In our last post we discussed recent NHTSA data indicating that the number of pedestrian accident fatalities and personal injuries is climbing despite falling rates of car accident injuries and deaths. Some experts are puzzled by the spike in pedestrian deaths and several answers have been proposed.

"Quite frankly, I don't know why they went up," said a researcher for the Governors Highway Safety Association. "Nobody knows. As far as I can tell, nobody has studied the issue. The data are too new."

There are several explanations for the increase in pedestrian accidents including improper road designs in suburban areas. Increasingly large roads are being built to move massive amounts of traffic. The problem is that these roads were not designed with pedestrians in mind and may force individuals to jaywalk across massive expanses of traffic.

Another factor in the spike in pedestrian accidents may be the proliferation of smart phones in our society. One NYU professor recently conducted a study which showed that pedestrians using cellphones were more likely to walk into traffic without looking than those without cellphones.

"It's very much like driving a car and being on a cellphone," the professor warned. "You're much more likely to miss something around you. Even worse is texting. The likelihood of an accident being really bad or fatal is higher when you're not protected by 2 tons of steel."

Alcohol is another factor in many car accidents. Almost half of pedestrian fatalities in 2009 involved alcohol use. 35 percent of the pedestrians killed were legally drunk and 13 percent of the drivers involved were intoxicated. About 6 percent of the accidents involved both intoxicated drivers and pedestrians.

Source: USA Today, "As U.S. road deaths drop, more pedestrians getting struck," Larry Copeland, Dec. 9, 2011