In 2007, 4,654 pedestrians were killed in traffic crashes in the United States — a decrease of 13 percent from the 5,321 pedestrians killed in 1997. 70,000 pedestrians were injured.

Nationally, pedestrians account for 11% of motor vehicle deaths, with urban areas having higher fatality rates than rural areas. 698 bicyclists were also were also killed in 2007, accounting for an additional 2 percent of all traffic fatalities.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates that a pedestrian is killed in a traffic crash almost every two hours and injured in a traffic crash every 8 minutes on our nation’s roadways.

Pedestrian fatality and injury rates in the greater Washington, DC region are typical for a major urbanized area, but still high in proportion to the number of pedestrian trips. Approximately 2700 pedestrians and bicyclists are injured every year in the Washington region, and eighty-nine are killed. Pedestrian and bicyclist fatalities accounted for23% of the total traffic fatalities in the District of Columbia, suburban Maryland and northern Virginia from 2004-2008.