Healthy Communities Assessment Tool

The Pedestrian and Bicycle Injuries by Motor Vehicles indicator captures the annual number of injuries to a pedestrian or bicyclist by a motor vehicle on public roadways and rights of way per 1,000 people. Crash data from the Critical Analysis Reporting Environment (CARE) software was used to identify crash locations during the three-year period from 2014 to 2016. In 2015, 5,376 pedestrians were killed in traffic crashes in the United States. This averages to one crash-related pedestrian death every 1.6 hours. Additionally, almost 129,000 pedestrians were treated in emergency departments for non-fatal crash-related injuries in 2015. Pedestrians are 1.5 times more likely than passenger vehicle occupants to be killed in a car crash on each trip. Furthermore, young people and minorities have a higher risk for pedestrian fatalities. Because the risk of fatal injury is higher for walking and bicycling than for driving or taking public transportation, there is often a negative perception connected to walkability and safety, i.e., walking and biking are unsafe modes of transportation. The World Health Organization e-manual provides information to use in designing and implementing interventions that can improve pedestrian safety in local and sub-national settings around the world. Successful interventions to protect pedestrians and promote safe walking require an understanding of the nature of risk factors for pedestrian crashes. Examples of large-scale pedestrian safety programs include, Safe Routes to School (SRTS) programs, which are designed to make walking and bicycling to school safe and accessible for children. Implementation of the SRTS program appears to have contributed to improving traffic safety for school-age children in the United States. In addition to the Health Systems and Public Safety domain, the Pedestrian and Bicycle Injuries by Motor Vehicles indicator is tied to the Transportation Services domain.