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Preliminary data show pedestrian traffic deaths increasing in Washington

By Jerzy Shedlock, Columbian Breaking News Reporter
Published: February 28, 2018, 11:19am

Editor’s note: This story was updated on March 1, 2018 to include information from the Clark County Sheriff’s Office.

Preliminary data show pedestrian traffic deaths in Washington are climbing, mirroring a national trend.

There were 44 pedestrian deaths in Washington for the first half of 2017.

The total marks a 22.2 percent increase when compared to the first six months of 2016, according to data released by the Governors Highway Safety Association, a nonprofit that represents regional highway safety offices and implements related federal grants.

The report does not include Clark County specific data but notes the county’s efforts to provide citations to both walkers and drivers who fail to follow pedestrian laws in the section “What States Are Doing.”

According to data from the Washington Traffic Safety Commission, Clark County’s portion of the governor association’s calculated statewide total of deaths isn’t over large.

There were three pedestrian traffic deaths in Clark County in the first six months of 2017. There were two such deaths in the first half 2016. The total number of pedestrian deaths in the county for 2016 was five, according to the commission. The total for last year hasn’t been collected.

In Oregon, there were 35 such deaths over the same time frame, resulting in a 20.7 percent increase over last year, according to the GHSA data.

Washington ranks 28th nationwide for pedestrian deaths while Oregon ranks 20th.

GHSA called the preliminary data it collected alarming. The association said in its report the number of pedestrian deaths has grown faster than all other traffic-related deaths. In fact, the number of pedestrian deaths nationwide has increased 27 percent from 2007 to 2016, while at the same time, all other traffic deaths decreased 14 percent.

If the percentage increases are too detached from real events to find worrisome, consider this additional finding: the association estimates about 6,000 pedestrians were killed in motor vehicle crashes nationwide in 2017. The total is unchanged essentially from the previous year, but as the report notes, “It has been more than 25 years since the U.S. experienced this level of pedestrian fatalities.”

So what’s causing the increase?

GHSA was unwilling to make any official statements on the cause of climbing pedestrian deaths, stating many factors outside the control of traffic safety officials contribute to the annual changes in the number of deaths, including economic conditions, demographics, weather and fuel prices.

However, it made a point to say something that might be contributing to the increase is marijuana legalization.

The seven states, and Washington D.C., that legalized the recreational use of marijuana between 2012 and 2016 reported a collective 16.4 percent increase in pedestrian fatalities for the first six months of 2017 versus the first half of the previous year, according to the data.

All other states experienced a collective 5.8 percent decrease.

Vancouver Police Department Traffic Unit investigations show many pedestrian deaths over the past two years involve pedestrians who are intoxicated and not crossing in crosswalks, spokeswoman Kim Kapp said in an email.

“The drivers that struck the pedestrians have not shown impairment and only one driver showed the metabolite of cocaine in his system,” Kapp said.

In Vancouver, the police department’s cases have not shown marijuana has been a contributing factor in the deaths, she said.

Clark County Sheriff’s Office’s Traffic Unit responded to eight car crashes involving pedestrians that warranted more thorough investigations in 2017. Two of the crashes were fatal, said Sgt. Alex Schoening.

One of those fatal accidents involved a pedestrian who was drunk; it’s unknown if marijuana was a factor, Schoening said.

There are a couple of the serious-injury collisions the sheriff’s office is awaiting toxicology reports on, as impairment was suspected, but the sergeant said he doesn’t see a trend emerging.

“At least with the (pedestrian-related) collisions, I’m not seeing a trend involving marijuana. Echoing the VPD response, our crashes have often involved pedestrians impaired by alcohol and walking in areas not typical for pedestrians,” Schoening said.

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Columbian Breaking News Reporter