Both pedestrians and motorists need to stay alert as children head out to trick or treat this weekend in order to avoid accidents that could turn deadly, safety experts warn.
In 2020, pedestrian-involved accidents rose by 21% across the nation according to the Governors Highway Safety Association. October also marks National Pedestrian Safety Month due to the high number of pedestrian deaths that occur during this month.
In Pennsylvania, pedestrian-involved accidents decreased during the year 2020 from 2019. According to PennDOT data, in 2020 pedestrian-related crashes represented 2.7% of the total reported traffic crashes. However, pedestrian-related crashes accounted for 12.9% of all traffic crash fatalities.
According to PennDOT, last year the fatality rate on Pennsylvania's roads and highways was 1.10 fatalities per hundred million vehicle-miles of travel. They report that marks the second lowest ever recorded in Pennsylvania since the department started keeping records of this in 1935.
PennDOT acknowledged in that same report, however, that this rate is very likely to go up as travel was down during COVID-19.
On average in 2020:
• Each day 286 reportable traffic crashes occurred (about 12 crashes every hour).
• Each day 3 persons were fatally injured in reportable traffic crashes (one fatality every 8 hours).
• Each day 168 persons were injured in reportable crashes (about 7 injuries every hour).
Learn more about pedestrian-involved accidents here.