The Governors Highway Safety Association says pedestrian deaths increased in the first half of 2010 and the First Lady’s program to get Americans to be more active could be partly responsible.Governors Highway Safety Administration spokesman Jonathan Adkins told 630 WMAL that Michelle Obama is “trying to get us to walk to work and exercise a little bit more.  While that’s good, it also increases our exposure to risk.”

After four straight years of steady declines, pedestrian deaths were up during the first six months of 2010, the latest figures available to be studied.

Other factors include distracted drivers, distracted pedestrians and what Adkins calls “aggressive pedestrians.”

“People who are not crossing where they are supposed to.  They’re running in front of cars.  We’ve even had examples of pedestrians getting out on the interstate,” said Adkins.

Alcohol is also factor in increased pedestrian deaths.

“We’ve done a good job of getting people, after a night out of partying, to leave their keys behind.  But just because you are walking does not mean you are not at risk,” said Adkins.

Pedestrians are also increasingly distracted by iPods and smart phones.  It is not uncommon to see people crossing streets while fiddling with an electronic device and not watching where they are walking.  Hospital emergency rooms have reported an upsurge of people injured in a fall because they were distracted by electronics.

So, my first reaction to this was WHICH governor of WHAT state?  Well, the station is in Virginia which makes it Governor  Bob McDonnell. I think I’d worry about who he is appointing there to head up departments if that’s the best explanation they can find when the evidence appears to be folks distracted by their Idiot-pads and their Idiot-phones. Sheesh!  And I thought my Governor Jindal had the market on fruitcake theories with his war on bath salts!!!  Kate Sheppard had a fun response up on MOJO called “Michelle Obama Doesn’t Kill People, Cars Do!’

TBD has a good post in which the GHSA’s executive director, Barbara Harsha, explaining that she never said that at all. The group isn’t sure exactly what caused the uptick in deaths—and they certainly can’t pin it on Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move” initiative.And as TBD’s Dave Jamieson aptly concludes, “If the ‘Let’s Move’ campaign is so effective that herds of inexperienced joggers are suddenly getting run over, then we need to put Mrs. Obama in charge of more nationwide initiatives, starting with the economic recovery.”

Oy. We women get blamed for everything these days!