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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?

#151

Post by nerdjon »

I have no doubt that most of the blame here is on drivers. Way too often I see cars running red lights, barely paying attention, turning the wrong way on a one way, etc etc.

That being said, (and to be clear I say this as someone that does not own a car). I also have been seeing more and more people not paying attention and just walking while staring at their phone. No walk symbol or anything. I have frustratingly had to grab my partner multiple times doing exactly this and almost walking into a car that was following the rules.

Seriously if your walking (especially in a car centric area) you don't need to be doom scrolling through Instagram or whatever other crap your looking at. Quickly changing music, sending a text, whatever is one thing but I don't understand needing to look at Instagram while walking.

And not just so you don't get killed by cars, the number of times these people almost walk into other people is insane...

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

#152

Post by 36Ndm »

sethammons wrote: post #107
36Ndm wrote: post #9

Also if you look at they way the cars are designed in the US compared to Europe, the hoods of the cars are much higher, and not designed to prevent injury in the event of a car -> pedestraion incident

In the article, it talks about the big suv hypothesis and also points out that pedestrian deaths are up for sedans too. Are US sedans hood designs different than in Europe?

I think it is more common to have larger cars in the US versus europe, I saw a dodge ram for the first time in my life yesterday and me and my colleagues were shocked at how big it was - it did not fit in a regular parking space and took a whole handicap spot. I don't think us sedan design is different from european, but just the car culture as a whole.

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

#153

Post by ageitgey »

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…

This is exactly why this turn is illegal in nearly every country in the world except the US and Canada. [1]

If you are in the UK, this turn is illegal always and everywhere, so it basically never happens.

I grew up in the US with right turn on red, so I was used to it and accepted it as normal. But after living the UK for 6 years, I'm now physically shocked when visiting the US at how dangerous it is to walk around even very dense urban US areas like Chicago's north loop. Cars are constantly trying to run you over by turning across active crosswalks. It's totally absurd to experience once you've lived somewhere else where that would result in you immediately losing your license. US culture in general has no respect for pedestrians (although of course some individuals do).

This isn't some utopian dream of ultimate walkability achieved through pro-pedestrian urban redesign. This is the most basic laws that govern cities actively making it dangerous to walk around because it saved a bit of gas during the 1970s oil crisis.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turn_on_red

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

#154

Post by ceejayoz »

willis936 wrote: post #148
ceejayoz wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a deeply silly assertion. Culture is one of our major and most successful exports. Afghan tribesmen have seen The Simpsons. Osama Bin Laden played Half-Life and showed his kids Pixar films. https://www.history.com/articles/bin-laden-compound-abbottab...

And the US isn't under Sharia Law. Saying that The Simpsons in syndication is the reason why two cultures behaves the same is the sillier of the two statements.

> And the US isn't under Sharia Law.

We have our moments. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dry_county

> Saying that The Simpsons in syndication is the reason why two cultures behaves the same is the sillier of the two statements.

American culture is influential. Americans and Afghans aren't the same, but they've absolutely picked up on bits of it. And Afghanistan is an extreme example; you'll find even more American cultural influx in, say, England.

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

#155

Post by potato3732842 »

snapcaster wrote: post #26
rjbwork wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even moreso than guns, the automobile industry has been waging an incredibly successful propaganda campaign for over a century now equating the ownership and use of a personal automobile with freedom.

This is true, people having a complete meltdown to the idea of walkable cities was very telling

It's because it's being peddled by the same "oh, I know how we'll use government to fix this problem that isn't top 10 on anyone's list" types who's in previous generations gave us unwalkable cities, unaffordable housing, and the modern urban-suburban hellscape.

While individual points are supported or resisted individually and by individuals, when you sum it up on a population level it's like a gut reaction against listening to someone who's lead you astray before.

Basically the people pushing changes lack the political and cultural capital to see them through because the capital was wasted for naught in decades past.

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

#156

Post by LeifCarrotson »

karma_fountain wrote: post #80
softwaredoug wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Right turns are really dangerous for pedestrians. A lot of localities started banning right-on-red because cars look left only.

Cars don't look at all.

Cars (or more precisely, drivers in cars - that false equivalence is part of the problem) look for other cars. They do not look for pedestrians, cyclists, or motorcycles, they assume that if there's not another 5000 lbs shiny steel box in the lane that they're clear to go.

Last weekend after my son's elementary school soccer game, someone wasn't interested in trying to join the line of cars exiting the parking lot, and tried to pull forward over a grass patch that separated the parking area from the driveway by the field. Except there was a 2000 lbs boulder, 3' tall, just in front of their car... which they entirely forgot about after walking past it. Their head was on a swivel looking for a gap in the line of cars on the driveway, but not for anything else. They destroyed their bumper, probably damaged their radiator or suspension, and got the left front tire partially up on the rock.

I was just glad it wasn't one of the multitude of 3' tall kids at the game.

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

#157

Post by estimator7292 »

Zambyte wrote: post #101
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…

This comment makes it seem like people are built differently in the US than they are in the rest of the world, but that obviously isn't true. The roads (particularly intersections, where crashes tend to happen) are in fact built differently though. Urbanist resources like NotJustBikes and Oh The Urbanity! YouTube channels do a great job of highlighting the differences, and how they force drivers to pay attention thro…

No, the US has a culture of not giving a single shit about anyone but yourself. A frighteningly large fraction of drivers will do anything they can get away with. Here in the land of the free, rules are for other people, not for me.

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

#158

Post by 542354234235 »

FridayoLeary wrote: post #87
twelvechairs wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

It is part of it. Notjustbikes did a video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2dHFC31VtQ

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

#159

Post by Hikikomori »

astonex wrote: post #59

Anecdotally, on my few visits to the US (NY and Colorado), the driving I saw was absolutely atrocious compared to Europe. People were swerving and failing to stay in their lanes on Interstates, everyone was speeding well above the limit (everyone speeds on Motorways, but it seems it's taken to another level in the US). Then you have turn right on red meaning drivers just don't care and turn regardless. Then you have…

It's a pretty good way to inflate GDP.

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

#160

Post by rsynnott »

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

Yup, never ceases to amaze me when I'm over there how difficult they seem to find the idea of putting in a proper footpath.
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