New data released last week by the city of Phoenix paints a grim portrait of the road deaths on the city’s streets (already regularly ranked as some of the most dangerous in the country). For the first six months of this year, pedestrian, cyclist and motorist deaths have all increased, putting the city on a path to surpass deaths in 2019 and 2020, according to a presentation by the city’s Road Traffic Department on Wednesday. “To put it bluntly, based on this data, Phoenix is the worst city in the country for road deaths,” said Kini Knudson, director of road traffic, on Wednesday. According to statistics from the US Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Phoenix ranks third in the country for total road deaths after Los Angeles and Houston. But Phoenix has more traffic deaths per capita than any other city of its size – though smaller cities like Memphis and Albuquerque outperform them. Related Stories I Support Local Community Journalism Support the independent voice of Phoenix and help keep the future of the New Times clear. Based on the number of deaths in Phoenix this year, the problem appears to be getting worse. After years of rising road deaths – which peaked at 230 deaths in 2018 – Phoenix saw a slight decrease in deaths in 2019, although the number of accidents increased. But the pandemic reversed that trend: In 2020, Phoenix driver deaths rose 30 percent from 2019. This follows national trends, says Knudson: There were more road deaths in cities across the country, even if fewer cars were on the road. The reasons for this, both in Phoenix and nationally, are not yet clear, although some have speculated that the empty streets have led to riskier journeys. While the number of motorist deaths increased, pedestrian and cyclist deaths in Phoenix declined during the pandemic. Last year, Phoenix drivers killed three cyclists and 69 pedestrians. This trend did not last long. In the first six months of this year alone, 58 drivers and four cyclists and 52 pedestrians were killed in traffic accidents. If the number of deaths is similar in the second half of this year, 2021 could beat 2018 and have the highest number of road deaths in the last six years. For advocates of mass transit, the data serves as another reminder of the problem in Phoenix. Critics fear the city is slow to tackle the problem. “We have to act more aggressively,” said Ryan Boyd, spokesman for the Urban Phoenix Project, an urban development advocacy group. “The way we did things doesn’t work, and it doesn’t work fast enough either.” That summer, beloved Phoenix resident, Hans Hughes, who worked as an ambassador in downtown Phoenix for years, went from hit a drunk rider on his bike and later died – causing a wave of grief, along with renewed calls for bike safety in Phoenix. In September, more than 200 cyclists drove the streets for Hughes to raise awareness. But so far the reaction of the city has been subdued. City officials presented the city’s current approach to road safety at the committee meeting this week. This latest initiative, known as the ‘Road Safety Action Plan’, is mainly to collect data and hold public forums in order to have a ‘recommendation system’ on the matter by next autumn. Boyd called the city’s “more of the same” plan. “The plan is so moderate and incremental that it’s better than nothing, but it won’t reverse the trend,” he said. Knudson said Wednesday that the plan will determine “how we will deal with the problem” and “provide guidance and directions” to the council on the matter. However, its conclusions are still a year away.
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