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Hundreds of pedestrians have been killed on Arizona streets this year

Preliminary numbers from the Arizona Governor's Office of Highway Safety show 200 pedestrians have been killed from January through November.

A father and his son, a high school freshman, a brother. These are just some of the hundreds of people walking on and near Arizona roads have been killed in 2019.

Preliminary numbers from the Arizona Governor's Office of Highway Safety show 200 pedestrians have been killed from January through November this year.

Over the same time period in 2018, 227 pedestrians had been killed.

Arizona ranks among the highest in the country for pedestrian deaths according to the Governor's Highway Safety Association. The deaths have been on the rise the past few years and numbers for 2019 only show a small improvement.

To try and help, Phoenix City Council approved $200 million for safety improvement in November.

RELATED: More than 110 pedestrians were killed in Phoenix last year. The city is working to change that.

The money will go to things like better street lighting, additional hawk pedestrian crossing signals and more.

"It's so sad when you see the consequences when you get into a crash," Alberto Gutier, Director of the Arizona Governor's Office of Highway Safety said.

Gutier said one of the biggest issues on Arizona roads is drivers not watching closely enough when they're making right turns.

RELATED: Arizona district is the most dangerous place to be a pedestrian in America, study finds

"You may be in a hurry to turn and try and get through and you maybe don't realize somebody's already in the middle of the crosswalk," Gutier said.

Gutier adds while safety improvements are helpful, everyone on the roads needs to be respectful.

"You got to have mutual respect, pedestrians, bicyclists and vehicles to make sure everybody's safe," Gutier said.

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