“The Human Cost of Mobility,” a new story map from Propel ATL, provides key geographic, demographic, and storytelling context for upward-trending Metro Atlanta traffic deaths, highlighting the human lives behind the statistics and providing recommendations for making our roads safer spaces for everyone.

While prior editions of this story map focused only on the City of Atlanta, this edition widens its scope to encompass all of Fulton, DeKalb, and Clayton Counties – the metro’s three core counties, served by MARTA. In 2023, 344 people lost their lives needlessly to traffic violence in Fulton, DeKalb, and Clayton.

DeKalb, in particular, produced some shocking numbers. Despite fewer crashes overall, 2023 was the worst year for fatalities in that county in the last decade, with a stark 25 percent more people killed in traffic violence in 2023 vs. 2022. Pedestrians made up the largest portion of this, with 40 percent more people killed while walking after being hit by drivers.

One remarkable finding: across the three counties, traffic crashes take as many lives as homicides, yet homicides are often heavily covered by news outlets, while traffic fatalities are often treated as background noise, a cost of mobility we all must accept.

Another key finding, given that this report now surveys MARTA’s entire coverage area: the vast majority of crashes, more than 80 percent depending on mode, happened within walking distance of a bus stop.

Even after widening the scope, inequitable trends still hold from prior reports: more than two-thirds of all traffic fatalities occurred in predominantly Black neighborhoods, places with fewer features like sidewalks, crosswalks, and bike lanes that provide basic safety for pedestrians and people outside of cars. These grim findings mirror national trends, which find that Black and Native Americans, older adults, and people walking in low-income communities die at higher rates and face higher levels of risk compared to all Americans.

The numbers

• In 2023, 344 people died on roadways in counties with MARTA transit service: Clayton, Fulton, and DeKalb. That's a 3.1 percent decrease from the 355 people killed in 2022.*
• In 2023, more than 103,137 crashes occurred in Fulton, DeKalb and Clayton Counties.*
• 1,431 of these crashes involved people walking, biking, and rolling.* 
• 108 of these crashes resulted in pedestrian deaths.*      
• The 108 pedestrian deaths in 2023 represent a decrease of 10 percent compared with 2022.*
• However, pedestrian fatalities increased dramatically in DeKalb County, jumping from 42 people killed by drivers while walking in 2022 to 59 in 2023 – an increase of 40 percent.*
• In contrast, pedestrian fatalities dropped by 35 percent in the City of Atlanta.*
• In the City of Atlanta, 71 people were killed in traffic crashes (all modes) in 2023, down from 91 in 2022, which still represents the third-highest total number of traffic fatalities in the last decade.*
• In the three-county area, Census tracts with predominantly Black or African American population make up 54 percent of all tracts but account for 73 percent of all traffic fatalities.†
• Between 2013 and 2022, Atlanta averaged 14.6 traffic deaths (pedestrians and non-pedestrians) per 100,000 people. By comparison, the more heavily populated Chicago and Seattle experienced just 5.7 and 4.0 respectively. The national average is 11.5†† 
• Just 10 percent of Atlanta’s streets account for 50 percent of its pedestrian crash fatalities and 60 percent of its pedestrian and bicycle crashes.**

Sources: GDOT AASHTOware (Crashes Jan. 1, 2023 - Dec. 31, 2023), 2024; GDOT 411 (Crashes Jan, 1, 2023 - Dec. 31, 2023), 2024*

GDOT AASHTOware (Crashes Jan. 1, 2023 - Dec. 31, 2023), 2024; GDOT 411 (Crashes Jan, 1, 2023 - Dec. 31, 2023), 2024; American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates, 2022, Table B03002†

†† NHTSA; US Census

Georgia Electronic Accident Report System**

The stories

The story map links to the stories of three people in metro Atlanta who had their lives upended in traffic crashes, and a fourth who lost her life. 

Stories of lives upended include the president of the Atlantic Station Civic Association, who was badly injured during a scooter ride and lost one of his neighbors to a crash; a photographer who was the victim of a hit-and-run on a state highway known to be dangerous; and a public policy pro using her horrific experience of being hit by a driver while crossing the street to advocate for much-needed changes at the state level. 

“How many deaths are acceptable?” asks Satya Bhan, the Civic Association president. “How much should we need to justify our right to just walk outside without dying?"

Most tragically, there’s the story of a 20-year-old aspiring doula who made a routine decision – to walk to the store – and never returned. Her story, and many others, convey the human impact of decisions to build streets and roads that prioritize speed and driver convenience, with the cost counted in lives cut short and potential unrealized.

“There’s a growing realization that, even though the word has been heavily used, there is really no such thing as an ‘accident,’” said Rebecca Serna, Propel ATL Executive Director. “Each death and injury is a result of a compounded series of decisions; to build dangerous, high-speed roadways that are hostile to pedestrians and other vulnerable road users, to refuse to match walkability with transit use and density, and to build inequitably, with the region’s most dangerous corridors traversing the poorest census tracts.”

“Simple changes in design could virtually eliminate the vast majority of traffic crashes that result in injury and death,” Serna continued. “None of these things – signalized, clearly marked crosswalks, narrower lanes and roadways, designs that make speeding uncomfortable for drivers – are difficult or complicated. They only require political will to execute.”

View the story map for “The Human Cost of Mobility."