Articles Tagged with pedestrian accidents

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While a Congressional hearing considers the safety impact of daylight savings time changes, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety is calling on lawmakers to focus on reducing the risk of car accidents involving pedestrians after sundown. Car accidents involving pedestrians often involve very serious personal injuries and wrongful deaths.

It is no secret that pedestrian accident risks increase significantly during low visibility conditions like during night time.  A person’s risk of being struck by a car is far higher when he or she is walking in the dark, compared to when he or she is walking in the daytime.  There have been congressional hearings recently to analyze the impact of daylight savings time changes on both motorists as well as pedestrians, and simultaneously, calls from some quarters to eliminate daylight savings time changes altogether, because these changes increase car accident risks. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety is calling on lawmakers to focus on a much broader issue instead  – the fact that both motorists  as well as pedestrians are at risk during low visibility conditions, regardless of daylight savings time changes.

Low visibility simply makes it harder for motorists to see pedestrians in time to avoid hitting them.  For this reason, it is important for pedestrians to avoid walking in the dark as much as possible.  If you must walk around after sundown, make sure that you are wearing reflective clothing that makes it easier for drivers to spot you.  Avoid basic mistakes like walking around in dark-colored clothing.  Reflective fluorescent jackets and hats are the ideal clothing to wear in the dark.  Look into reflective tape that you can fix on your clothes. Remember, the more visible you are, the more likely a  motorist will see you in time to avoid hitting you.

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Georgia recorded a staggering 45% increase in pedestrian wrongful deaths in car accidents  between 2019 and 2021. The state is one of the worst performing ones when it comes to controlling these fatality numbers.

Latest data by the Governors Highway Safety Association  shows a dramatic increase in the number of  pedestrian  fatalities recorded in Georgia between 2019 and 2020.  The  increase was approximately 45.6% or an increase of 106 fatalities in pedestrian auto accidents between 2019 and 2021.  In  2019, there were 239 pedestrian car accidents wrongful deaths in Georgia, and that number increased to 348 fatalities in 2021. That was a significant increase in 2021,  compared to 2019.

In 2020, Georgia recorded 281 deaths  in  pedestrian car accidents,  an increase of 67 from 2019,  and a percentage point increase of 23.8 percent.  The state performs poorly on a number of parameters.  Georgia’s tally of pedestrian wrongful deaths in 2021  was the third highest increase in pedestrian car accident death numbers.  Georgia had a rate of 2.62 deaths for every 100,000 pedestrians in 2020 and a rate of 3.22 deaths for every 100,000 pedestrians in 2021.

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