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

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

#131

Post by anarticle »

American drivers are terrible and rules are barely enforced. License is cheap/free/no training so that's what we get.

With people on their phones, roads will have to become obstacle courses with speed bumps and undulating curve to force people to pay attention.

Philadelphia's solution to speeding has been speed bumps. Sounds great until you realize there are no specs for this, and some of them are so high that nearly every 10th car going over now makes an extremely loud scraping sound. Now imagine living in front of that!

I ride a motorcycle most times and I am always at very high attention when riding. I see people scrolling TikTok not only at lights, but flying through town. I see they didn't find a cause there, but it seems so prevalent and dangerous that it has to have caused an uptick in accidents as well as deaths. That data feels very fishy for it to be so different between regions (there is not a different culture in different areas for phone use).

I also wonder if there are a few confounders, covid, number of cars on road, safety of cars, and local code rules on what constitutes a registered vehicle (this is more variable than you think). In some places, if it rolls, you can register it. NJ has mandatory 2y state inspection.

At least we have Roosevelt Boulevard, the most dangerous roadway in the entire US! We're #1! (It is literally called: The Corridor of DEATH) https://whyy.org/articles/philly-roosevelt-blvd-rising-traff... I think it goes up to 12 lanes wide at some point WITH a pedestrian crossing.

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

#132

Post by willis936 »

IanCal wrote: post #93
denismenace wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, european roads are not as wide, since they make place for proper sidewalks and bike lanes. Another advantage is that narrower roads make drivers drive more carefully and slowly, reducing accidents even further.

I wish people would stop assuming that an area with 500M people, more than 20 countries and far more cultures are one addressable block. Some places are, others are absolutely awful. > Another advantage is that narrower roads make drivers drive more carefully and slowly, In some places, in others people go absolutely hell for leather because the roads are pretty fun. This varies city to city .

Then we shouldn't really be talking about the US, which has similar size and population stats, but instead individual cities and states. Denying that US states are correlated and European city construction are correlated is to ignore the history of how they were made.

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

#134

Post by Zambyte »

hackingonempty wrote: post #4

It is literally 20 times as many people killed every year as are killed in mass shootings but you can't get anyone to care at all about it. Blame the victim, did you see what they were wearing?

The reason it is hard to get people to care is the obvious intent difference. People don't tend to get behind the wheel with the conscious intent of killing people, even if they make poor decisions that lead to that. Drivers killing people is much more relatable to the average person, so it's hard to get the average person to have a rational conversation about it.

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

#135

Post by alterom »

quantumwannabe wrote: post #8
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.

Someone didn't read the article.

The article that fails to consider that the sedans have changed in shape and size over the past 20 years?

The article that has all the cool plots, and no relevant information like the actual vehicles being discussed?

The article that doesn't even bother putting a 2000 Camry side-by-side with a 2025 Camry to make it blatantly obvious that it's not just SUVs?

That article?

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

#136

Post by nativeit »

_fat_santa wrote: post #82
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 on…

I was just in Montpelier, VT yesterday, which has a population of just 8000 people, but as the state capital enjoys a busy downtown with a lot of activity. The moment a pedestrian approaches a non-signal crosswalk, traffic in both directions immediately stops to allow them to cross.

Not sure why the people in Vermont have all worked this out, but they do.

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

#137

Post by aianus »

softwaredoug wrote: post #104
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

It has a lot to do with many Americans relationships to cities, and dare I say, wanting to be away from "those people" in the cities. Some Americans can be hostile to increasing city density, arguing it will increase car traffic. Yet the whole point of dense cities is to help people avoid driving as you live next to everything. Meanwhile development out in the hinterlands continues unabated, and the only way to get t…

They like walking around without a car AND without homeless addicts screaming at you for change.

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

#138

Post by throwaway984393 »

pmontra wrote: post #115
everdrive wrote: post #13

There are a multitude of issues: - poor visibility in modern cars due to rollover protection - touch screens and touch controls in cars - general proliferation of controls in cars - smart phones & smart phone addictions - higher vehicle belt lines are better for vehicle --> vehicle impacts but worse for vehicle --> pedestrian impacts - poor pedestrian infrastructure, sidewalks, crosswalks, etc.

But why only in the USA? Cars and phones are the same in all the countries listed in the OP and it's not SUVs vs sedans. So are we left with your last point, different infrastructure?

[dead]

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

#139

Post by RHSeeger »

softwaredoug wrote: post #104
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

It has a lot to do with many Americans relationships to cities, and dare I say, wanting to be away from "those people" in the cities. Some Americans can be hostile to increasing city density, arguing it will increase car traffic. Yet the whole point of dense cities is to help people avoid driving as you live next to everything. Meanwhile development out in the hinterlands continues unabated, and the only way to get t…

> When you ask the same Americans why they like visiting a resort or European city, they will talk about being able to walk around without a car to get everything they need.

To be fair, you're looking for different things at a resort than you are at home. At a resort, you're not looking to do weekly food shopping, or buy supplies to do work around the house, or etc, etc. That's not to say things can't be organized to make doing so more reasonable, but living in an area where you drive to get everything and wanting to _visit_ (but not live in) an area where you can walk to everything (because you don't need major things) is not unreasonable.

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

#140

Post by A4ET8a8uTh0_v2 »

baggachipz wrote: post #99
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.

Only because the car companies made it that way through lobbying and stifling mass transit efforts.

I live in Chicagoland. Nothing is stifling it except state government itself. I don't want to get on my high horse, but I actually have a choice and it is bad enough now that I opt to drive on a highway. And that is the 'good' mass transit example.

FWIW, I originally came from an old EU country. Mass transit was the way to move around and let me assure you that the government is not better there. The issue is more cultural than anything else.

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