GHSA does not track state pedestrian safety laws but does track bicycle helmet laws in states where they have been enacted. Few states have enacted bicycle helmet laws. While GHSA only tracks state laws, many localities require helmet use for some or all bicyclists.
Sources: Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) and State Highway Safety Offices.
Laws last reviewed by SHSOs in March 2023.
Bicycle helmets required for all riders under 18.
Bicycle helmets required for all riders under 15.
Bicycle helmets required for all riders.
Bicycle helmets required for all riders under 16.
Bicycle helmets required for all riders under 16.
Bicycle helmets required for all riders under 12.
Bicycle helmets required for all riders under 16.
Bicycle helmets required for all riders under 18.
Bicycle helmets required for all riders under 16.
Bicycle helmets required for all riders 1 year or older and under 14. Children under 1 prohibited.
Bicycle helmets required for all riders under 17.
Bicycle helmets required for all riders under 16.
Bicycle helmets required for all riders under 17.
Bicycle helmets required for all riders under 16.
Bicycle helmets required for all riders under 16. $25 fine for a second or subsequent violation.
Bicycle helmets required for all riders under 12.
Bicycle helmets required for all riders under 16.
Bicycle helmets required for all riders.
Bicycle helmets required for all riders under 16.
Bicycle helmets required for all riders under 16.
Bicycle helmets required for all riders under 16.
Bicycle helmets required for all riders under 18.
Bicycle helmets required for all riders under 16.
Bicycle helmets required for all riders under 18.
Bicycle helmets required for all riders under 16.
How many deaths does it take to get the government to take a crisis seriously? That’s the question raised by the Governors Highway Safety Association’s latest preliminary report on pedestrian deaths in 2022. The annual overview of state data on pedestrian fatalities helps the public and policymakers get a better understanding of the overall picture of road safety in the US.
Experts attribute the increase of deaths on faster driving speeds, a lack of pedestrian-friendly road infrastructure and consumer tastes shifting towards increasingly heavier and high-riding trucks and SUVs. “The vehicle has evolved to better protect the people inside of it, but it hasn’t evolved to protect people on the outside,” said Pam Shadel Fischer, GHSA’s Senior Director of External Engagement.
Pam Shadel Fischer, senior director of external engagement at the Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA), said the 41-year high signals a “crisis” in pedestrian safety. “It has been getting worse every year,” Fischer said. “We’ve focused so much on making vehicles safer for the people inside, but we’ve sort of lost track of what we are doing for the folks outside vehicles to really address their safety.”
“It’s a problem that’s persisting and seems to be getting worse,” says Russ Martin, senior director of policy and government relations at the Governors Highway Safety Association.
At least 7,508 people who were out walking were struck and killed in the United States last year, said the report, published on Friday by the Governors Highway Safety Association, a nonprofit that represents states’ safety offices.
Pedestrian deaths have surged 77% since 2010, compared to a 25% increase for all other traffic-related fatalities. Dangerous driving, inadequate infrastructure, and larger and heavier vehicles have contributed to the continuing pedestrian safety crisis on our roads.
A new study paints a grim picture of American roads: every day, 20 people walk outside and end up killed by a moving vehicle. "There are more pedestrians being killed today than in decades," Russ Martin, the senior director of policy and government relations at the Governors Highway Safety Association, told NPR.
GHSA's annual spotlight report, Pedestrian Traffic Fatalities by State: 2022 Preliminary Data, offers a comprehensive look at state and national trends in pedestrian deaths in 2022. The report projects that drivers struck and killed at least 7,508 people walking in 2022 – the highest number since 1981 and an average of 20 deaths every day.
“The shocking thing is, nothing seems to be changing,” said Russ Martin, senior director of policy and government relations at GHSA, in an interview. “We’re still considering the same contributing factors that are driving these trends, and it seems like we’re not really making progress.”
Drivers struck and killed at least 7,508 people walking in the United States in 2022 – the most pedestrian deaths since 1981 – according to a new report released today by GHSA.
