Pedestrian fatalities have reached a 30-year high in the U.S. and smartphones, SUVs and marijuana may be to blame.

A new study has found that 6,590 pedestrians were killed in car crashes in 2019, an increase of five per cent from the previous year and up 60 per cent from 2009. That also happened to be the year the first smartphones starting appearing, New York Post reports.

“For 30 years, pedestrian deaths were declining,” said researcher Richard Retting, who works for Sam Schwartz Engineering, the company behind the report. “Something changed in 2009. What happened in 2009 that reversed that trend? I don’t see any other factor.”

It is unclear whether distraction on the part of the driver or the pedestrian is the bigger problem, Retting said, but risks are magnified when a vehicle enters the equation. “Drivers have gone way beyond just texting, but have cellphones mounted on their windows and dashboards,” he said. “They’re watching movies and baseball games. We were basically creating an environment where people who are taking their eyes off the road for seconds at a time are travelling hundreds of feet in that time.”

Retting, who used data from the first six months of the year and extrapolated to estimate the remainder, offered a few other possible explanations for the troubling increase. On the list was the growing popularity of SUVs — which drivers might have more trouble maneuvering — and an increase in warmer weather that might be bringing more pedestrians out at night, when accidents are more common.

Decriminalization of cannabis was also listed as a possible contributor, although the report doesn’t offer any evidence of this.

Almost half the fatalities happened in Florida, Georgia, Arizona, California or Texas — states with growing populations and residents generally prone to driving fast. “It’s a national crisis, and the fact that 300 more deaths occurred last year than the year before is a shame on this country,” Retting said.

“We are in crisis mode.”