Many Minnesota residents know that walking is an excellent form of exercise that promotes good health. For many people, however, a walk along a major roadway can turn dangerous. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 4,884 pedestrians died in 2014 as a result of being struck by a vehicle. This averages to about 12 people daily. A further 65,000 people were injured due to pedestrian-car accidents during the same year.
In 2001, there were 4,901 pedestrian fatalities and 78,000 pedestrian injuries. From 2001 to 2013, pedestrian fatalities decreased by 3.4 percent while pedestrian injuries dropped by 15.4 percent.
The recent NHTSA study also collected data regarding the location, gender and age of those involved in pedestrian-car accidents in 2014. Regarding the location, about 73 percent of pedestrian deaths happened in urban locations. As for the gender of these victims, almost three-fourths were male. The average age of those who died was 47. Of interest to note is the fact that about 26 percent of all pedestrian deaths transpired between the hours of 6 p.m. and 9 p.m.
Furthermore, about 35 percent of pedestrians killed in crashes had a blood alcohol content level of 0.08 percent or more at the time of the accident. The states with the highest amount of pedestrian deaths were California, Florida and Texas.
Individuals who have been critically injured in a pedestrian accident might want to get advice from an attorney about pursuing compensation for their accident-related damages. The lawyer could look at police reports and witness accounts to see if driver negligence caused the crash.