Bicycle and Pedestrian Crashes Are on the Rise Nationally and Here in Wake County. What Are We Going to Do about It?
Last October, seven people were injured when a car crashed into a group of pedestrians in the heart of Downtown Raleigh.
Surveillance video released after the crash showed that after an initial collision between two cars at the intersection of Salisbury and Edenton, near the State Capitol Building, one of the drivers lost control and slammed into a crowd of people walking on a nearby sidewalk. News coverage of the crash reported that one woman was pinned beneath the vehicle until emergency responders could rescue her.
Although terrible given the number of pedestrians involved, this crash from last fall is far from the worst we’ve seen here in Wake County. In fact, given that fortunately no one was killed, it’s not even the most serious pedestrian-related crash to occur in our area in the past several months.
So far this year, there have been reports in the local news of crashes between drivers of motor vehicles and pedestrians each and every month. And many of these have been deadly.
Consider the following stories out of Raleigh alone:
- In January, a 21-year-old woman was hit and killed while trying to cross Trawick Road near New Bern Avenue.
- In February, a man was fatally struck on South Saunders Street.
- In March, a pedestrian was injured after being struck by a Wake County deputy’s patrol vehicle at the intersection of McDowell Street and Martin Street.
- Also in March, a 15-year-old High School student was killed in a hit-and-run on Rock Quarry Road.
- In April, a teen suffered serious injuries after being hit by a vehicle on Wake Forest Road.
- In early May, a pedestrian was fatally struck near the intersection of Wake Forest Road and Ronald Drive.
- Later in May, a woman was hit by a car and killed while trying to cross Glenwood Avenue between Ebenezer Church Road and Marvino Lane.
Then of course not all crashes even receive coverage in the local media.
In one case, a local mother took to her blog to describe how her son had recently been struck by a vehicle while riding his bike home from school. The crash occurred along Strickland Road in North Raleigh, and although her son was fortunate not to have been killed, he nonetheless suffered a shattered shoulder and multiple broken bones in his leg.
These stories highlight a growing problem, not only across our state and nation but also specifically right here at home in Raleigh and Wake County. Crashes between motor vehicles and bicyclists and pedestrians are on the rise.
So, now that we’ve wrapped up Mobility May, our campaign to highlight all the ways to get around the Triangle region without a car, we thought this would be a good time to take a look at what is probably the single greatest barrier stopping more people from biking and walking within our communities.
We’re talking, of course, about concerns regarding safety.
This is a topic of great concern to residents in our region. In fact, earlier this month the News & Observer published a piece highlighting the stories of several local victims as well as data on how frequently pedestrian crashes occur throughout the state. As mentioned in the article, a recent Elon University poll found that two-thirds of North Carolinians feel unsafe walking along roads without sidewalks.
This post is the first in a two-part series dedicated to bicyclist and pedestrian safety in Wake County.
In this, part one, we’ll explore crash statistics at the national, state, and local levels. And as we’ll see, the data support the idea that crashes between motor vehicles and bicyclists and pedestrians are, in fact, on the rise, both nationally and in Wake County. Moreover, North Carolina is, in general, one of the least safe states in the country for vulnerable road users
However, there is good news. And that is that we don’t have to accept our current road conditions as fixed and unchangeable. Most, if not all, traffic-related deaths and injuries can be prevented. If we support a few key actions, policies, and initiatives — and encourage our elected officials to do the same — we can help make our roads a safer place for all users. We’ll have more to say about this in part two of this series, in which we’ll highlight key policies we believe should be implemented to improve bicycling and pedestrian safety throughout Wake County.
But for now let’s first dive into some numbers.
National Trends
On average, approximately five to six thousand bicyclists and pedestrians are killed each year in the United States. And although total traffic fatalities nationwide are on the decline, bicyclist and pedestrian fatalities are on a startling rise.
As detailed in a recent report from the Pedestrian & Bicycle Information Center (PBIC), a research organization supported jointly by the Federal Highway Administration and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the number of bicyclists and pedestrians killed by motor vehicles in the US has grown sharply over the past decade.
In 2017, the most recent year for which data were analyzed by PBIC, a total of 6,760 bicyclists and pedestrians in the US were killed by motor vehicles. That’s a full 31 percent increase since 2008.
And unfortunately the situation doesn’t appear to be getting better.
A preliminary report from the Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA) shows that 2018 is projected to have the largest number of pedestrian fatalities in the US in nearly three decades. The GHSA annual spotlight report offers a first look at state and national trends in pedestrian deaths each year and projects that 6,227 pedestrians were killed on US roads in 2018, a four percent increase from 2017 and the highest number since 1990.
State Trends
Motor vehicles pose a serious threat to bicyclists and pedestrians, both nationally and here in North Carolina.
Due to their vulnerability on and along our roads, bicyclists and pedestrians are, as you might expect, the ones most likely to be killed when a crash occurs with a vehicle. It’s especially dangerous biking or walking in North Carolina, where about 15 percent of all traffic fatalities involve bicyclists or pedestrians.
According to the GHSA’s annual spotlight report, mentioned above, North Carolina is one of only seven states in the country predicted to have more than 100 pedestrian deaths in 2018. During the first six months of that year, a total of 102 pedestrians were killed in North Carolina, a 23 percent increase from the first six months of 2017.
North Carolina is also one of the least safe states in America for bicycling.
In the League of American Bicyclists’ 2018 Benchmarking Report, Bicycling & Walking the United States, North Carolina is ranked as having the ninth highest bicyclist fatality rate in the country. From 2012 to 2016, the average fatality rate for bicyclists in North Carolina was 20.8 deaths per 10K bicycle commuters. Mississippi had the highest fatality rate with 35.6 deaths per 10K bicycle commuters, while Oregon had the lowest fatality rate with 1.7 deaths per 10K bicycle commuters.
Yet, fatalities represent only a fraction of all the crashes that occur each year between motor vehicles and bicyclists and pedestrians. In the following sections, we take a step back and focus more generally on the bigger picture of just how frequently bicyclists and pedestrians are involved in motor vehicle crashes of any sort, fatal or otherwise.
Pedestrian Crashes in North Carolina
All the pedestrian crash data reported in this section come from the North Carolina Pedestrian Crash Facts Summary Report for 2012-2016, the most recent edition of an annual summary report prepared jointly by the University of North Carolina Highway Safety Research Center and the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT).The data represent all pedestrian-motor vehicle crashes reported by law enforcement to the NC Division of Motor Vehicles, excluding falls or other incidents involving only pedestrians.
On average, there were 2,999 pedestrian-motor vehicle crashes in North Carolina each year from 2012 to 2016. That represents a full 22 percent increase over the previous five-year period between 2007 and 2011.
In total, North Carolina experienced at least 27,279 crashes between pedestrians and motor vehicles during the full ten-year period between 2007 and 2016. The highest total number of crashes occurred in 2016, the most recent year for which data are available. In 2016, there were a total of 3,192 crashes between pedestrians and motor vehicles in our state.
Among all 14,993 pedestrian crashes from 2012 to 2016, roughly 6 percent proved fatal to pedestrians. Indeed, 929 pedestrians were killed by motor vehicles in North Carolina between 2012 and 2016, for an average of about 186 deaths per year. During this same time period an additional 990 pedestrians (6.6%) were left with “disabling injuries.”
Bicyclist Crashes in North Carolina
All the crash data reported in this section come from the North Carolina Bicycle Crash Facts Summary Report for 2012-2016, which is also prepared annually by the University of North Carolina Highway Safety Research Center and NCDOT. As with the pedestrian data reported above, the data highlighted here represent all crashes reported by law enforcement to the NC Division of Motor Vehicles and exclude falls or other incidents involving only bicyclists.
On average, there were 940 bicyclist-motor vehicle crashes in North Carolina each year from 2012 to 2016. This is only slightly higher than the previous five-year period between 2007 and 2011, when the average number of crashes per year was 935.
In total, North Carolina experienced at least 9,377 crashes between bicyclists and motor vehicles during the full ten-year period between 2007 and 2016. The highest total number of crashes occurred in 2012 with 1,024. In 2016, the most recent year for which data were analyzed, there were 955 bicyclist-motor vehicle crashes.
Importantly, although this seems like a positive development, there’s been no clear downward trend in crashes between bicyclists and motor vehicles over the past decade. Rather, crashes between bicyclists and motor vehicles have risen and fallen in a somewhat mixed pattern over time. Moreover, the Highway Safety Research Center’s report notes that changes in exposure (i.e., less driving in 2009) and changes over time in how data were reported complicate comparisons between years. North Carolina cities may have been particularly affected by differences in crash reporting, which is important considering that urban areas account for most (71%) of all crashes between bicyclists and motor vehicles.
Among all 4,677 bicyclist-motor vehicle crashes that occurred from 2012 to 2016, a little over 2 percent proved fatal to bicyclists. Indeed, 106 bicyclists were killed by motor vehicles in North Carolina between 2012 and 2016, for an average of about 21 deaths per year. During this same time period an additional 194 bicyclists (4.1%) were left with “disabling injuries.”
Bicyclist and Pedestrian Crashes in Wake County
So far, we’ve explored the frequency and severity of bicyclist and pedestrian crashes nationally and at the state level. But what do things look like more locally here in Wake County?
To learn more about how frequently bicyclist and pedestrian crashes occur in Wake County, we pulled recent and historical crash data from the North Carolina Pedestrian and Bicycle Crash Data Tool, a web-based tool developed by the University of North Carolina Highway Safety Research Center and NCDOT’s Division of Bicycle and Pedestrian Transportation. The Crash Data Tool was developed specifically to address the growing need for more information and data about bicyclist- and pedestrian-motor vehicle crashes in our state and local communities.
As throughout North Carolina and the rest of the country, bicyclist- and pedestrian-motor vehicle crashes have, over the past decade, generally been on the rise here in Wake County.
Moreover, on average, roughly one bicyclist or pedestrian is struck by a motor vehicle in Wake County each day.
The table below shows the number of bicyclist- and pedestrian-motor vehicle crashes combined between 2007 and 2016 for each of the twelve municipalities that comprise Wake County.
From 2007 to 2016, there were 2,999 crashes involving pedestrians in Wake County and 1,289 crashes involving bicyclists, totaling 4,288 crashes altogether. Overall, bicyclist and pedestrian crashes increased 21 percent from 2007 to 2016 — from 414 crashes in 2007 to 503 crashes in 2016.
Between 2012 and 2016, there was an average 325 pedestrian crashes each year and 130 bicyclist crashes each year. Compared to the previous five-year period between 2007 and 2011, this represents a 19 percent increase in pedestrian crashes and a 3 percent increase in bicyclist crashes. The increase in pedestrian crashes is roughly comparable to broader state-level trends, while the increase in bicyclist crashes is larger than what has been seen at the state level.
Wake County also appears to account for a slightly disproportionate number of bicycling and pedestrian crashes in the state. In 2016, about 10 percent of the state’s population resided in Wake County. However, Wake County accounted for roughly 12 percent of all pedestrian crashes in North Carolina and roughly 13 percent of all bicyclist crashes.
Nearly every Wake County municipality saw an increase in bicyclist and pedestrian crashes between 2007 and 2016.
Raleigh and Cary, our most populous municipalities, saw increases of 21 percent and 13 percent, respectively. In Raleigh, bicyclist and pedestrian crashes jumped from 288 in 2007 to 349 in 2016. Cary meanwhile had 46 crashes in 2007 compared to 52 crashes in 2016.
The only municipalities in Wake County that did not show an increase in bicyclist and pedestrian crashes between 2007 and 2016 were Apex, Rolesville, Wake Forest, Wendell, and Zebulon. However, this is likely merely due to the fact that there are few bicyclists and pedestrians in these communities to begin with. Indeed, according to data from the US Census Bureau’s American Community Survey, very few residents in these towns regularly walk or ride a bicycle to work each day. Across all five towns, only about 347 people are estimated to have commuted to work by walking in 2016. Furthermore, only about 46 residents are estimated to have commuted to work via bicycle in 2016, and all of those were in the Town of Apex.
Bicyclist and Pedestrian Fatalities in Wake County
From 2007 to 2016, there were 130 pedestrians and 16 bicyclists who were killed by motor vehicles in Wake County. An additional 158 pedestrians and 46 bicyclists suffered disabling injuries.
The charts below show the breakdown by severity of injury for all bicyclist and pedestrian crashes in Wake County between 2007 and 2016.
About 9 percent of all pedestrian-motor vehicle crashes in Wake County resulted in death or disabling injury between 2007 and 2016, and this number has held fairly steady over the years. However, the percentage of crashes resulting in death or disabling injury for bicyclists has grown somewhat over time. From 2007 to 2011, only 3.94 percent of crashes in Wake County resulted in a bicyclist’s death or disabling injury. Between 2012 and 2016, on the other hand, that number grew to 5.66 percent.
Is the Increase in Bicyclist and Pedestrian Crashes in Wake County Due to Population Growth?
As residents here in Wake County are no doubt already aware, our county has grown rapidly over the past decade. As such, one might wonder whether the increase in bicyclist- and pedestrian-motor vehicle crashes in Wake County is due to such growth. After all, more people driving, walking, and riding bicycles means more potential for crashes to occur, right?
Importantly, this doesn’t appear to be the case — at least not entirely.
The graph below shows, for each year between 2009 and 2016, the number of bicycle and pedestrian crashes per 1,000 residents who commuted to work by bicycle or by foot in Wake County.
Even after adjusting for the fact that more people in Wake County bike and walk today than ten years ago, there’s still been a 37% increase in bicycle and pedestrian crashes over time, from about 45 crashes per 1,000 bicycle and pedestrian commuters in 2009 to roughly 62 crashes per 1,000 bicycle and pedestrian commuters in 2016.*
*Note: The data presented here only go back to 2009 because that is the earliest year for which commuter data could be obtained from the US Census Bureau. From 2009 to 2016, the increase in the raw number of bicyclist- and pedestrian-motor vehicle crashes was slightly higher but nonetheless comparable at 39%.
What Can We Do to Improve the Safety of Our Roads?
As a community, we should be doing everything possible to encourage greater levels of active transportation. Indeed, a large body of research has consistently shown that biking and walking can yield a variety of important health, economic, and environmental benefits.
However, given the rising number of bicycle and pedestrian crashes in our area, it’s easy to understand why relatively few people in Wake County choose to commute by bicycle or by walking. According to the most recent estimates from the US Census Bureau, only 1.6 percent of Wake County residents choose to bike or walk to work.
Fortunately, however, there are actions we can take and policies we can support to change the current conditions and help make our roads safer for all users.
In the next post in this two-part series, we’ll provide a few recommendations on concrete actions that local communities here in Wake County can take — either immediately or in the near future — to do exactly that.
Stay tuned for more.
Brian Kurilla, Ph.D. is the Policy Analyst for WakeUP Wake County and an Experimental Psychologist and Data Scientist.
The primary cause of NC’s safety problem for bicyclists and pedestrians is the high motor traffic speeds that exist between residences and first-tier bike/ped destinations such as schools, stores, and parks. Three factors contribute to this situation: (1) the dangerously high design speeds of these roads, (2) a road network design that is hierarchical in both topology and performance, and (3) land use planning and zoning that separates these complementary land uses and forces all useful trips to be routed along and across high speed traffic sewers. These systemic flaws that place vulnerable users at risk are then exacerbated by a lack of inclusive design elements such as good sidewalks and crosswalks and by a lack of effective education and enforcement of motorists to operate safely on shared facilities.
Our society demands that our transportation system provide inclusivity, safety, and convenience. Unfortunately, pro-motoring forces have redefined convenience as speed, and to facilitate that speed, our culture has sacrificed inclusivity – ignoring and/or stigmatizing anyone not driving a car – and severely compromized safety. For thousands of years, transportation systems prioritized the needs of those traveling on foot above those using heavier modes, but in modern times we have turned that on its head. Civilization requires that we rethink how we connect people with their basic needs so that every trip we take need not cost so much and further endanger the travel of others.
How about raising level if enforcement for driving while fiddling with the phones? Police in Raleigh & Wake Co. are non-existent despite being numerous.