Car hits, kills young woman on busy road; analysis suggests victims like her are overrepresented in El Paso
EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) -- An unidentified woman in her 20s died while running across West Paisano Wednesday night. Special Traffic Investigators with the El Paso Police Department says she was running with another person when a car mirror struck her body. She fell down and another car ran her over. Officials have not charged either of the drivers involved in the crash.
We don't know this woman's full story, but we do know her ending, and it's a final chapter that sounds incredibly similar to thousands of other pedestrians, both in the Borderland, and across the nation.
Research conducted by analysts with Science Direct finds that pedestrians are overrepresented among traffic fatalities. Globally, 23% of all road casualties are pedestrians. Analysts consider pedestrians a vulnerable group, meaning they are at heightened risk for severe injury or death.
Texas records the highest number of fatal car crashes in the U.S., according to new research. Each year our state sees approximately 4,000 fatal crashes.
In El Paso alone, we have seen 43 traffic fatalities this year, compared to 42 this time last year. ABC-7 analyzed the available data for El Paso and found that in 2023, the Sun City outpaces the rest of the world for pedestrian deaths. The data shows that pedestrians make up 33% of El Paso's traffic fatalities this year.
These crashes happen in a range of different way. Examples from 2023 include the man hit by a speeding car while walking his dog (the dog also died in the crash), the man who got out of his car on I-10 and fell over a concrete barrier into oncoming traffic, the man crossing a crosswalk who was hit by two cars that did not stop to help him, and the woman who got out of her car after crashing on I-10 and was struck by a semi.
Because the dangers facing pedestrians vary so widely, it can be difficult to present a single solution. Agencies such as TXDOT and the El Paso Police Department continue to develop campaigns promoting pedestrian safety awareness, however, the effectiveness of those efforts hinge on their ability to reach people. As research suggests that distracted drivers are a top cause of pedestrian-involved crashes, those approaches may need to change before progress can be achieved.
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