Florida’s roads have long been dangerous for people walking, biking, and using mobility devices. A new report highlighted by Florida Trend makes that danger impossible to ignore: nine of the 27 most dangerous metro areas in the United States for pedestrians are in Florida, including the Miami–Fort Lauderdale–Palm Beach County region.

For families in West Palm Beach, Palm Beach County, and throughout South Florida, this is not just a transportation statistic. It is a public safety warning. Pedestrian crashes can cause devastating injuries, including traumatic brain injuries, spinal cord injuries, broken bones, internal injuries, permanent disability, and wrongful death. Unlike drivers and passengers, pedestrians have no seat belts, airbags, or vehicle frames to protect them when a collision occurs.

At Romano Law Group, we have seen how quickly a routine walk across a street, through a parking lot, near a school zone, or along a busy roadway can become life-changing. As a family-owned personal injury law firm serving West Palm Beach, Palm Beach County, Florida, and clients nationwide, we believe public awareness is a critical part of injury prevention.

Florida’s Pedestrian Safety Crisis Is Statewide

According to the Florida Trend report, Smart Growth America’s latest “Dangerous by Design” findings rank Florida as the fifth most dangerous state in the nation for pedestrians. The report found that 3,726 pedestrians were killed in Florida between 2020 and 2024, the third-highest total in the country behind California and Texas. Florida’s average pedestrian fatality rate during that period was 3.32 deaths per 100,000 residents.

The report identified nine Florida metro areas among the 27 deadliest for pedestrians:

Tampa Bay ranked eighth nationally, followed by Palm Bay/Melbourne/Titusville at 11th, Deltona/Daytona Beach/Ormond Beach at 14th, North Port/Bradenton/Sarasota at 15th, Jacksonville at 16th, Miami/Fort Lauderdale/Palm Beach County at 17th, Lakeland-Winter Haven at 21st, Orlando/Kissimmee/Sanford at 25th, and Cape Coral/Fort Myers at 27th.

The inclusion of the Miami–Fort Lauderdale–Palm Beach County metro area should concern everyone who lives, works, drives, walks, or bikes in South Florida. Palm Beach County includes busy corridors, high-speed arterials, tourist traffic, school zones, shopping centers, residential neighborhoods, and construction zones. These are all places where pedestrians and vehicles frequently interact.

Why Are Florida Roads So Dangerous for Pedestrians?

Pedestrian crashes often happen because of a driver’s negligence, but road design also plays a major role. Smart Growth America’s “Dangerous by Design” report explains that many U.S. streets were built to move cars quickly rather than to keep all road users safe. The organization’s 2026 report notes that pedestrian deaths have increased 72 percent since 2009, even though deaths have slightly declined from recent historic highs.

In Florida, many roads are wide, fast, and difficult to cross safely. A person may need to walk across multiple lanes of traffic, sometimes without enough lighting, a median refuge, a clearly marked crosswalk, or enough time on a pedestrian signal. In some areas, sidewalks are missing, disconnected, obstructed, or too close to moving traffic.

Romano Law Group’s pedestrian accident practice page recognizes this reality: many Florida roads were constructed primarily for vehicle traffic, placing pedestrians at a natural disadvantage. The firm also notes that pedestrian injuries are often severe and may involve brain injuries, spinal injuries, paralysis, and loss of life.

Common contributing factors in pedestrian crashes may include:

Driver distraction, speeding, failure to yield, impaired driving, poor visibility, inadequate lighting, confusing traffic signals, unsafe crosswalk design, blocked sightlines, construction zone hazards, rideshare or delivery driver negligence, and hit-and-run collisions.

Every case depends on its specific facts. A full investigation may need to examine driver behavior, roadway conditions, lighting, vehicle speed, traffic-control devices, witness statements, surveillance video, phone records, crash data, and whether other responsible parties contributed to the danger.

South Florida Pedestrians Face Unique Risks

The Miami–Fort Lauderdale–Palm Beach County metro area is home to commuters, tourists, retirees, students, bicyclists, public-transit users, and workers who rely on walking as part of daily life. This creates a constant mix of vehicles and pedestrians.

Many pedestrian crashes happen in places that feel familiar: near grocery stores, apartment complexes, schools, restaurants, bus stops, hotels, parking lots, and neighborhood intersections. Familiarity can sometimes create a false sense of safety. Drivers may assume they have enough time to turn. Pedestrians may assume a driver sees them. A few seconds of distraction can be catastrophic.

Nighttime is especially dangerous. Romano Law Group specifically identifies nighttime visibility as an important issue in pedestrian injury cases, including roadway, driver, and environmental lighting. Nationally, NHTSA reports that 7,080 pedestrians were killed and more than 71,000 were injured in traffic crashes in 2024.

These numbers should remind drivers that pedestrian safety is not optional. It is part of the duty every driver has when operating a vehicle.

What Injured Pedestrians Should Do After a Crash

After a pedestrian crash, medical care should always come first. Even if someone believes their injuries are minor, symptoms can worsen over time. Head injuries, internal injuries, soft-tissue damage, and spinal injuries are not always obvious immediately after impact.

After seeking medical attention, injured pedestrians and their families should try to preserve important information when possible. This may include the crash location, driver information, witness names, photos of the scene, photos of injuries, clothing and shoes worn at the time of impact, medical records, police reports, and any available video from nearby homes or businesses.

It is also important to avoid giving recorded statements to insurance companies without legal guidance. Insurance companies may try to shift blame, minimize injuries, or argue that a pedestrian could have avoided the crash. Florida’s comparative negligence rules can make fault disputes especially important, because an injured person’s recovery may be affected if they are assigned partial responsibility.

Romano Law Group’s pedestrian accident attorneys emphasize the importance of preparation, evidence preservation, witness statements, medical records, identifying responsible parties, and evaluating lost wages after a crash.

Who May Be Responsible for a Pedestrian Accident?

The driver who struck the pedestrian may be responsible if they were speeding, distracted, impaired, careless, failed to yield, failed to obey a traffic signal, or otherwise acted negligently. However, some pedestrian accident cases involve more than one responsible party.

Potentially responsible parties may include:

A negligent driver, a vehicle owner, a rideshare company, a delivery company, an employer, a commercial vehicle operator, a government entity responsible for roadway design or maintenance, a construction contractor, a property owner, or a manufacturer if a vehicle defect contributed to the crash.

Not every case will involve all of these parties. That is why an early investigation matters. In serious injury and wrongful death cases, evidence can disappear quickly. Skid marks fade. Vehicles are repaired or destroyed. Video footage may be overwritten. Witnesses become harder to locate.

Prevention Starts With Safer Driving and Safer Streets

Florida’s pedestrian crisis requires action from drivers, policymakers, transportation planners, property owners, and communities. Drivers can help immediately by slowing down, staying off phones, yielding at crosswalks, watching carefully before turning, using extra caution at night, and never driving impaired.

Local and state leaders can also reduce risk by improving lighting, adding safer crosswalks, reducing dangerous speeds, improving signal timing, completing sidewalk networks, redesigning high-crash corridors, and prioritizing safety over speed.

The Florida Trend article also noted that the Florida Department of Transportation has pointed to its Target Zero initiative and pedestrian and bicycle safety planning efforts as part of its work to reduce serious and fatal crashes. FDOT’s pedestrian and bicycle safety materials state that its goal is zero traffic fatalities and describe enforcement, education, planning, design, and emergency-response strategies as part of that effort.

Awareness alone will not fix dangerous roads. But awareness can help families make safer choices, help drivers understand their responsibilities, and help communities demand better protections for people outside vehicles.

Injured in a Pedestrian Accident in Florida?

A pedestrian crash can leave you facing medical bills, missed work, pain, uncertainty, and pressure from insurance companies. You do not have to navigate that process alone.

Romano Law Group represents injured pedestrians and families in West Palm Beach, Palm Beach County, throughout Florida, and nationwide. Our team investigates the facts, preserves evidence, identifies responsible parties, and fights to help clients pursue the compensation they may be entitled to under the law.

Injured? Contact our family-owned personal injury law firm today. There is no fee until we win your case.

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