Pedestrian accidents are increasing nationwide, according to USA Today, and experts are uncertain of the reason. Pedestrian accidents went up 4.2% in 2010 from the year before. The number pedestrians injured in all car accidents increased 19%. The four years prior, pedestrian accidents had decreased. From 2000 to 2009 all pedestrian accidents were down 14%.
“Quite frankly, I don’t know why they went up,” said researcher James Hedlund. “Nobody knows. As far as I can tell, nobody has studied the issue. The data (are) too new.”
Many suggestions have been made, from an increase in speed limits to low-income residents and immigrants moving to urban areas, and even to pedestrians being distracted by cell phones.
“Nobody has good data,” says Richard Wener, professor from the Polytechnic Institute of New York University. “But there is, by now, a number of studies that indicate pedestrian distraction is real. It’s very much like driving a car and being on a cell phone. You’re much more likely to miss something around you.”
Have you or a loved one been injured in a pedestrian accident?
Wooten, Kimbrough & Normand, P.A.—Orlando personal injury attorneys.
