The daylight hours are getting shorter as we move further into fall. In just a few weeks’ time, clocks will once again ‘fall back’ and sunset will move closer and closer to 5pm. It seems like a good time to once again take a look at pedestrian traffic statistics in Ohio as a reminder to all road users about the importance of roadway safety.
Earlier this year, preliminary nationwide statistics were published by the Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA) for 2022. The good news is that Ohio reversed a three-year trend of increasing pedestrian fatalities, seeing a 2.9% decline versus the number of fatalities in 2021. The GHSA numbers vary slightly from data available from the Ohio State Highway Patrol (OHSP). As shown below, OHSP reports a 4.09% decline in fatalities. The GHSA report does not focus on series injury crashes, however OHSP shows a slight decline of 1.72% in 2022.
Source: State Highway Safety Offices and GHSA data analysis.
Source: Ohio State Highway Patrol Crash Dashboard
The national data however, is less positive, as nationwide data shows that the number of pedestrians killed in traffic crashes in 2022 was the highest it has been since 1981.
The overwhelming majority of these fatalities occur at night. While daylight fatalities have held steady by and large for the past decade, fatalities occurring in the dark have jumped more than 86% since 2010.
Most fatalities occur on non-freeway arterial roadways, often lacking sidewalks.
Non-freeway arterials are defined as high-capacity roads without controlled access but with more traffic flow and higher speeds than local roads; used primarily to connect collector roads with interstates and freeways.
Image Source: Google Maps
Collectors and local streets are defined as roads with slower speed limits that connect local areas to arterials or with the primary function of providing access to residential areas or businesses.
Image Source: Google Maps
The report concludes with a number of recommendations, ranging from enforcement to roadway design improvements. Ohio is singled out for the highway safety office partnering with ODOT to provide highway safety related training to state, county, and municipal employees and consultants to educate them on current roadway safety and traffic practices. These courses are focused on planning and design for pedestrian safety.
As we noted earlier this year, roadway design as serious impact on roadway fatalities. Driver and pedestrian behavior no doubt have an impact on fatalities, but doing more to make our roadways safer for all road users must be a priority. As the state continues to focus on improvements to roadways, safety for all, including vulnerable road users needs to be front and center in the discussions. To continue to reverse this trend, Ohio needs to shift our focus away from roads designed exclusively for cars and instead be motived to safety accommodate those who cannot afford the cost of an automobile and need to access work and sustenance on these busy roadways.
Updated 11/1/2023 with additional data from the Ohio State Highway Patrol.