Searching for the ‘Smoking Gun’ in US Pedestrian Deaths
Why did American streets get so deadly for those on foot or bikes? A leading transportation safety researcher sees some surprising factors behind the crisis.
Sun Belt cities like Houston have some of the highest rates of pedestrian deaths in the US.
Photographer: Brett Coomer/Houston Chronicle via Getty Images)
In March, the Governors Highway Safety Association announced that some 3,024 people died while walking in the US during the first half of 2025, a drop of almost 11% from 2024. It’s a welcome dip, but the GHSA quickly put the figure in perspective, noting that footgoer fatalities remain 2.5% higher than in 2019, the last year before the Covid-19 pandemic coincided with a surge in traffic deaths.
Moreover, the country remains a grim outlier when it comes to pedestrian safety: Between 2013 and 2022, deaths rose by half in the US, even as 27 other rich nations saw an average 25% decline.