Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

U.S. pedestrian deaths reach a 40-year high

text.npr.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

21–30 of 625 posts

Re: U.S. pedestrian deaths reach a 40-year high

#21

Post by beatboxrevival »

avelis wrote: post #6

It would appear Vision Zero in the US is not working. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vision_Zero

Largely because it's still not seen as favorable by the public to prioritize pedestrian safety over vehicular parking/speed - even in liberal areas where this should be easy. We are a car-centric society, and I'm not sure when that'll change (unfortunately).

Re: U.S. pedestrian deaths reach a 40-year high

#22

Post by smt88 »

last_responder wrote: post #8

Texting and driving have to be behind some large portion of this increase.

It's a combination of phone use, increasing size/weight of vehicles, and urbanization (more people to hit on the same streets).

I suspect CarPlay and Android Auto are incredibly dangerous, but there isn't great data on how they contribute to accidents yet.

Re: U.S. pedestrian deaths reach a 40-year high

#23

Post by apsec112 »

I'm not even slightly surprised by this, sadly. Cops need to start ticketing people who drive like maniacs. I drive in DC, and every week I almost get hit by some loon going 30+ over the limit who doesn't care that I'm in the lane they're merging into. I've never seen anyone get ticketed. The roads have become something out of Mad Max, just pure developing-world anarchy.

Re: U.S. pedestrian deaths reach a 40-year high

#25

Post by doytch »

last_responder wrote: post #8

Texting and driving have to be behind some large portion of this increase.

I live in a smaller American city and ride my bike for most trips. I ride conservatively and am constantly watching cars tires or looking into the cabin to get early warning about sudden unsignalled turns or any other odd maneuvers. The amount of people I see just casually browsing Instagram or texting is insane.

I grew up in another country where it was illegal to hold a cellphone while driving and it was actually enforced. I'm just completely dumbfounded at the behaviour here and the lack of enforcement.

Re: U.S. pedestrian deaths reach a 40-year high

#26

Post by zubiaur »

foxyv wrote: post #5
cde-v wrote: post #2

[flagged]

I think Ford and Chevy have contributed more. The proliferation of high profile vehicles has made accidents that would normally be a broken leg into a crushed chest cavity.

Intuitively I would agree.

Modern pickup trucks have such high, long hoods nowadays.

There is a big blind spot on the front of the vehicle, especially pronounced with short objects, kids and pets.

Wonder if there is data that to run a hypothesis test?

Re: U.S. pedestrian deaths reach a 40-year high

#27

Post by micromacrofoot »

avelis wrote: post #6

It would appear Vision Zero in the US is not working. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vision_Zero

it's barely implemented in the US, and typically only in large cities... far too early to call it a failure, and I strongly suspect that the problem is that it doesn't go far enough (it does nothing to regulate the vehicles themselves or driving skills, for example... road design can't fix everything)

Re: U.S. pedestrian deaths reach a 40-year high

#28

Post by luxurytent »

carimura wrote: post #24

every time I'm in the car I'm astonished by the number of people looking down at phones while driving. Is my experience unique? Is anyone else surprised about metrics like these?

Nope. Anecdotal to me of course, but I did a little activity where I stood on a pedestrian island off a busy stretch of road near me. I did this a handful of times.

Over each 5 minute stretch, I'd observe at least 1/10 drivers staring down at their phones while driving through intersection

It's nuts. We are a distracted population.

Re: U.S. pedestrian deaths reach a 40-year high

#29

Post by injb »

>>> Norton said installing speeding and red light cameras can also be effective if they work properly. Adding bike lanes can also keep drivers more alert on the road.

You know what else works? Making learning how to drive a requirement for getting a drivers license. Other countries that have tried this have had good success.

Re: U.S. pedestrian deaths reach a 40-year high

#30

Post by lotsofpulp »

luxurytent wrote: post #11

I guess pickup trucks fall under the category of SUVs? It's wild how we've lost access to our streets and neighbourhoods for the convenience of mostly suburban vehicle users. Actually not wild, but disgraceful. The majority of roads are too wide and with little options for alternative modes of transport, drivers are growingly frustrated and angry on the road. We continue to make the mistake of thinking the solution i…

In many areas, it would take a ton of work in the effort of making destinations closer to each other. Huge parking lots, setbacks, wide roads, and detached houses on their own quarter, or even eighth, of an acre lot make it so the choice between walking/bicycling and using a personal car is not much of a choice.

Public transportation is also not an option due to how inconvenient it is due to how infrequently it would run, and the cost of missed or missing buses/trains, which again, run infrequently due to lack of density of people.

Plus the separation of commercial zones and residential zones mean public transport is always going to one specific area, and so if you have any interest in traveling outside the central core, you are once again depending on a personal car.

Post reply on HN