Maryland’s roads are proving especially unforgiving for people on foot. A new national analysis ranks the state 10th most dangerous for pedestrians struck by passenger cars, with an average of 62 deaths per year from 2019 through 2023. The study gives Maryland a Pedestrian Threat Score of 34.07 and estimates about 10.09 fatalities per million residents over those five years, underscoring a steady risk on city blocks and suburban arterials alike.
The findings were brought to local attention by Eye On Annapolis, which reports that the analysis was conducted by Wilk Law Personal Injury & Car Accident Lawyers and compares states on a per-capita basis. According to Eye On Annapolis, the study zeroed in on crashes involving passenger cars rather than commercial trucks and found Florida at the top of the list. That local coverage helped translate the study’s spreadsheets into a more sobering reality check for Maryland readers.
What the study measured
Wilk Law’s public dataset pulled pedestrian-fatality counts from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Crash Data Analysis Network for 2019 through 2023 and adjusted them by state population to rank per-capita risk. Data published by Wilk Law shows Maryland with a Pedestrian Fatality Surge Score of 0.00 from 2022 to 2023, meaning no net increase over that one year, and lists the population used in the calculations as 6,145,882. The analysis separates crashes involving passenger cars from those involving larger commercial vehicles to focus on everyday exposure for people walking near traffic.
State response and projects
Maryland transportation officials have been trying to move the numbers in the other direction. The Maryland State Highway Administration published a Pedestrian Safety Action Plan in May 2023 that calls for data-driven improvements along high-risk corridors. According to the State Highway Administration, work under that plan has already started, including a roughly $15 million retrofit on 2.5 miles of MD 650/New Hampshire Avenue; the agency marked the MD 650 groundbreaking in a July 2025 press release. Near-term steps like quick-build projects, upgraded crossings, and signal timing tweaks are intended to chip away at risk while larger capital projects move through the pipeline.
National trend behind the numbers
Maryland’s ranking lands in the middle of a broader national story in which pedestrian deaths climbed significantly over the last decade and remain higher than before the pandemic. The Governors Highway Safety Association, in its recent reviews of federal and state data, has flagged nighttime crashes, hit-and-run incidents, and a chronic lack of investment in sidewalks and crosswalks as major forces behind the sustained rise in pedestrian fatalities.
“Pedestrian fatalities caused by passenger cars – whether SUVs or smaller vehicles – have a profound impact on families, communities, and local public health,” a Wilk Law spokesperson said in comments published by Eye On Annapolis. The firm urged policymakers to prioritize safer street designs, targeted enforcement, and public-education campaigns in hopes of cutting long-term harm from vehicle-related crashes.
For residents and advocates tracking progress, Maryland’s crash dashboards and the State Highway Administration’s pedestrian plan will be key indicators of change. The state’s Zero Deaths Maryland crash dashboard compiles county and corridor-level data so officials and community members can see where pedestrians are most at risk and whether those hot spots start to cool.
