Tucson ranked 4th deadliest for pedestrians

Tucson was recently ranked as the fourth-deadliest city for pedestrians by Smart Growth America, which advocates on issues that include housing, land use, transportation and economic development.

But the designation is nothing new for the city, where news reports about pedestrian crashes are common, and city leaders often discuss the topic at public meetings. Factors often cited for the high ranking in pedestrian deaths include street design, speed, dark streets and jaywalking.

“We need to be seeking systemic, proactive, design-based solutions that are also accompanied by education and enforcement pieces, but they should all be in the mix,” City Councilwoman Miranda Schubert said. “We need to be moving urgently, and we need to be transparent about how and when we're going to do it.”

Schubert says city leaders, including herself, need to hold themselves accountable by having more by having measurable goals and timelines for better transparency and communication.

Street Design

Small improvements, like more visible and accessible crosswalks and protected biking and walking infrastructure, could help lower pedestrian deaths in major crossing areas, according to Vanessa Cascio, the executive director of the nonprofit Living Streets Alliance.

“We're starting to see more of those sorts of approaches being implemented, but certainly not at the sort of rate that we need at this point,” Cascio said. The group advocates for providing safe and accessible transportation as well as making streets safer in Tucson.

Cascio said that along with the modernization of roadways, reducing and narrowing certain areas can make driving Tucson streets safer for everyone.

"We should be looking at land use and seeing how you know we can really be more creative when it comes to our zoning policy and how that intersects with the roadway design, because those two things together matter." Cascio said. 

Pedestrian improvements include High Intensity Activated Crosswalk Beacons, crosswalks with lights that require drivers to stop when a pedestrian hits the button on the sidewalk to cross. Six HAWKS are set to be installed in the city in the coming year.

A HAWK crossing was recently installed on North Euclid Avenue and East Second Street, where three University of Arizona students were killed in a hit-and-run crash in late October 2025. 

Further, the Regional Transportation Authority says a 20-year voter-approved plan calls for narrower roads to make crosswalks more accessible. RTA has funded more than 370 miles of new bike lanes, 183 miles of new sidewalks and 84 signalized pedestrian crossings since the plan was approved in 2006, according to the Pima Association of Governments. 

Pima County voters approved of RTA Next, the extension of the first plan to improve roadways for driver and pedestrian safety. About $254 million will be dedicated to roadway safety, ADA projects and traffic signal improvements for the next 20 years. 

An example of future projects included in the new RTA plan is the improvement of 1st Avenue from River Road to Grant. The plan includes a new bridge over the Rillito River, safety improvements for sidewalks and crosswalks and upgraded traffic signals. 

Other efforts from organizations such as the Living Streets Alliance provide potential solutions for Tucson’s pedestrian fatalities.

Small steps such as more visible and accessible crosswalks and protected biking and walking infrastructure would help lower pedestrian deaths in major crossing areas, according to Cascio.

“We're starting to see more of those sorts of approaches being implemented, but certainly not at the sort of rate that we need at this point,” Cascio said.

Cascio said that along with the modernization of roadways, reducing and narrowing certain areas can make driving safer for everyone, drivers included.

"We should be looking at land use and seeing how you know we can really be more creative when it comes to our zoning policy and how that intersects with the roadway design, because those two things together matter." Cascio said. 

Safety

The city council earlier this month voted to begin the process of finding a company it can work with in case red-light cameras return to Tucson.

Tucson voters passed a proposition in 2015 to ban the cameras, but some council members say ongoing traffic safety problems might help change their minds.

 Council members emphasized the importance of stopping traffic deaths, but not having traffic lights as the only solution.

Although traffic design plays an important role in keeping pedestrians safe, prevention must go beyond that to make an impact, Alejandro Angel, vice president and co-chair of infrastructure for the Southern Arizona Leadership Council, told the Star.

“We also need to look beyond that to see what else is happening and why we're having the issues that we're having.” Angel said.

Angel also cited the four Es of traffic safety: engineering, enforcement, education and emergency response. America is performing poorly compared to other countries in pedestrian safety, like Sweden and Germany, because they are approaching the problem differently, especially with speeding and driving under the influence, he said.

“They have photo enforcement everywhere, and they're very strict about it.” Angel said. “The US has the highest allowed alcohol content of the same countries that they compare, though the report compared 34 countries that are a member of the OECD.”

Angel said that the design of cars has also affected the rate of pedestrian deaths in America.

“Here in the US, we also have heavier and taller vehicles than other places.” Angel said.

Enforcement

The pedestrian fatalities in Tucson this year have already surpassed 2025 year to date, with 18 pedestrians compared to 6 at the same time last year, according to the Tucson Police Department.

There have been 25 pedestrian deaths in Pima County so far this year. Out of the 17 toxicology screens that have been conducted for the pedestrians, 14 of them have tested positive for some type of drug in their system, according to the Pima County Office of the Medical Examiner.

Fourteen of the pedestrian deaths have been homeless at the time of death.

In recent years, Tucson has taken lawful measures to improve traffic safety, including amending an ordinance from 2000, which bars people from occupying a traffic median for more than one traffic light cycle on any roadway with a speed limit over 30 miles an hour. TPD has recently increased enforcement with a recent deployment part of the Safe City Initiative, which included 11 median violation arrests, TPD said in a Facebook post. 

Median citations and other traffic violation enforcement are crucial to preventing pedestrian deaths by setting an example on how and where to cross roadways, said David Fritsch, a Tucson police lieutenant.

“It tries to create predictability on the roadway, so that way we know to expect pedestrians at crosswalks, cyclists in bike lanes, and vehicles to stay in their lane,” Fritsch said.

Deployments with the ZEBRA unit, which are teams assigned to each patrol division and focus on addressing ongoing crime and quality-of-life issues in the community, also focus on traffic management and violations. 

“Following the rules of the roadway, paying attention, and being present are what we ask people to do,” Fritsch said. “We don't want somebody to get hurt, injured, or killed because of a choice that they could just take a couple extra minutes to walk to the crosswalk or slow down a couple miles an hour, understanding that you're not going to make up the time or prevent being late by traveling the speed limit.”