Fatal Pedestrian Accidents in Arizona
Arizona has a population of 6,828,065. In 2015 there were 893 fatalities due to traffic accidents, compared to 35,092 in the United States as a whole, which has a population of 321,418,820. These deaths translate to 13.08 traffic deaths per 100,000 residents. The United States had 10.92 deaths per 100,000 in 2015, which means you are more likely to die in an accident in Arizona than in other areas of the United States.
Pedestrians are one of the most vulnerable roadway users, and every year more than 100 people are killed in our state while they are walking to school or work, jogging around town, or even waiting for a bus by the side of the road. In fact, 153 people were killed by vehicles in 2015 alone, a significant increase from the ten year low of 118 in 2009 but a decrease from the decade high of 167 in 2006. These numbers represent a troubling trend as they consistently reflect about 15 percent to 18 percent of the total number of people who were killed in traffic crashes in our state.
Speed and alcohol impairment are two common causes of these types of accident deaths. However, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that nationally, 49 percent of pedestrian deaths are caused by alcohol, but in 34 percent of these cases, the pedestrian was inebriated, not the vehicle driver.
When looking at pedestrian fatalities caused by traffic accidents by county, you will see the vast majority of fatalities occurred in Maricopa County. In 2015, Maricopa County suffered the deaths of 98 pedestrians in crashes or about 2.35 deaths per 100,000 residents. Pima County had the second most fatalities with 19 or 1.88 fatalities per 100,000. In Graham County, three pedestrians were killed in crashes, which equates to about 8 deaths per 100,000 residents, the highest in the state.