“Optimism alone, cannot save lives,” Anderson Abernathy, president and chief operating officer for Michelin Mobility Intelligence, North America, said. “Continued progress will require us to collaborate ... and ultimately [using] data-driven insights to not only understand the risks of yesterday, but we think, [prevent] the risks of tomorrow,” he said Thursday during a panel examining the latest national data around pedestrian and vehicle fatalities. The event was organized by the Governors Highway Safety Association, which recently released its Pedestrian Traffic Fatalities by State data. Some 6,732 people were struck and killed by motorists on U.S. roadways in 2025, a 7 percent decline from the year before, according to preliminary GHSA data, marking the largest annual reduction since this metric began falling three years ago. The number of pedestrians killed by vehicles is still higher than it was in 2019, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. “So there’s still significant work for us to do,” Abernathy said. “The next step really is making sure today’s transportation leaders have access to technology tools, and insights that help them identify and prioritize the risks of where they [accidents involving pedestrians] happen.” (Michelin Mobility Intelligence provided financial support for the GHSA report.) Real-time data can provide insights into dangerous intersections and other problem areas, allowing transportation officials to target them for safety remediations, experts said. Paula Raymond, director of behavioral science at toXcel, a transportation statistics analysis firm, said she would like to see more data related to first responders at crash sites, telematics and drug and alcohol impairment. “Speed data is incredibly important. We know that speed kills,” she said during the panel. When it comes to impairment, the data shows pedestrians — not drivers — have higher levels of alcohol or drug impairment. “Now, I am not interested in blaming the victim, at