The Delaware Office of Highway Safety and AAA Mid-Atlantic are calling on drivers and pedestrians to focus on pedestrian safety.
The Governors Highway Safety Association report on Pedestrian Traffic Fatalities list Delaware has having the highest number of pedestrian fatalities per 100,000 population in 2016.
OHS spokesman Mitch Topal says that’s why his agency and AAA are focusing heavily on pedestrian safety this holiday season.
"Mainly because we’ve got as lot more cars on the road. We have the potential for more impaired drivers; it’s the holiday season and people are going to Christmas parties," said Topal. "We also have shorter days; people are going to work or school in the dark.”
Topal says the effort to keep pedestrians safe on our roads requires both drivers and pedestrians to play their part.
So far in 2017, there has been 30 pedestrian fatalities in Delaware. That’s up from 27 in all of 2016. In 2015, there were 36 pedestrian fatalities statewide.
Topal says since 2013, 55% of pedestrians killed were under the influence of alcohol; 82% of pedestrians were killed in dark conditions and 90% of pedestrians killed were killed outside of a crosswalk.
