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Highways and busy roads are riskiest for those traveling on foot — in Texas, I-635, I-35, I-45 and I-20 rank near the top of a newly released list of roads where the most pedestrians have been killed. But walkers on highways aren’t the only ones in peril. Forest Lane, with densely populated areas through Lake Highlands and Preston Hollow, ranks one of the state’s most fatal local streets.
Researchers at ValuePenguin and LendingTree examined which Texas roads and cities were most dangerous for pedestrians between 2016-2020. It’s worth noting the study started after a particularly bad year for pedestrian safety).
Among the study’s key findings were:
Our Dallas streets can be dangerous, but they’re not Texas’ worst.
There were 34 pedestrian deaths between 2016 and 2020 on Dallas’ Loop 12. That’s compared to 58 on Interstate 45 in Houston and 48 fatalities on Austin’s Interstate 35.
Pedestrian deaths often involve mind-altering substances— 27.6% of pedestrians killed in Texas between 2016 and 2020 tested positive for drugs and/or alcohol. Meanwhile, 7.0% of drivers who fatally struck pedestrians were formally ID’d as drunken drivers.
When it comes to the demographic groups most likely to be involved, pedestrian fatalities in Texas disproportionately affect men, who make up 72.5% of pedestrians killed. By age group, pedestrians 55 and older were most affected (34.0%). However, it’s also worth noting that around half of minor victims were 13 to 17.
Some 5.4% of pedestrian fatalities occur in a marked crosswalk. “Pedestrian failed to yield” and “walking or running on a roadway” were the top two causes of pedestrian deaths.
Local streets are the least dangerous streets for pedestrians, though fatalities still happen on residential roads, on some more than others (looking at Forest Lane, Camp Wisdom, Webb Chapel and Lake June, each averaging one fatality per year of the study).
As for busier thoroughfares, Dallas marked 34 pedestrian deaths on Loop 12, 28 on I-35, 20 on I-635 during the term of the study.
Statewide, more than 1 in 3 (37.6%) pedestrian fatalities between 2016 and 2020 occurred on an interstate or U.S. highway, while another 28.8% happened on a state route or farm-to-market road. That means 2 in 3 (66.4%) occurred on a federal or state roadway rather than a local street or road. 9.9% of pedestrian fatalities in that period took place on Interstate 35 and Interstate 10 alone.
Dallas ranked the third most fatal metro area for pedestrians in Texas, with a total 286 accidents with pedestrian harm and 289 fatalities among our population of 1,313,364 (2016-2020).
Dallas has implemented measures to increase pedestrian safety following a 2022 audit.
Dive into the full study and review the methodology here.
