Report: More Black people died in traffic deaths in 2020
6th July 2021 · 0 Comments
By Fritz Esker
Contributing Writer
Black people suffered the largest increase of traffic-related deaths in 2020, according to data from the U.S. Department of Transportation.
The U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) recently released a report with the 2020 statistics. The number of Black people who died in traffic accidents rose by 23 percent in 2020.
Charles T. Brown, founder of Equitable Cities, an urban planning research firm, told the Rev. Al Sharpton on MSNBC’s “Politics Nation” that Black people were more likely to work essential jobs and thus be on the road more during the pandemic. They were also more likely to work jobs that required them to be on the roads during nighttime, evening and early morning hours when fatality rates are at their highest. Public transit shutdowns and restrictions due to COVID also affected Black people.
“We know that they (Black people) are more likely to use public transit, but when we consider the fact that public transit wasn’t as accessible to them during COVID, that left many of them looking at alternative forms of transportation like walking, or biking, or catching a ride from a friend,” Brown told Sharpton.
Brown added that Blacks and Hispanics also tend to live farther away from their workplaces and have to spend more time on roads and interstates, making them more likely to fall victim to traffic accidents.
Smart Growth America, a non-profit organization focused on sustainable, equitable community growth, released a 2021 report titled “Dangerous By Design.” The report focused on pedestrians killed by vehicles while walking. The report noted that the number of people struck and killed by automobiles rose by 45 percent from 2010 to 2019. In that time period, Black people were struck and killed by drivers at rates 82 percent higher than those of white, non-Hispanic Americans.
Smart Growth America’s research sheds some light on the NHTSA’s numbers by finding that people walking in lower-income areas are killed at much higher rates than people walking in higher-income areas. In areas where the median household income was over $90,000 a year, less than one person per 100,000 was struck and killed by a vehicle while walking from 2010 to 2019. However, that number rose to almost three people per 100,000 in neighborhoods where the median household income was $2.5-41,000.
“This is unsurprising, given that low-income communities are significantly less likely than higher-income communities to have sidewalks, marked crosswalks, and street design to support safer, slower speeds,” wrote Smart Growth America’s report.
Calvin Gladney, president of Smart Growth America, told NBC News that the pandemic simply exacerbated longstanding issues in Black neighborhoods like a lack of crosswalks and warning signs, as well as higher speed limits.
“The types of streets that go through Black and brown neighborhoods are like mini highways where the speed limit is 35 or 45,” Gladney told NBC.
In Smart Growth America’s report, Louisiana ranked as the 6th deadliest state for pedestrians from 2010 to 2019. In the rankings of the 20 deadliest cities for pedestrians, Baton Rouge placed 16th, and is the only Louisiana city to make that list.
U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg acknowledged the racial disparities reflected in the government’s data.
“Last year’s traffic fatality rates and the racial disparities reflected in them are unacceptable,” wrote Buttigieg in an email. “This reflects broader patterns of inequity in our country – and it underscores the urgent work we must undertake as a nation to make our roads safer for every American.”
Buttigieg added that President Biden’s American Jobs Plan includes $10 billion for a Safe Streets for All program that would fund state, local and tribal initiatives to reduce vehicle crashes and fatalities.
While the data was especially troubling for Black Americans, the numbers weren’t good for Americans as a whole, either.
In a press release, the NHTSA wrote, “NHTSA’s research suggests that throughout the national public health emergency and associated lockdowns, driving patterns and behaviors changed significantly, and that drivers who remained on the roads engaged in more risky behavior, including speeding, failing to wear seat belts, and driving under the influence of drugs and alcohol. Traffic data indicates that average speeds increased throughout the year, and examples of extreme speeds became more common, while the evidence also shows that fewer people involved in crashes used their seat belts.”
When asked for a comment on the statistics, a spokesperson from the New Orleans Regional Traffic Safety Coalition wrote, “Until FARS (Fatality Analysis Reporting System) data is released, it is difficult to draw any conclusions as to what factors are leading to the increases in fatalities.”
The full report can be read online at https://smartgrowthamerica.org/dangerous-by-design.
This article originally published in the July 5, 2021 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.
