2023 has come to an end and I’d like to extend everyone best wishes for the coming year! I hope your 2024 is full of happiness, fulfillment and safety for yourself and your loved ones if you decide to walk or bike here in San Antonio.
The conclusion of 2023 also means that it’s been about 1 year since I’ve started collecting crash data for U.S. cities within the Vision Zero Network. The crash data I collected is all available on my GitHub page, but I only continued collecting crash data through 2023 for San Antonio, the city in which I live.
Beginning in April 2023, I published the first iteration of the San Antonio Vision Zero Crash Map and have continued to update the web application every month with new data. I also did a fairly big overhaul of the map to its current form and I plan to continue adding features and charts/graphs as 2024 rolls on. If you have any feedback or comments on the dashboard, there’s an opportunity for you to send me an email!
The ending of an old year and the beginning of a new year is a perfect time for reflection. To that end, I wanted to do a 2023 Year-In-Review of sorts from a pedestrian & bike-safety lens for San Antonio. I’ll start with some basic aggregate data from 2023 and compare that with previous years’ data before moving into some more detailed analysis.
**An important thing to keep in mind as you read through this Year-In-Review is that all of these numbers are likely undercounted due to reporting discrepancies between SAPD and TxDOT. The city’s transportation department is still trying to ascertain why these discrepancies exist.**
2023 Aggregate Data – Pedestrians & Cyclists
630 total people walking or riding a bike in San Antonio were involved in some sort of crash that involved a motor vehicle in 2023. 70% (444) of these crashes involved pedestrians and 30% (186) involved bicyclists.
Below is a breakdown of injuries and average age for pedestrians and bicyclists in 2023. The percentages are based on total injuries (i.e. 1.6% of “Unknown” injuries for pedestrians is 1.6% of ALL injuries for pedestrians and bicyclists combined). The total average age of all bicyclists injured or killed in 2023 is 37 and for pedestrians its 41. The youngest bicyclist involved in a crash this year was 3 years old and the youngest bicyclist suffering a serious injury was 23. For pedestrians, it’s even worse. A 1-year old child, classified as a pedestrian in the police report, was killed this year. The youngest pedestrians injured by cars this year range from 1 to 7 years old. Young people are getting hurt and dying on San Antonio’s car-centric streets.
| Injury Type | Pedestrian | Pedestrian Avg Age | Bicyclists | Bicyclists Avg Age |
| Unknown | 10 (1.6%) | 33 | 6 (1%) | 65 |
| Suspected Serious Injury | 55 (8.7%) | 34 | 15 (2.4%) | 41 |
| Suspected Minor Injury | 225 (35.7%) | 39 | 114 (18.1%) | 37 |
| Possible Injury | 79 (12.5%) | 42 | 28 (4.4%) | 33 |
| Fatal Injury | 26 (4.1%) | 46 | 3 (0.5%) | 57 |
| Not Injured | 49 (7.8%) | 40 | 20 (3.2%) | 32 |
Hispanics & Latinx account for 55% of all people (pedestrians & bicyclists) involved in some sort of crash. White people make up 30%, followed by Black people at 10% and “Unknown”, American Indian/Indigenous and Asian making up the remaining 5%. The Hispanic/Latinx demographic group also make up more than 50% of all injuries when looking at pedestrian and bicyclist crashes separately. The same is true for fatal injuries in 2023 – Hispanics/Latinx make up 55% of all pedestrian and bicyclist fatalities in San Antonio.
The chart below shows injury types for pedestrians and cyclists in San Antonio during 2023. There was at least 1 pedestrian fatality every month this year, and many more pedestrians were injured in some way throughout the year. Cyclist injuries peaked in March 2023 but showed a general decline throughout the rest of the year. Overall, there were less cyclist injuries than pedestrian injuries in San Antonio.
Fatal injuries for both pedestrians and bicyclists have remained fairly constant over the last 10 years. Minor injuries account for most of the interactions between pedestrians, bicyclists and cars, with an upward trend in minor injuries since 2020. Encounters resulting in “Possible” injuries have been decreasing for pedestrians and bicyclists, but all other injury severity categories remain relatively constant over the past decade.
Crashes & City Council Districts
I’ve looked at crashes within San Antonio’s City Council Districts before, but that analysis only went through 2022. With 2023 complete, I can now review this year’s data and see what, if anything, actually changed.
Districts 1 and 5 once again had the most aggregate crashes (pedestrian & bicyclist) in 2023. District 1 had 125 pedestrian/bicyclist involved crashes and District 5 was not far behind, with 122. They also had the highest amount of fatalities in the city – District 1 saw 6 fatal injuries (all pedestrians), 21% of San Antonio’s total deaths, while District 5 suffered 9 fatal injuries (2 bicyclist and 7 pedestrian), accounting for 31% of San Antonio’s total deaths. Together, these two districts made up over half of all pedestrian & bicyclist fatalities in San Antonio during 2023.
In fact, Districts 1 & 5 have been the most dangerous districts for pedestrians and cyclists for the last decade. District 1 alone has accounted for over 20% of all injuries in San Antonio since 2013. District 5 has accounted for 17% since 2023. Both city council districts have the highest population density in San Antonio and the data make clear that safer pedestrian and cyclist infrastructure is much needed in these areas. Curb-cut sidewalks and unprotected bike routes along major streets with 30MPH speed limits are just dangerous problems, not solutions.
I also wanted to examine the relationship between the median income of San Antonio’s poorest areas with pedestrian and cyclist crashes. The table below shows all crash types for pedestrians & bicyclists for San Antonio’s poorest Census tracts for 2013-2023. Almost every single tract has seen a pedestrian or cyclist killed within the last decade. The map below the table shows where these tracts are located in San Antonio, along with their household median income from the 2021 American Community Survey. Many of San Antonio’s poorest areas are clustered on the West Side, which also see significant amounts of pedestrian & bicyclist violence.
The table and map below show the 10 census tracts in San Antonio that have the highest total amount of all types of crashes over the last decade. Interestingly, the two census tracts with the highest median income also have the most amount of crashes. Both of these tracts are in or near the downtown core of San Antonio, where drivers are more likely to encounter pedestrians and bicyclists. The tracts near downtown are also quite close to freeway exits and entrances, which together with their frontage roads, provide a speedway for cars traveling through the city.
Summary, Conclusion, 2024 Outlook
I realize that the latter part of this post kind of became a decade-long look at pedestrian & bicyclist crashes in San Antonio, specifically around City Council Districts, rather than only a 2023 review. Looking at crash data for the last decade, I think it’s unfortunate to say that San Antonio’s safety record for pedestrians and cyclists has remained relatively stagnant. There’s been some dips in fatalities and serious injuries during some years, but they have typically risen again, especially in the post-pandemic years. There’s been no steady decrease in any crash-severity category.
Some things I’m going to keep an eye on this year: will Districts 1 & 5 continue to have the most injuries for both pedestrians & bicyclists? Will bicycling related injuries rise given the city’s emphasis on creating a new Bike Network Plan and engaging the community? How many pedestrians are going to be injured on frontage roads and/or close to freeway exits and entrances?d
I hope in 2024 that things start to turn around. The city is currently updating their long defunct Bike Network Plan, with a focus on commuters. The trails San Antonio has created along its creeks and rivers are great for recreational cycling, but in a city where a car is almost a necessity for quick trips more multi-modal options are required. There’s also been more funding for bike lanes across downtown, though construction won’t until 2026 at the earliest.
Overall, it seems like San Antonio leadership is finally taking seriously the need for better bicycle infrastructure to keep riders safe. While it may take several years for this focus on infrastructure to be seen on San Antonio’s streets, the future for bicycling safety is looking up.
My worry is that the focus on bicycling safety is overshadowing pedestrian safety and creating a better pedestrian network. Sidewalks end randomly without any easy access to get to the other side and some streets don’t have sidewalks at all. Hopefully the city’s Transportation Department can also focus on improving pedestrian safety to create a city that is supportive of alternative transportation modes.
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