In 2023, more than 8,600 pedestrians and cyclists in the US were killed on the street—and many more were seriously injured. Such injuries have been increasing throughout the US over the past decade for numerous reasons: streets primarily designed for cars, driver distraction from rising mobile phone use, and growing use of SUVs and trucks, which have high vehicle hoods that are more likely to hit people in the chest.
But not all pedestrians and cyclists are evenly exposed to this public health challenge. National studies show Black and Hispanic people are more likely to be killed while walking than would be expected given their share of the population. Why might this be?
In our new research published in Cities & Health, we seek to answer this question. Through a detailed study of pedestrian and cyclist crashes in Boston, we document what we call mobility risk, defined as the possibility of being struck while walking or biking. We find that injuries are disproportionately higher in neighborhoods where most residents are people of color and have relatively lower incomes. We also show that for crashes in neighborhoods with predominantly white and higher-income residents, a surprisingly high share of injuries are among people who live in other communities, particularly communities of color.
In both cases, the data suggest people of color are experiencing substantially higher mobility risk, contributing to health disparities. Policymakers interested in improving pedestrian and cyclist safety and reducing this inequity should consider specific interventions in neighborhoods of color and evaluate why people of color are likely overexposed to injury in other neighborhoods too.
Boston neighborhoods where people of color are more likely to live have more pedestrian and cyclist crashes with injuries
We conducted our research using records from the Boston Emergency Medical Service’s ambulance operations between 2016 and 2021. These data are useful because they provide information on all crashes, and they enable us to identify both the location of crashes and the home neighborhoods of people injured in those crashes. Over this period, almost 3,500 pedestrians and cyclists who lived in Boston were involved in such crashes. (We do not have direct demographic information about injured people.)
We began by analyzing the characteristics of neighborhoods where crashes occur, finding large differences in exposure to mobility risk by race and ethnicity. The neighborhoods with the lowest shares of white residents (up to 10 percent of the population) had 5.7 pedestrian and cyclist crashes per 1,000 people who live and work in those neighborhoods. On the other hand, neighborhoods with the largest white populations (greater than 77 percent) experienced just 1.6 pedestrian and cyclist crashes per 1,000 residents and workers.
Residents of neighborhoods of color face high injury rates within and outside their communities
Troublingly, our analysis revealed that residents of communities of color also experience disproportionate exposure to crashes outside their neighborhoods.
Overall, about half of pedestrian crashes involving residents of the neighborhoods with the greatest shares of people of color (with a white population share at or below 10 percent) occurred outside residents’ neighborhoods, defined as at least three-fifths of a mile away from home. This rate is only about 35 percent among residents of neighborhoods with the lowest shares of people of color (with a white population above 77 percent).
We also found that, overall, residents of neighborhoods with the lowest white population shares are more likely to be involved in a pedestrian crash outside their neighborhood than residents of neighborhoods with the highest white population shares. This suggests that the risks of being a pedestrian are disparately distributed by race and ethnicity both near and farther from home. For example, residents of the quarter of neighborhoods with the largest Black populations (63 percent or greater) have a pedestrian crash rate three times higher than that for residents of the quarter of neighborhoods with the smallest Black populations (less than 1 percent).
We documented similar, though less extreme, outcomes when we evaluated the location of cyclist crashes, with higher rates of bike crashes in neighborhoods with the lowest white population shares. Notably, we found that cyclist crashes were much more likely to be located farther from peoples’ homes than were pedestrian crashes (65 percent versus 45 percent of crashes).
How can policymakers address this public health challenge?
Our analysis shows that pedestrians and cyclists experience dramatically different mobility risks depending on the racial and ethnic makeup of their neighborhoods. Neighborhoods where most residents are people of color experience vastly higher rates of injury-producing crashes than those where most residents are white. Residents of neighborhoods of color are more likely to experience crashes even when farther from their homes.
In Boston, as in many parts of the US, racial and ethnic characteristics are closely correlated with other demographics. As a result, our data also suggest that neighborhoods with high poverty levels, low educational levels, high shares of youth residents, and low car access all have disproportionately high levels of exposure to mobility risk, especially for pedestrians.
This health disparity has several root causes policymakers should seek to address to reduce injury exposure risk and improve health outcomes for people and communities of color. First, neighborhoods with a high share of people of color might have streets and sidewalks that are less safe for walkers and bikers. Policymakers should consider directing special investment toward improving infrastructure in those neighborhoods.
Second, people of color are disproportionately vulnerable to mobility risk outside the neighborhoods where they live. This suggests they’re likely to be traveling through different parts of the city on a daily basis (for example, as part of a delivery job), or that drivers treat pedestrians and cyclists of color with less concern. Reducing their exposure to traffic injuries through improved cross-town transit and conducting further research on the links between race and traffic injuries could be essential to better health outcomes for people of color.
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