Older pedestrians are far more likely to be killed while walking than their younger neighbors, according to a new study by the Tri-State Transportation Campaign. This is especially true in New Jersey, downstate New York, and Connecticut, where fatality rates for older pedestrians are far higher than in the rest of the country.

Between 2006 and 2008, 461 pedestrians aged 60 years and older were killed on the tri-state region’s roads. Though comprising only 17.6 percent of the region’s population, people aged 60 and older accounted for 37 percent of the total pedestrian fatalities during the three-year period. Those aged 75 years and older represent just 6.3 percent of the region’s population, but more than 17.4 percent of pedestrian deaths.

The most dangerous types of roads for older pedestrians were wide, high-speed thoroughfares, according to the Campaign’s analysis. Nearly two-thirds of all older pedestrian fatalities in the tri-state region occurred on these types of roads, known to engineers as arterials.

To reduce these tragedies, the report recommends that states:

• Create or increase funds for state “safe routes for seniors,” “safe routes to transit,” and “safe routes to school” programs (the types of road design changes which improve safety for children also improve safety for older pedestrians).
• Designating 10% of funds from two federal grant programs – the Highway Safety Improvement Program and Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality program – for pedestrian safety.
• Pass or implement complete streets policies that will require roads to accommodate pedestrians and all road users (Connecticut recently passed a complete streets law; New Jersey recently implemented a complete streets policy; advocates are working for a complete streets law [S-5711/A-8587] in New York).

Within the region, some counties were far more dangerous for older pedestrians than others.  Manhattan ranked at the top of the list, followed by Brooklyn.  But the problem was not limited to New York City.  Nassau County on Long Island had 39 older pedestrian fatalities from 2006 through 2008, giving the county an older pedestrian fatality rate of 4.69 per 100,000 persons. And two of New Jersey’s shore counties, Atlantic and Ocean, ranked just behind.  The table below shows the top ten most dangerous counties for older pedestrians.

The full report and county-specific fact sheets can be found on TSTC’s website.

Image: Graph and photo from TSTC Older Pedestrians at Risk report. Data from NHTSA’s FARS database.