Inland Empire among most dangerous regions for pedestrians, study says – San Bernardino Sun

The Inland Empire was in the top 10 nationwide for most pedestrian fatalities per 100,000 residents in 2024, according to a new report.

The Riverside/San Bernardino/Ontario area was tied with New Orleans/Metairie, Louisiana, for 10th place, with an average of 3.73 deaths per 100,000 people annually between 2020 and 2024, according to a new 25-page report by Smart Growth America.

Fresno comes in at No. 7, and Bakersfield/Delano came in at No. 3. California overall comes in eighth among states.

According to the report, Dangerous by Design, these deaths are due to design choices that prioritize motorists over pedestrians.

“Street design informs how fast people drive, where people cross the street, and how to accommodate other modes” of travel, the report reads in part. “While speed limit signs may be posted only every few blocks or miles, the road’s design is always present, providing guidance and visual cues that shape behavior in powerful ways that most people do not realize.”

Smart Growth America is a Washington, D.C.-based non-profit that promotes development policies that it says promote healthier local communities.

“When roads are wide and straight, lanes are wide and plentiful, and intersections are infrequent or non-signalized, people feel comfortable driving faster—even when the speed limit is low. The result can be streets that are terrifying for people walking. Long crossing distances, infrequent signals, and high-speed turns force pedestrians to take their lives into their hands simply to reach the other side of the street,” the report continues.

The Inland Empire and California are not alone in these issues.

Pedestrian deaths rose 72% between 2009 and 2024, according to the National Highway Traffic Administration, outpacing both population growth and increased vehicle miles traveled. In 2024, 7,080 people were struck and killed while walking.

According to the 2009 Dangerous by Design report, there were an average of 1.96 pedestrian deaths in the 20 most dangerous metropolitan areas in the U.S. In 2026, that number had risen to 3.93 deaths.

In the 2009 report, the Inland Empire — then the 18th most dangerous metropolitan area, among metro areas with a population of 1 million or more — had 1.94 average pedestrian deaths per 100,000 residents, a little more than half of the 2024 number.

“If we were any other country, this would be treated as a national crisis. Instead, our leaders are quick to accept these deaths as a necessary aspect of our transportation system,” Beth Osborne, President and CEO of Smart Growth America is quoted as saying in a press release that accompanied by the report.

The Dangerous by Design report doesn’t single out the most dangerous areas for pedestrians in the Inland Empire.

UC Berkeley’s Safe Transportation Research & Education Center, which uses data provided by the California Highway Patrol, uses a different standard. It looks at pedestrian fatalities as a percentage of all traffic deaths.

According to the center, as of June 8, 358 pedestrians have been killed in Riverside County in the past five years — 24.5% of the county’s 1,460 traffic fatalities during that period. In San Bernardino County, 499 pedestrians have been killed in the past five years, or 26.3% of the county’s 1,899 traffic fatalities.

A total of 5,521 pedestrians have been killed statewide over the past five years. That’s 27.4% of California’s 20,148 traffic fatalities.

James E. Moore II, an emeritus professor and the founding past director of USC’s Transportation Engineering Program, has mixed feelings about the Dangerous by Design report.

“This report combines some sensible material with some nonsense,” he wrote in an email.

A self-described “big fan of the benefits of automobility,” he called Smart Growth America and its National Complete Streets Coalition program “anti-automobile organizations.”

“No one wants dead pedestrians, but pedestrian safety alone is not a meaningful measure of what the transportation system delivers to the economy or to society,” Moore wrote.

The report authors argue for “the universal implementation of street design changes that would slow down cars, improve visibility, and create safe travel for everyone using the street.”

“This is true, but it ignores the trade-off that any change has to manage,” Moore wrote. “Greater safety means greater delay for people traveling in cars. Pursuing greater safety may well be worth the outcome, but no one can make the decision meaningfully by ignoring the costs associated with the steps taken to achieve it,” including higher density housing and more commuters using mass transit instead of individual cars.

“On balance, it is a shallow report,” Moore wrote. “It is not very specific, because the authors do not want to go on the record with how far they are prepared to go to suppress driving. The report is entirely correct that facilities need to be designed to accommodate pedestrians. There should be sidewalks where there are none. Pedestrian crossings should be visible where they are not. Exclusive pedestrian movements should be allowed at busy intersections. Most of the report however is a rationale for using pedestrian death rates to modify the transportation system in ways that suppress the use of cars, and which may well offer more pedestrian safety, but will also produce outcomes most residents do not and will not want.”

Both Riverside County and San Bernardino County officials say they take pedestrian safety seriously. (County transportation agencies are responsible for roads outside of incorporated cities and towns.)

“Pedestrian collisions are complex and can be influenced by many factors, including roadway characteristics, traffic volumes, vehicle speeds, visibility, driver and pedestrian behavior, and surrounding land uses,” Felisa Cardona, spokesperson for Riverside County’s Transportation Land Management Agency, wrote in an email. “The transportation department is currently completing a countywide safety planning effort to identify locations with higher collision risks and evaluate potential improvements. This work will help prioritize enhancements such as improved pedestrian crossings, lighting, visibility, and speed management measures where appropriate. The county is also advancing projects that improve pedestrian access, including the Skyview Pedestrian Bridge in French Valley.”

San Bernardino County is also tackling roadway safety improvements, according to Amy Ledbetter, spokesperson for San Bernardino County Public Works.

The improvements include better signals and signage at pedestrian crossing, upgraded crosswalks, accessible curb ramps and filling in gaps in the existing network of sidewalks in the county. San Bernardino county is also using data on collision history, traffic volume, pedestrian activity and vehicle speeds to zero in on locations that need improvements first.

“Improving roadway safety is an ongoing effort,” Ledbetter wrote in an email. “Public Works remains committed to implementing practical, data-driven, and location-specific solutions that make county-maintained roads safer for everyone.”

Local communities have been working to improve pedestrian safety in recent years.

In 2019, the city of San Bernardino spent about $10 million in federal grants to improve hundreds of intersections around the city, including adding new infrastructure at crosswalks.

In 2025, the city spent about $2.5 million in state grant funding to raise medians on E Street.

According to the Federal Highway Administration, raised medians reduce pedestrian crashes by 46% at marked crosswalks and by 39% at unmarked crossings.

The Riverside County Transportation Commission awarded $6.9 million in funding for a dozen projects intended to improve pedestrian and bicyclist safety in 2023.

And on July 30, the California Department of Transportation will begin seeking community input, as part of the process of updating the state’s State Bicycle & Pedestrian Plan.