Is Delaware actually #1 for Pedestrian Accidents? USA Today published an article that states how dangerous it is to be a pedestrian in the First State!

TRANSCRIPT:

Hi, I’m Attorney Ben Schwartz.

Today, I want to talk about pedestrian accidents versus car accidents. I was in a shopping center yesterday with my wife. When she came out of the store and got into the car, a guy who was texting on his cell phone walked right across the back of our car. I almost ran him over! He never looked up; he never noticed that I almost ran him over. He just kept walking and texting! If I hadn’t been looking, I would have hit him.
I practice personal injury law in the state of Delaware, and I want to read to you a quote from USA Today. USA Today says, “Nowhere in America was it more dangerous to cross the street than in Delaware.” That’s a direct quote from USA Today! It’s from an article called the “The 10 Most Dangerous States for Pedestrians.”

I want to know: why do you think it’s so dangerous? Why is Delaware the #1 state for pedestrian deaths?
According to the USA Today article, it might have something to do with our infrastructure, meaning that maybe we don’t have appropriate crosswalks or sidewalks where other states would have sidewalks. Maybe it’s because people text-and-drive more in Delaware or walk-and-text or walk and use their iPhone apps more. I have no idea, but it just seems really strange to me that little, tiny Delaware, where I think that most people are above average. When you look at national trends and when you look at education levels and intelligence, Delaware has great folks. Why is it that in the state of Delaware we have the highest rate of pedestrian deaths? It doesn’t make sense to me.

I want to know what do you think! Send me an email or comment on this video and tell me what you think about this topic. Tell me what we could be doing to do things better.  What could the state of Delaware be doing? What could the Delaware Department of Transportation be doing? What could citizens, generally, be doing to make this better?