Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) found that, in areas with few streetlights, drivers were three times more likely to yield to pedestrians at illuminated crosswalks than dark ones, and 13 times mores likely to yield at crosswalks with flashing yellow warning beacons.
About 75% of the 7,522 pedestrians killed in motor vehicle crashes in 2022 were killed in the dark.
“Solutions aren’t always complicated,” IIHS president David Harkey said in a statement. “We can stop pedestrians from being killed if we make sure drivers see them—but first city planners and road designers have to see the light.”
