Spooky season is upon us, and this year we are reaching back into the archives to re-share some of the more staggering statistics we have unearthed as a part of our “Spooky Streets” series.
Our Spooky Streets series began back in 2020, when we shared our first Twitter thread on the topic. We revisited the topic again last year, this time with examples of upgrades that have been implemented on dangerous roadways.
Why this emphasis on pedestrian safety and roadway design at Halloween? After all, isn’t poisoned or tampered candy a bigger risk? According to an analysis in the Washington Post, 54 kids were killed by cars on Halloween between 2004 and 2018, making it by far the deadliest day of the year. No other day of the year saw more than 30 deaths across those 15 years, and most saw significantly fewer. While instances of tampered Halloween candy do happen, they are exceedingly rare and often do not result in harm to children.
Earlier this year, we shared the results of an analysis by the Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA) which showed a 23.44% increase in pedestrian fatalities resulting from being struck and killed by motorists in Ohio in just the first half of 2021. The same report shows that pedestrian fatalities have increased by 24% since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.
That increase places Ohio 8th among the 50 states and the District of Columbia in terms of the number of fatalities which occurred in that time period.
The increase in fatalities for the first six months of 2021 follows the trend that began in 2020, which saw a spike in pedestrian fatalities after two previous years of decline, according to preliminary figures released last fall by the NHTSA. That data showed that Ohio saw a 24.19% increase in fatalities year over year, with an increase of 30 pedestrians killed on Ohio’s roadways that year.
Over the past decade, fatal pedestrian crashes have increased by 60%, with 10/88 counties accounting for 65% of these fatalities. More than 80% of pedestrian fatal crashes occur in urban settings, with a heavy concentration of crashes occurring mid-block (i.e. in the center of the road).
A recent Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) pilot program, the Pedestrian Safety Improvement Program (PSIP), established the goal to rapidly implement low and medium-cost countermeasures along arterial and collector roadways designed to reduce the risk to pedestrians of being involved in minor to serious crashes. The pilot program utilized $10 million in funding at eligible priority locations in 8 cities. The goal was to implement proven low-to-medium cost ped safety countermeasures such as curb ramps, raised crosswalks, and signs.
Once cities agreed to participate, each was asked to prioritize locations along streets & assign specific countermeasures to each location. ODOT provided technical assistance via task order consultants and safety program staff for planning and design work.
PSIP has proven to be a remarkable success, with hundreds of projects implemented across the state.
In that same vein, programs like Walk.Bike.Ohio, the statewide bike and pedestrian plan, along with the release of the Multimodal Design Guide and new funding available through the ODOT Highway Safety Office, demonstrate that efforts are underway to make our streets much less spooky.
On behalf of all of us ghouls here at GOPC, have a happy and safe Halloween as you walk, bike, or fly about having a spooky good time!
