Charlotte’s Pedestrian Death Rate Runs 81% Above the National Rate,

A new five-year analysis from Shane Smith Law finds that walking in Charlotte carries a far higher risk than walking in North Carolina or the nation as a whole, and that the danger is concentrated on a small number of roads. In 2024, Charlotte recorded 3.76 pedestrian deaths per 100,000 residents, compared with 2.39 per 100,000 across North Carolina and 2.08 per 100,000 nationally. That puts the city’s rate roughly 57% above the state rate and about 81% above the national rate, which shows the toll can’t be explained by population size alone. Between 2020 and 2024, 131 people died while walking in Charlotte, even as the city works toward its Vision Zero goal, launched in 2018, of eliminating traffic deaths by 2040.

The most recent year marked a sharp turn. Charlotte recorded 34 pedestrian deaths in 2024, up from 23 in 2023, a 47.8% increase in a single year and roughly 30% above the city’s own five-year average. Mecklenburg County saw a similar spike, rising from 24 deaths to 36, a 50% increase, while North Carolina recorded 264 pedestrian deaths statewide, up 15.3%. Charlotte’s share of all pedestrian deaths in the state reached 12.9% in 2024, its highest share in the five-year period.

The analysis shows that Charlotte’s pedestrian deaths are not spread evenly across the city. About 60 roads appeared in the fatality data between 2020 and 2024, yet just 10 accounted for 61 of the 131 deaths, or 46.6%. That means nearly one in every two pedestrians killed in Charlotte died on one of those 10 roads. I-85 stood apart from the rest with 13 pedestrian deaths, almost 10% of the city’s entire five-year total. I-485 followed with nine deaths, and I-77 recorded five. Together, those three interstates accounted for 27 deaths, or 20.6% of all pedestrian fatalities in the city.

The interstate figures point to a distinct safety problem. Pedestrians generally should not be on limited access highways at all, so their presence in fatal crash data raises questions about access points, barriers, crossings, and the places where people on foot unexpectedly meet high-speed traffic. The remaining seven roads on the list tell a different story. The Plaza, East Independence Boulevard, Beatties Ford Road, Albemarle Road, South Tryon Street, Brookshire Boulevard, and North Graham Street are major surface roads carrying heavy traffic, and many feature multiple lanes, wide crossings, and higher speeds that make crossing on foot more difficult. The findings suggest Charlotte does not face 131 separate pedestrian safety problems, but a fatality burden tied heavily to a handful of corridors.

Timing matters as much as location. Pedestrian risk climbs as the days get shorter, and that pattern held at every level of the analysis. Nationally, June 2024 had the fewest pedestrian deaths at 460, while November was the deadliest month at 732, a 59% increase. October and December followed closely with 695 and 685 deaths. In North Carolina, pedestrian deaths rose from 12 in July to 30 in October, a 150% increase. Charlotte’s monthly numbers were smaller but followed the same broad curve, ranging from a single pedestrian death in March to five in December, the city’s highest monthly total of 2024. Fewer daylight hours, more travel after dark, and shifting holiday traffic patterns all likely play a role, which makes fall and early winter a consistently dangerous stretch for people on foot.

Taken together, the per capita rate, the concentration of deaths on specific roads, and the seasonal spike show that pedestrian risk in Charlotte follows recognizable patterns. The study concludes that those patterns give the city a clearer picture of where and when people are most likely to lose their lives simply trying to get from one place to another, and that this clarity is what makes the problem possible to address.