Distracted Driving

Every year in the United states 7,500 pedestrian are killed with hundreds more left with serious injuries.

1 in 4 pedestrians are a hit and run incident. 

70,000 pedestrians are hit yearly and are left with minor to major injuries. 

Roughly 1,100 pedestrians are left with a brain injury after being hit by a vehicle, yearly in the US.

Preliminary numbers for 2025 in the state of Arizona have not yet rolled out but the information that is available shows that we  are the highest in the country along side Florida and South Carolina with 76% of the fatalities happening after the sun sets. While Arizona has remained in the top 5 list for the most dangerous states for pedestrians, usually we have sat at 4th of 5th place.. We absolutely should expect to move up in unfortunate rank for the 2025 year. A study for 2025 showed that pedestrians in Arizona are twice as likely to be involved in an incident than the national average.

As of early 2026 state agencies across Arizona are putting forth safety campaigns in effort to bring the numbers down. This involves extra patrolling and implementing new safety measures.

To read preliminary Pedestrian numbers by state CLICK HERE

Preliminary information shows us that 1,200 bicyclists were killed with 42,000 additional left with injurie of varying degrees, across the US. GHSA reports that 60% of bicyclist fatalities involved the cyclist not wearing a helmet.

Preliminary information released for the state of Arizona shows that Arizona ranked as the 8th most dangerous state for bicyclist with 50 bicyclist fatalities and over 1,300 sustaining mild to severe injuries. However, per ADOT, Arizona is the 3rd most deadliest for bicyclists in intersections internationally with 2.11 fatality per 1 million resident. This is 122% than the national average.

We are working on gathering additional preliminary information. Please check back soon!

Just as we strongly encourage pedestrians to have adequate reflective gear when they are out walking and drivers to have a solid dash cam on their vehicle , we also strongly encourage all bicycle riders, E-Bikes and E-Scooters to have a good Go Pro type device on them at all times. This includes your children and your teens.

When our leadership board asked David, the owner of The DashCam Guru if he had any opinions or suggestions regarding a solid Gopro device that riders or parents of riders look into Go Pro "hero" which is the smaller 4K camera. You can purchase this item by clicking HERE 

**Neither The DashCam Guru nor Addi's Miracle Foundation - Survivors Against Distracted Driving is partnered with Hero and we do not earn anything by promoting or encouraging sales of this item.**

Preliminary information for Micro Mobility rides are slowly coming in but we do have the following information to share with you. For Arizona, trauma center cases are surging. Staff at Chandler Regional Medical Center reports that in 2025 their staff alone cared for over 200 cases resulting in injuries from E- Bike and E-Scooters. OF those injured patients cared for in that facility, only 30 patients (around 15%) had a helmet on at the time of their accident. 30% of those patients suffered from traumatic brain injuries, while others suffered from injuries such as fractured ribs, arms, legs and facial trauma. 

Safety experts share that they documented several re occurring incidents through out Arizona. They state that sidewalk riding has it's risks as it involved risks of conflict at drive ways and intersections, where motorists do not expect fast traveling devices.

Inexperience and speed is another large factor. Many of these vehicles can go as fast as 20 to 30 miles per hour leading to more severe trauma than one would face in a basic bicycle incident.

For E-Bike and E-Scooter riders, Phoenix is a high risk for fatality. Tempe saw 1,100 documented EMS calls and Chandler saw 200 plus calls that involved injuries.

Katie, founder of Addi's Miracle Foundation - Survivors against distracted driving says " It all comes down to education and common sense. Parent's need to use common sense when buying their child a device like this.  I think we are starting to see a lot of kids on these devices that probably shouldn't be. Those same parents should be held accountable when something happens. There's a whole lot of device buying and giving without the proper education, proper safety measure and responsibility expectation. I'm not at all saying that to be confrontational or combative but I have seen my child on life support. I know what it's like first hand to have a child's life completely altered and facing life long disabilities. I want to do everything I can to keep other parent's from facing that same reality - or worse."

In a study that went from 2014 - 2018 hospital admissions across the United States due to E-bike or E-scooter accidents went up  222-365%. 45% of those involved head injuries of varying degrees but 15% were severe traumatic brain injuries. Less than 1% of the injured hospital admissions were wearing a helmet. 16% of the accidents were from colliding, swerving or jumping to avoid a collision, 10% collided with a vehicle and 50% was a collision that involved light poles, curbs, covered manholes, potholes and pavement cracks. 1/3 of these happened on sidewalks and over 50% happened in the street. 1/3 of the injured were first time riders while 60% had ridden their "Micro mobility item* 9 times or less.

Several studies out of Southern California cited 52% of pedestrians sought treatment after they were hit by a e scooter (study circa 2019) E bikes showed to be 3x more likely to end in collision with a vehicle or a pedestrian compared to E scooters.

Data from 2000 to 2017 E-bike injury patterns showed that 3,075 injuries accounted for 0.13 per 10,000 ER injuries with the average age being 18 to 44 years old. Male injuries being slightly higher than females.

As of 2019 to early 2020 E- Bike collisions are being documented as "Bicycle collisions" in reports making it hard to determine true E-Bike fatality statistics documentation wise.
 

Coming soon

If you are a pedestrian or bicyclist or your child or teen is a pedestrian or bicyclist it should go without saying that you should be visible anyone around you and yet such a large number go out without proper reflection gear.

NHTSA and GHSA report that 78% of pedestrian deaths in the US  happen in  the dark. 50% of bicyclist fatalities happen during the night time hours. Only 34% of those involved in an accident had reflective clothing on 77% of pedestrian fatalities involve visibility issues.

In the state of Arizona Bicyclists do not have mandated clothing but per ARS28-817 a bicyclist must have a white headlight, detectable up to 500 feet and a red rear reflector visible from 50-300 feet.

All pedestrians should have reflective gear. There are several options varying in prices. You can even use a flash light! 

Addi's Miracle Foundation - Survivors Against Distracted Drivers offers free reflective item help. If you cannot afford reflective gear for yourself or your child please reach out via any contact area on our website OR email addismiracleadvocacy@gmail.com subject "Reflective gear". No questions asked. We would rather help out a little bit then see the numbers continue to rise. Available to anyone inside the United States.