Study: Drivers at fault in majority of pedestrian crashes in Minneapolis
A study of pedestrian crashes in Minneapolis was recently presented to the city council's transportation and public works committee. It looked at more than 3,000 crash records over a ten year period from 2007 through 2016.
"It's a tool that we can use to educate ourselves, but also something that will help us and aid us in all our planning and programming and designs for projects in the future for the city," said Steve Mosing a traffic operations engineer for the city of Minneapolis.
Here are a few key findings from the study:
• 80 percent of the crashes happened on just 10 percent of streets in Minneapolis
Create a More Connected Minnesota
MPR News is your trusted resource for the news you need. With your support, MPR News brings accessible, courageous journalism and authentic conversation to everyone - free of paywalls and barriers. Your gift makes a difference.
• People of color were over-represented in pedestrian fatalities
• Streets with fewer lanes have fewer pedestrian crashes
• Turning vehicle crashes accounted for 47 percent of crashes at intersections
• 68 percent of pedestrian crashes occurred at intersections
• Drivers were at fault in 62 percent of the crashes
"The most common contributor to pedestrian crashes is driver inattention and driver failure to yield, and in Minneapolis approximately 42 percent of crashes are a result of that, which is somewhat related to the distracted driving challenge we have," Mosing said.