The 2019 Dangerous by Design report ranks states and metropolitan areas throughout the United States according to how dangerous the roadways are for pedestrians.

Published by Smart Growth America and the National Complete Streets Coalition, with support from AARP, the American Society of Landscape Architects and the consulting firm of Nelson\Nygaard, the report’s Pedestrian Danger Index measures how deadly it is for people to walk based on the number of people struck and killed by drivers while walking.

The report is based on traffic deaths that occurred between 2008 and 2017

• Between 2008 and 2017, 49,340 people in the United States were struck and killed by drivers. That’s more than 13 people per day, or one person every hour and 46 minutes. It’s the equivalent of a jumbo jet full of people dying every single month.
• In the past decade, the number of people struck and killed by drivers while walking increased by 35 percent, with 2016 and 2017 as the two highest years on record since 1990.
• Traffic deaths impact every community, but older adults, people of color, low-income communities, and cities and regions across the south bear a higher share of this harm.
• The 20 states with the highest Pedestrian Danger Index ratings are Florida, Alabama, Delaware, Louisiana, Mississippi, Georgia, New Mexico, Texas, Arizona, South Carolina, Nevada, Tennessee, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Arkansas, California, Missouri, Maryland, Michigan and Kentucky.

Why is this happening? We’re not walking more, and we’re barely driving more than we were back in 2008. What we are doing is continuing to design streets that are dangerous for people.

For more information, see the AARP Dangerous by Design Report website.