Colorado has been experiencing an increase in pedestrian-car accidents across the state, which has forced groups and leaders to take aim at reducing those incidents. According to authorities, the number of fatal car accidents involving pedestrians has almost doubled in over the past decade across Colorado. Because of the spike, authorities have released campaigns aimed at both drivers and pedestrians in an effort to reduce these horrific accidents.
In Aurora, police officers walked up and down the streets handing out flyers educating the public on distracted driving and distracted walking. Sometimes, the pedestrians can be just as distracted as the worst distracted driver. The goal of the police in Aurora is to get the message out that pedestrians are putting themselves in danger by not obeying all the traffic laws on the books.
Police across the state are trying to get a message to pedestrians that a car does not have to be traveling at highway speed to kill a pedestrian. According to data, if a car hits a pedestrian going 40 mph, 90 percent of the time the pedestrian will die of his or her injuries from the crash.
The Colorado Department of Transportation released data that shows 40 pedestrians were killed across the state in 2010. It was a bit of a decline compared to 51 deaths in 2009 and 47 deaths in 2008. That number has increased immensely since then, hitting 90 in 2017. As of the start of July 2018, there have been 30 pedestrian deaths across the state.
Pedestrian-motor vehicle accidents are serious crashes that affect everyone in Fort Collins and the rest of Colorado. This is an ongoing problem that will only get worse unless drivers and pedestrians take safety into their own hands.