Walking

Is walking safe?

Yes. Walking is one of the safest and most useful things most people do, and the risk is almost all about traffic. In Britain, 364 pedestrians were killed in 2025, against about 15 billion miles walked. That is 24 deaths per billion miles, or about 2.4 micromortsMicromortA one-in-a-million chance of death. It lets you compare the risk of very different activities on one scale.More in the glossary per 100 miles. A 1-mile walk to the shops carries about 0.02.

The per-mile figure sounds high because walkers are slow. Mile for mile, walking along roads in Britain is about as risky as cycling and roughly 15 times riskier than being a car occupant. But an hour of walking covers about 3 miles, so it carries about 0.07 micromorts, close to the 0.05 of an hour's drive at an average 30 mph. The health payoff is much larger. A 2025 meta-analysis in The Lancet Public Health found that people who took 7,000 steps a day had a 47% lower risk of death from any cause than those taking 2,000.

How walking compares with other ways to get around

Mode (Britain, 2024)	Deaths per billion km	MicromortsMicromortA one-in-a-million chance of death. It lets you compare the risk of very different activities on one scale.More in the glossary per 100 miles	Micromorts per hour (typical speed)
Car occupant	1.0	0.16	about 0.05 (30 mph)
Pedestrian	16.7	2.7	about 0.08 (3 mph)
Pedal cyclist	14.5	2.3	about 0.23 (10 mph)

Source: DfT RAS0203. The per-hour column is our conversion at the speeds shown. In 2025 the pedestrian rate fell to about 2.4 micromorts per 100 miles. The long-term trend is good: British pedestrian deaths fell 46% from 2004 to 2025, while distance walked rose 21%.

It seems strange, but per mile walking in Britain is about as risky as cycling: DfT RAS0203 counts 16.7 pedestrian deaths per billion km in 2024 against 14.5 for cyclists. The reason is time. At about 3 mph a walker spends roughly three times as long near traffic for each mile as a cyclist at 10 mph. Per hour and per trip, walking is clearly safer: an hour's walk carries about 0.07 to 0.08 micromorts (2025 and 2024 rates), an hour of cycling about 0.23.

The US is riskier. NHTSA counted 7,080 pedestrians killed in 2024, 18% of all traffic deaths, or about one every 74 minutes. That is about 2.1 deaths per 100,000 people, three to four times the British rate per head of population. The Governors Highway Safety Association projects 6,732 deaths for 2025, a 7% fall but still above 2019. There is no reliable national count of US miles walked, so a per-mile rate is not available.

Where and when pedestrians die

Darkness is the biggest single factor. In the US, 76% of pedestrian deaths in 2024 happened in the dark, 84% in urban areas, and alcohol was involved, for the driver or the walker, in 43% of fatal crashes. Nearly one in four were hit-and-runs. Light trucks, including SUVs and pickups, were the striking vehicle in about half of US pedestrian deaths in 2024.

In Britain, 61% of pedestrian deaths in 2021–2025 happened away from junctions, often where people cross mid-road or walk along roads without pavements. Rural roads account for 30% of pedestrian deaths but only 12% of all pedestrian casualties, because faster traffic turns a collision into a fatal one. Lorries are involved in few collisions with pedestrians, but 15% of those are fatal. On weekdays, deaths and serious injuries peak between 3pm and 6pm.

The police most often record "pedestrian careless or in a hurry" for the walker in fatal or serious collisions, and for vehicles "ineffective observation", by the driver, rider or pedestrian. Both point to the same moment: crossing.

Who is most at risk

Older walkers and children are most vulnerable in a collision. Older people are more likely to die from the same impact, and over-70s are the only age group in Britain where female casualties outnumber male ones. In the US, men die at 2.3 times the rate of women, and 19% of people aged 65 and older killed in traffic were on foot.

There is also a risk the road statistics leave out. Trips and falls on pavements, ice and kerbs send many older people to hospital without any vehicle involved. They do not show up in police data, but regular walking itself lowers the risk: the same 2025 meta-analysis linked higher step counts to fewer falls.

How to walk more safely

1. Be seen after dark. Wear something light or reflective, and carry a torch on unlit roads.
2. Cross at signals or zebra crossings where you can, and make eye contact with drivers before stepping out.
3. Put the phone away while crossing. Pedestrian distraction was cited in 29% of fatal US crashes in 2024.
4. On roads without a pavement, walk facing oncoming traffic, in single file, and move to the outside of sharp bends where drivers can see you.
5. Do not walk home along fast roads after heavy drinking. Get a lift or a taxi.
6. Teach children to stop at the kerb and to cross at the same safe places every day.
7. Wear shoes with grip in ice and wet leaves, especially if you are older.

How we scored it

Fatality risk (76) uses the per-mile rate, as we do for driving and cycling, and sits in the 1–5 micromortMicromortA one-in-a-million chance of death. It lets you compare the risk of very different activities on one scale.More in the glossary band per 100 miles; per walk or per hour the risk is far lower. Injury risk (72) is better than cycling's. Controllability (65) reflects choices about crossing, visibility and routes, though drivers are involved in nearly every death. Rescue and environment (88) is good because most walking happens in towns. That gives 75 overall. On the same per-distance basis, walking ranks just above cycling, and for health it is one of the best things you can do.