Pedestrian fatalities increased in Maryland last year even as state agencies, local jurisdictions and grassroots organizations work to improve the safety and experience of roadways for all users.
Maryland saw an 18% increase in pedestrian deaths in 2023 amid a 5% decrease nationwide, according to preliminary data from the Governors Highway Safety Association released in June.
The association estimated Maryland had 161 pedestrian fatalities last year, adjusting the data for historical underreporting, which gave the state one of the highest rates outside the South or West. Maryland’s rate of 2.61 pedestrian deaths per 100,000 was the third highest in the mid-Atlantic, behind the District of Columbia and Delaware. The 17 other states with rates higher than the national rate of 2.19 were all in the West or South.
The snapshot of Maryland’s national standing arrived as preliminary 2024 state data shows pedestrian deaths remain high and as the Maryland Department of Transportation launched a policy that elevates the interests of pedestrians, bicyclists and other non-motorists in the planning, design and building of roads.
Through June this year, 66 pedestrians have been killed in Maryland in motor-vehicle crashes, a rate of 1.06 deaths per 100,000 residents, according to preliminary data from the Highway Safety Office of the Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration. That's four fewer deaths than during the same period last year; however, investigations into more recent crashes still may be open.
MVA Administrator Chrissy Nizer said 2023 was a “bad year” for fatalities on Maryland roads overall.
Automobile crashes killed 625 drivers, passengers, motorcyclists, bicyclists, pedestrians and other non-motorists, the most since 2007, with speeding, impairment, distraction and not wearing a seat belt among the top causes.
“The high number of pedestrians that we continue to see in Maryland, about 25% of all of our fatalities, is alarming, certainly,” Nizer said. “I mean, every one of those is an individual, a family member, a friend, a community member. So we are dedicated to trying to draw those numbers down, to bring those numbers ultimately to zero.”
The ambitious target is partly a response to perceived complacency, Nizer said.
"We lose over 600 people," Nizer said. "And while there may be concern about it, it just almost seems routine at a certain point."
The MVA's Highway Safety Office runs safe driving campaigns and traffic safety programs.
The Maryland Department of Transportation, which includes MVA, implemented a new Complete Streets policy June 1 that requires all its divisions to follow planning and design principles that consider the safety, access and mobility of all users in projects in state rights of way involving more than one mode of transportation, starting next year. Replacing a 2012 policy, it could require measures like bike lanes and pedestrian crossings such as crosswalks, tunnels or bridges in certain cases.
Complete Streets is a national approach already enacted by some Maryland localities that centers on pedestrians, bicyclists and people using other mobility devices when designing and constructing roads to promote safety for all users. Painted bike lanes, ADA-compliant sidewalks, and landscape buffers are examples of Complete Streets infrastructure, though solutions can vary by jurisdiction.
It's a “philosophy” and a “toolbox,” said Todd Lang, director of transportation planning for the Baltimore Metropolitan Council, which works with local governments in the region.
While Complete Streets considers the specific needs of individual groups, it also leverages the concept of universal design, in which something designed for a particular group benefits others, such as how curb cuts for wheelchair users are also good for people pushing strollers.
Keyonna Mayo, a wheelchair user who lives in Baltimore and uses the bus, subway and light rail, thinks about people who might have mobility issues but don’t consider themselves disabled.
“So when things are more accessible for people with disabilities, it makes a more accessible and inclusive world for everyone,” said Mayo, a peer outreach and support specialist at IMAGE Center for People with Disabilities.
Baltimore County, which, according to state data, recorded Maryland's biggest year-over-year increase in pedestrian deaths in 2023, going to 29 from 16, is considering concepts for its first Complete Streets project for multimodal transportation, along Old Court Road from Reisterstown Road to Liberty Road, said Angelica Daniel, bureau chief of transportation for Baltimore County’s Department of Public Works and Transportation.
In Baltimore City, the jurisdiction's six-year-old Complete Streets Ordinance and a Bike Master Plan have narrowed roadways and created separated bike lanes, though bike lanes sometimes were opposed by residents over concerns about parking, congestion or a perceived lack of engagement with the community. Supported by a $6 million federal grant, a large-scale Complete Streets project still being designed would restore connections between Druid Hill Park and surrounding neighborhoods for pedestrians, bicyclists and transit riders.
Maryland's Complete Streets policy seeks to measure the effectiveness of state outreach to stakeholders, especially vulnerable road users and underserved communities. In Baltimore, grassroots efforts already have shaped Complete Streets projects, including the one in Druid Hill.
Across the city, a coalition that formed across historically racially divided areas over complaints about high-speed traffic in East and Southeast Baltimore is seeking funding for traffic calming near a pocket park neighboring the Patterson Park branch of the Enoch Pratt Free Library.
As Del. Robbyn Lewis, a Baltimore Democrat, formed the Livable Streets Coalition around 2019, she said, she and other door-knockers spoke with occupants of about 250 of 400 homes they visited in the Fayette and Orleans streets corridor, and about 80% said their top issue was the speed or volume of vehicles.
The first visible signs of Maryland's new Complete Streets policy are to be temporary demonstration projects in partnership with advocacy group Smart Growth America. Targeting intersections or corridors with histories of fatalities or crashes in Bel Air, Hagerstown and Howard County, they are to be completed by fall and removed by the end of the year.
