Emergency Department Visits for Pedestrians Injured in Motor Vehicle Traffic Crashes — United States, January 2021–December 2023

Traffic-related pedestrian deaths in the United States reached a 40-year high in 2021.Each year, pedestrians also suffer nonfatal traffic-related injuries requiring medical treatment.Near real-time emergency department visit data from CDC's National Syndromic Surveillance Program during January 2021-December 2023 indicated that among approximately 301 million visits identified, 137,325 involved a pedestrian injury (overall visit proportion = 45.62 per 100,000 visits).The proportions of visits for pedestrian injury were 1.53-2.47times as high among six racial and ethnic minority groups as that among non-Hispanic White persons.Compared with persons aged ≥65 years, proportions among those aged 15-24 and 25-34 years were 2.83 and 2.61 times as high, respectively.The visit proportion was 1.93 times as high among males as among females, and 1.21 times as high during September-November as during June-August.Timely pedestrian injury data can help collaborating federal, state, and local partners rapidly monitor trends, identify disparities, and implement strategies supporting the Safe System approach, a framework for preventing traffic injuries among all road users.* These authors contributed equally to this report.data collection and availability because of time required for data collection, coding, and review.† Data timeliness is increasingly important to rapidly identify emerging shifts in injury patterns and evaluate prevention policies, programs, practices, and funding efforts to reduce pedestrian injuries.This report details pedestrian injury data for January 2021-December 2023 from the National Syndromic Surveillance Program (NSSP), a source of near real-time emergency department (ED) data.† Crash Report Sampling System (https://www.nhtsa.gov/crash-data-systems/crash-report-sampling-system); Fatality Analysis Reporting System (https:// www.nhtsa.gov/research-data/fatality-analysis-reporting-system-fars);Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (https://hcup-us.ahrq.gov/databases.jsp);