report shows that half of the pedestrian fatalities involved a light truck or an SUV, while 40.6 of the fatal accidents involved a car.
The cost of all these accidents is staggering: $13,234, 777 per pedestrian who is killed, which worked out to $93,702,221,160 across the United States. In Ohio, the overall cost is $1.6 billion. In Pennsylvania, it’s $2.3 billion and in West Virginia it is $330.9 million.
Reducing speeds, installing better lighting and improving infrastructure are all ways to make things safer for pedestrians, the report says.
As always, the numbers in reports like these offer things for everyone involved to think about, whether you are a city or county official planning for the future or just a person who enjoys going for a walk or run or just strolling along with your dog.
(Gallabrese, a resident of Steubenville, is senior writer for the Herald-Star and The Weirton Daily Times.)