Nearly 6,000 Lives Lost Nationally in Pedestrian Crashes in 2016 [VIDEO]

UNDATED -- Nearly 6,000 pedestrians died in crashes nationally last year.

A new study put together for the Governor's National Highway Safety Association says those numbers are rising faster than driver fatalities.

The 6,000 deaths were a 11-percent spike from 2015. Here in Minnesota, according to the department of public safety pedestrian deaths hit a 25-year high in 2016, with 60 people recorded killed.

That number was 19 more than 2015, and the highest total since 1991. In 2015, there were a total of 904 pedestrians killed or hurt in crashes across the state, with 253 of those being 15 to 29-year-olds.

The national study pointed to distractions, specifically cell-phones being the leading cause of the increase in those killed on our roads.