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Why are so many pedestrians killed by cars in the US?

construction-physics.com

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Re: Why are so many pedestrians killed by cars in the US?

#81

Post by A4ET8a8uTh0_v2 »

rglullis wrote: post #70
A4ET8a8uTh0_v2 wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you tried to move around US w/o it? As propaganda goes, it is pretty spot on.

What is cause and what is effect, and which of those do people can control?

Eh, I guess I am talking to militant anti-SUV people.

Allow me to rephrase:

- Your environment imposes restrictions upon you - Even if you can control your actions, optimal choice is to move within those restrictions - Doing things that attempt to move outside those restrictions are not optimal - Some people choose the optimal path - Some people are upset that the optimal path is chosen

Good grief, why am I bothering with nonsense so early?

Re: Why are so many pedestrians killed by cars in the US?

#82

Post by _fat_santa »

banga wrote: post #30

This morning while jogging in the US I came to an intersection. Green lights and walk on in my direction. A car approaching from my left had a red light, the driver glanced to his left and without stopping or looking in my direction, turned right across my path. I expected this of course, so avoided being run over. If I wasn't watching for this, it likely would be a different outcome. So why do so many pedestrians ge…

One thing I always do is say a car is stopped at an intersection and is making a right turn while I'm in the crosswalk, I always look at the driver and where they are looking. Often times what I see is the driver will just look to see that the road is clear and never looks to see that the sidewalk is clear and just goes. I can count maybe 2-3 occasions where had I not done this I would have been run over.

This was one thing not talked about in the article: drivers in the US are not used to pedestrians outside of major cities like Boston, NYC, etc. I've seen drivers blow past me while I was in the crosswalk to rush and make a right turn and were bewildered that someone was actually using the crosswalk.

Re: Why are so many pedestrians killed by cars in the US?

#83

Post by ajuc »

willis936 wrote: post #23
bradfa wrote: post #3

Pedestrians are hit by cars in the USA because the roads are not designed for non-car users. This is exacerbated by distracted driving, drunk driving, and recent car design changes like higher hood heights but the root of it is poorly designed roads which don’t consider pedestrians’ needs.

As compared to the European roads that are half the width of US roads?

Yes. Wider roads are worse for safety.

Re: Why are so many pedestrians killed by cars in the US?

#85

Post by Zigurd »

banga wrote: post #30

This morning while jogging in the US I came to an intersection. Green lights and walk on in my direction. A car approaching from my left had a red light, the driver glanced to his left and without stopping or looking in my direction, turned right across my path. I expected this of course, so avoided being run over. If I wasn't watching for this, it likely would be a different outcome. So why do so many pedestrians ge…

Pedestrians pay with their lives so that we can have butch looking trucks in the US. Seriously. It's for the vanity of pavement queens. And it's measurable. Quantifiable. Regulators are unwilling to take on this problem because they'd be called woke.

Re: Why are so many pedestrians killed by cars in the US?

#86

Post by CalRobert »

twelvechairs wrote: post #49
bradfa wrote: post #3

Pedestrians are hit by cars in the USA because the roads are not designed for non-car users. This is exacerbated by distracted driving, drunk driving, and recent car design changes like higher hood heights but the root of it is poorly designed roads which don’t consider pedestrians’ needs.

A huge part of poorly designed roads is wider lanes (and parking spaces) that allow/encourage huge cars. Its been proven that narrower lanes correlate strongly with lower crash and fatality rates (e.g. [0] below) yet lane widths are under pressure to increase with larger vehicles, and every time this happens the vehicles get larger again. [0] https://publichealth.jhu.edu/2023/narrower-lanes-safer-stree...

Higher speeds, too.

Re: Why are so many pedestrians killed by cars in the US?

#87

Post by FridayoLeary »

twelvechairs wrote: post #49
bradfa wrote: post #3

Pedestrians are hit by cars in the USA because the roads are not designed for non-car users. This is exacerbated by distracted driving, drunk driving, and recent car design changes like higher hood heights but the root of it is poorly designed roads which don’t consider pedestrians’ needs.

A huge part of poorly designed roads is wider lanes (and parking spaces) that allow/encourage huge cars. Its been proven that narrower lanes correlate strongly with lower crash and fatality rates (e.g. [0] below) yet lane widths are under pressure to increase with larger vehicles, and every time this happens the vehicles get larger again. [0] https://publichealth.jhu.edu/2023/narrower-lanes-safer-stree...

I heard the fire department wants wide lanes so they can drive around in those huge behemoths they love.

Re: Why are so many pedestrians killed by cars in the US?

#88

Post by ajuc »

ceejayoz wrote: post #63
willis936 wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And drivers. Readers should ask themselves when they first got a smartphone and if it was around 2009.

You should ask yourself whether smartphones are a US-only phenomenon. From the article: > Other countries haven’t seen this increase in pedestrian deaths: in every other high-income country, rates are flat or declining. Whatever’s causing the problem seems to be limited to the US.

It reminds me of Americans blaming school shootings on video games as if nobody else in the world had them :)

Re: Why are so many pedestrians killed by cars in the US?

#89

Post by alterom »

codeduck wrote: post #40
furyg3 wrote: post #15

At first I thought maybe the number of pedestrian journeys have gone up, but that appears to be declining (leading to even more concern as to why deaths have gone up).

Because (darkly) there's one fewer pedestrians time one of them gets killed? Sorry, I'll show myself out.

There's many more pedestrians who start to think twice about walking anywhere after someone they know is hit by a vehicle.

Re: Why are so many pedestrians killed by cars in the US?

#90

Post by throw-qqqqq »

physicsguy wrote: post #72

I was amazed when I travelled to the US at just how pedestrian hostile it is. I was travelling to a conference in San Diego and it was just impossible to walk safely between where I was staying and where I was going to because this was the road: https://maps.app.goo.gl/G2PeVbEzQyqbgDTN9

Hahah I got stopped by cops twice for walking to a food court in San José ten years ago :D

They thought I was crazy for walking basically. After reassuring them I knew who and where I was, they let me walk off.

Much of America seems very car-centric (to a European like myself).

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