There has been some notably good news on the automobile accident front in Florida and across the United States over the course of the past 40 years. As the result of a sharper focus on automobile safety features and solider construction, the number individuals who lost their lives in motor vehicle crashes has dropped from 50,000 in 1980 to 36,560 in 2018. With that positive statistic presented, not all of the news regarding motor vehicle fatalities is good.
Riskier today to be a pedestrian
During this time period, the number of pedestrians killed in motor vehicle accidents has steadily moved upward. In other words, it is riskier being a pedestrian at this juncture in time than during prior years. A critical contributing factor to the rise in pedestrian deaths in U.S.. motor vehicle accidents is the wider prevalence of SUVs on roadways today, including in Florida.
Increase in SUV and pedestrian fatal accidents
An analysis of data of personal injury claims involving motor vehicles in which SUVs collided with pedestrians is illuminative and alarming. The rate of fatal accidents in which SUVs struck and killed pedestrians increased by a stunning 81% between 2009 and 2016, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.
Organizations like the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety continue to make recommendations to SUV manufacturers to make certain design changes to these types of vehicles to make them less inherently dangerous to pedestrians and other motorists. With that said, every year in Florida and around the country pedestrians and other motorists suffer more severe injuries because of the existing design features of sport utility vehicles.