The decline in vehicle-accident deaths in recent years has been nothing short of remarkable. But there is one disturbing exception to the trend: pedestrian deaths.

Nationwide, the number of people killed by vehicles while on foot was essentially unchanged from 2003 to 2012, even as total vehicle deaths were falling.

Our colleague — and executive editor — Jill Abramson has a searing essay on pedestrian accidents in this weekend’s Metropolitan section. In it, she describes her own experience being hit by a truck in a Times Square crosswalk in 2007. She also describes the experiences of three other Times colleagues – Denise Fuhs, Andrew Kueneman and Mick Sussman — who have been struck by vehicles.