With fatalities on the rise, the fight to protect pedestrians is personal for Rep. Norma Torres, D-Calif.

“Seeing that my district is like ground zero for pedestrian deaths in the country was so alarming to me,” said Torres in an interview with Spectrum News, referencing a report from Smart Growth America that found her district the stretches between Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties was the 14th deadliest metro area in the country for those traveling by foot.

A member of her staff was also hit by a car, and was lucky to survive.

“I think you know, all of us have a responsibility to meet the needs of pedestrians. And we want to encourage people, right, to walk to the grocery store, to walk to school, you know, for the children. But while we do that, we have a responsibility also to make it safer for them.”

This week, Torres and Rep. Suzanne Bonamici, D-Ore. — who was struck by a car earlier this year along with her husband — introduced the Pedestrian Hazard, Awareness and Safety Expansion (PHASE) Act, which will create a $5 million grant program for cities and municipalities to implement pedestrian-friendly infrastructure.

It also directs the National Institute of Standards and Technology to devise solutions to better equip drivers and protect pedestrians, while ensuring its recommendations do not distract drivers, and orders a study by the Department of Transportation on developing physical alternatives to better protect pedestrians.

“When we look at the potential of saving lives, every single person I know, that I talked to has been impacted by having a friend, [or] a close relative that had an accident, because they were walking in the right of way. I think people are really interested in and if nothing else, we want to focus on local state and federal government agencies to work together to address this growing problem," said Torres.

The PHASE Act is being cosponsored by Rep. Adriano Espaillat, D-N.Y., and has been endorsed by the League of Conservation Voters, Safe States, League of American Bicyclists, California Bicycle Coalition, and Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety.

Last year, the Governors Highway Safety Association estimates over 7,500 pedestrians were killed by drivers in the U.S., the highest number of fatalities since 1981.

“We’re in the midst of a pedestrian safety crisis,” said Russ Martin, Senior Director of Policy and Government Relations at GHSA. “Throughout most of the United States is set up to prioritize cars, not people. And we have a lot of communities that have high-speed arterioles that are treated like local roads, by pedestrians, but by big highways by cars. And when those two mix, you’re gonna get unsafe consequences.”

Martin said another problem that is fixable is distracted driving.

“Distracted driving is a huge problem in the United States. Data from [National Highway Traffic Safety Administration] shows that people are more frequently manipulating their devices physically, rather than holding them up to their ear like we used to talk on the cellphone all the time. But more people are texting and using apps. And when a driver has his or her head in the phone, they’re not looking out for pedestrians and bicyclists. And that’s probably a cause of many of these collisions.”

Pedestrian safety is also a huge priority for the Department of Transportation.

As part of the bipartisan infrastructure law, the department has a “Safer Roads” that looks at physical improvements that can be made to roads.

That includes a brand new $5 billion program called Safe Streets and Roads for All, which a spokesperson for the department says will help “hundreds of communities put pen to paper on plans, which will build a pipeline of good projects that save lives.”

In 2022, the department launched the National Roadway Safety Strategy with five themes: “Safer Roads (how roads are designed that can be unsafe), Safer People (behavior of drivers, such as not using a seat belt), Safer Speeds (helping communities figure out better suited speeds), Safer Vehicles (new technology, more below) and Better Post-crash care (esp in rural areas, medical services can be hard to come by). It calls on all levels of government — federal, state and local to get involved since this must be a partnership given how jurisdictions work,” per a department spokesperson.

“We’re a long way from reversing the rise in roadway deaths, but we’ve begun to see it stop and move in the right direction,” said Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg Thursday at the Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute. “But the element that has risen the fastest is pedestrian and cyclist fatalities — vulnerable road users, as they’re called. So we need to design around that, we need to make sure we plan around that, and yes, distraction is a huge part of this.”

For Torres, the hope is that her bill will get a vote before the end of the year.

“I think as an appropriator, I’m looking at different opportunities that I may have in this year to be able to allow for at least part of this bill to go through and get a signature on it. So I’m gonna look at all the opportunities. There are two studies that this bill calls for. If we can’t do a standalone bill, then I’m going to try to insert it in an appropriations bill as it moves forward,” she said.

“It’s important for us to pay attention to what is happening in our communities and try to save lives, one piece of legislation at a time.”