Maryland pedestrian accidents

March 8, 2024

Maryland Backup and Parking Lot Crashes: Do Rear-View Safety Systems Prevent Pedestrian Accidents?

Most Maryland drivers have found themselves in this frightening situation. You’re slowly backing out of a parking space, watching your surroundings, when suddenly – a pedestrian walks directly behind your vehicle. You slam on your brakes to avoid an accident. Or maybe you have an automatic emergency rear braking system that stops the vehicle for you, or a system with rear-cross traffic warning that warns of people or other objects behind the automobile.

Backup cameras have been mandatory for all new vehicles manufactured since 2018. So how effective are new automotive safety technologies in preventing pedestrian accidents that occur while the vehicle is backing up? AAA has released reports on backup cameras and other rear-view safety features with interesting findings.

December 14, 2023

Maryland Pedestrian Accident Deaths: Top Causes and Characteristics

by Jeff Butschky

Pedestrians are at a serious disadvantage when they are involved in motor vehicle accidents. Even when a pedestrian is struck by a slow-moving vehicle, serious injuries and fatalities can occur. This includes people who are hit while walking, running, standing or simply getting out of their vehicle. The risk of serious pedestrian injury and fatality increases the faster the vehicle involved is going.

In Maryland, roughly 3,000 traffic accidents a year involve pedestrians. Over the last five years, on average, 125 people die annually in Maryland pedestrian accidents involving at least one motor vehicle.

Zero Deaths Maryland — a public safety initiative of the Maryland Department of Transportation (MDOT) Motor Vehicle Administration — compiles data related to all traffic crashes in the state. The top causes and contributing factors in Maryland fatal pedestrian accidents are as follows:

March 8, 2023

Maryland Pedestrian – Traffic Accident Death Rates Up in 2022

by Jeff Butschky

According to Zero Deaths Maryland, 134 pedestrians were killed in motor vehicle accidents in 2022. This is up from 125 pedestrian – traffic crash deaths in Maryland in 2019. The increase in pedestrian accident fatalities in our state is in keeping with an alarming national trend.

A National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) report in 2020 ranked Maryland 15^th highest in the nation for pedestrian accident deaths, with a Pedestrian Fatality Rate of 2.15 per 100,000 population. Worst in the U.S. was New Mexico, followed by South Carolina, Mississippi, and Florida. Maine had the lowest rates for fatal pedestrian-involved motor vehicle accidents, followed by Massachusetts and Idaho.

So why have Maryland pedestrian fatalities risen in recent years?

July 31, 2019

Maryland Pedestrian Accident Fatalities on the Rise

by Jeff Butschky

With distracted driving becoming a life-threatening hazard on our roadways, it may come as no surprise that pedestrian accidents and fatalities are increasing as well. While vehicle safety enhancements have helped to protect drivers and passengers in the event of an auto accident, pedestrians are still just as much at risk of injury and death. Now, a national report shows that traffic-related pedestrian accident deaths are overall increasing—including in Maryland.

A Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA) report releasing preliminary data for the first half of 2018 showed Maryland pedestrian accident deaths rose by 25 percent between 2017 and 2018 — from 48 to 60 deaths. While some states have made strides to increase pedestrian safety and reduce fatalities, the GHSA projects an overall 4 percent increase in traffic-accident pedestrian fatalities for all of 2018. More than 6,200 pedestrians were killed on U.S. roadways last year—disturbing pedestrian fatality numbers that haven’t been seen since 1990.

The increase in traffic-related pedestrian fatalities has traffic safety and public health officials very concerned. The causes for the increase in pedestrian accidents and deaths vary, with dangerous driving and walking at nighttime topping the list. The GHSA attributes the national rise in pedestrian accident death to key factors, including…