Washington State Non-Motorist Accident Statistics
- On average, between 70 and 90
non-motorists (either pedestrians or
bicyclists) are killed in auto accidents
each year in Washington State. The
fatality rate has trended downwards over the
last decade from 1.57 deaths per 100,000
Washingtonians in 1997 to a rate of 1.24 in
2006. This represents a decrease of
21%.
- According to the national Fatality
Analysis Reporting System (FARS), a
surprising percentage of pedestrians killed
in auto accidents had consumed alcohol prior
to the collision. Out of 706
pedestrian deaths between 1997 and 2006, 589
were tested for alcohol. Of those,
37.5% had consumed some amount of alcohol,
while 27.2% had a blood alcohol content of
.15 or greater.
- The highest percentage of non-motorist
fatalities occurred on urban city streets,
representing roughly half of all fatalities.
Moderate numbers of fatalities occurred on
highways and county roads. Only 9% of
fatalities occurred on interstates.
- Non-motorist fatality rates generally
increase with the age of the victim.
The fatality rate per 100,000 population for
those aged 0-14 is only 0.61, while the rate
for the 80+ age group is 4.07.
Fatality rates for the 70-79 and 80+ age
groups are significantly higher than those
for other age groups.
- Non-motorist fatality rates are
comparable across most races, with a rate of
0.05 fatalities per 100,000 population for
both whites and Native Americans and a 0.01
rate for both black and Asian fatalities.
The Hispanic fatality rate stands out
sharply at 0.28.
- Non-motorist fatalities occur more
frequently at night (433 deaths between 1997
and 2006, compared to 373 deaths during the
day. The highest number of fatalities,
21%, occurred between 6 and 9 PM.
Non-motorist fatalities also occur more
frequently in the fall and winter months
than in the spring and summer, with the
highest percentage of deaths occurring in
January (10.3%) and December (12.4%).
Non-motorist fatalities are least frequent
in the spring, with March, April and May
representing just 6.3%, 6.1%, and 5.8% of
total fatalities, respectively.
- Non-motorist fatalities occur most
frequently in the highly populated Puget
Sound area. King, Pierce, and
Snohomish counties together account for
57.7% of non-motorist fatalities between
1997 and 2006. When population density
is taken into account, however, Grant,
Lincoln, and Skagit counties had the highest
rates of non-motorist fatalities per 100,000
population.
