The number of deaths resulting from hit-and-run car accidents is on the rise, according to a new study by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety.
The study found that the number of deaths caused by hit-and-run crashes was 2,049 deaths in 2016 – the highest number on record, reflecting a 60 percent increase since 2009. About 65 percent of people killed in hit-and-run crashes were pedestrians or bicyclists. Highway workers are also victims of these crashes. Last March, two South Carolina Department of Transportation workers were killed in a hit-and-run crash.
Hit-and-run deaths in the United States have increased an average of 7.2 percent each year since 2009. The three states with the highest rates of fatal hit-and-crashes are New Mexico, Louisiana and Florida. The three states with the lowest rates of fatal hit-and-run accidents are New Hampshire, Maine, and Minnesota.
Overall, an average of 682,000 hit-and-run crashes has occurred each year since 2006. That means that more than one hit-and-run crash occurs every minute on U.S. roads.
While the study’s authors revealed no finding that directly explains this rise in hit-and-run deaths, distracted drivers and pedestrians are likely contributing factors.
“Distracted behavior does play a role, but also remember that over the last decade, public health officials have pushed for more walking and biking,” Jake Nelson, AAA’s director of traffic safety advocacy and research, said. “And while there are enormous benefits to those activities, what has not always happened is the installation of ‘infrastructure countermeasures’ to protect pedestrians and bicyclists from motor vehicles.”