Nebraska Ranks #4 Deadliest State For Pedestrians

(KFOR NEWS December 14, 2022) The number of pedestrians killed in America each year is rising at twice the rate as surging overall traffic fatalities. A new study by Jerry, the car insurance savings app, suggests drivers in Nebraska should consider taking extra precaution on the road as the state ranks as the 4th deadliest in the country for pedestrians.

But what’s causing the striking acceleration of pedestrian fatalities? And what about this community causes it to be so heavily impacted? Additional key findings from Jerry’s study conclude:

Nebraska has the 4th highest number of pedestrian deaths in the US. The state is preceded only by Kansas, New Hampshire and Vermont. The number doubled in 10 states from 2011 through 2020. Only eight states experienced a decline: Massachusetts, New York, Wisconsin, North Dakota, West Virginia, Maine, Hawaii and Pennsylvania.
Nationally in 2021, pedestrian fatalities rose 13% from the previous year. Nearly one in five of all traffic fatalities that year involved a person on foot.
Minorities are more likely to die as pedestrians on America’s roads. In 2020, the most recent year for which such data is available, Black people accounted for 19% of pedestrian fatalities but only 13.6% of the population. White people accounted for only 37% of pedestrian deaths but 76% of the population.
From 2011 to 2020, only 26% of pedestrian fatalities occurred at an intersection, meanwhile 91% of pedestrians were on the roadway when they were struck. This indicates most victims were either crossing a road where there was no pedestrian crosswalk or walking along a road with no sidewalk.
Nearly a third of pedestrians killed in 2020 had a blood-alcohol level of at least 0.08 (the legal limit used to define drunk driving). A quarter had a level of 0.15, nearly twice the legal limit.
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