Atlanta’s rate of pedestrians killed by vehicles is rising and is worse in majority-Black neighborhoods, according to new data mapping by the advocacy group Propel ATL.
The new report, “38 Reasons Why,” analyzes the 38 pedestrian deaths reported within city limits in 2022, the last year for which complete data is available. That death rate was 26 percent higher than in 2021 and 52 percent higher than in 2020, the report says.
“The rise marks a continued upward trend that started in 2018 in a city whose overall traffic fatality rates are already high compared with similarly sized cities,” Propel ATL wrote in a press release.
The report found over 35,000 vehicle crashes on Atlanta streets — including highways — in 2022. Of those, 548 involved people walking, biking or rolling.
Most crashes involving bicyclists and pedestrians happened in the dense areas of Downtown and Midtown, but the crash rates were lowest there and higher in outlying neighborhoods analyzed by Atlanta City Council districts. More than two-thirds of pedestrian fatalities — 25 out of the 38 — happened in majority-Black neighborhoods, the report says.
The City had similar findings as part of its “Atlanta Vision Zero,” a plan in the works intended to eliminate pedestrian deaths and serious injuries with better designs.
One bright spot in 2022 was no bicyclist fatalities from vehicle collections. The report suggests one factor is improved bicycling infrastructure, such as dedicated lanes.
Some other key findings include:
- 63 percent of pedestrian fatalities occurred on roadways that didn’t have sidewalks.
- 38 percent of bicycle and pedestrian crashes occurred on state routes that tend to lack sidewalks and bike lanes.
- 29 percent of bicycle and pedestrian crashes were hit-and-runs.
Propel ATL says it sees similar rises in pedestrian death and overall traffic fatalities in the larger areas of Clayton, DeKalb and Fulton counties.
Besides the numbers, the report also profiles some of the pedestrians killed in 2022, reflecting the personal costs of lives lost. One of them is Brittany Glover, 33, a food truck operator and new graduate of flight attendant training who was killed by a hit-and-run driver on Donald Lee Hollowell Parkway, where the report says crosswalks are lacking.
Police are still seeking her killer. City Councilmembers Byron Amos and Keisha Sean Waites have scheduled a Nov. 17 press conference to announce an increase of the reward for offering information about the case.
Interesting article and I’m not surprised by this. I’m a frequent urban hiker and on each walk there’s at least one incident where the driver speeds through a crosswalk where I have the right of way. Worst intersections? Monroe / Piedmont and Peachtree / Collier.
Last year I had a car nearly run me down at a then-unmarked crosstalk by a MARTA station. I yelled. He stopped his car, turned it around, and confronted me in the station parking lot, wanting to fight.
He really believes that people don’t have the right of way.
P.S. The crosswalk has since been repaved. But drivers still zoom right through it while I’m walking across that street.
The biggest problem in Atlanta with traffic including with pedestrians and cyclists is people don’t follow the rules or do what they are supposed to, but do what they think they can get away with.
Automobile operators speeding, running red lights, illegally turning left on red or across lanes, etc., cyclists disobeying traffic signals, weaving in and out of traffic, operating their bikes without proper lighting, or reflectors, pedestrians illegally crossing streets, individuals panhandling in traffic, are all common unsafe acts that are committed daily.
Installing more traffic cameras and stricter enforcement of current traffic laws with stiffer penalties for drivers, cyclists and pedestrians, would have an immediate positive impact on accidents, injuries and deaths.
Most bike lanes are relatively unused compared to the cost to taxpayers to constructing them. Perhaps a better solution would be to use shared sidewalks like many cities in Europe do rather than constructing a separate bike lane. Sidewalks could be widened if the city was serious about burying utility lines and removing archaic “telephone” poles like the rest of the modernized countries did decades ago.