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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?

#101

Post by Zambyte »

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 through the laws of physics rather than the laws of signage.

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

#102

Post by alterom »

paulcole wrote: post #14

The answer is so simple. We really really really really like our cars/trucks/SUVs in the US and have agreed that about 30,000 to 40,000 people a year will die so that we can keep driving the way we do. It’s the price we pay for the way we choose to live.

I like how your comment is downvoted even though this hypothesis is directly supported by the data from the article.

Fat cars getting fatter, pedestrian-hostile streets becoming faster, city infrastructure requiring people to drive everywhere.

Hmmmm, what could be the reason.

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

#103

Post by ceejayoz »

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 .

I've no doubt it varies, but they're all doing something differently that seems to work versus the US.

> 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.

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

#104

Post by softwaredoug »

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 to the city if you live there is with a car.

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.

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

#105

Post by danbolt »

softwaredoug wrote: post #20

Where I live they will randomly build a bike path for a mile on the side of the road. But then it just ends. There's not a sense of how it could be built to connect people to the places they need to go. It's random and ad-hoc. Then people say "its pointless to build bike / ped infrastructure, nobody uses it!"

I’ve lived in places where they’ll add the bike path during scheduled road work, as it’s cheaper to get it done while there’s a crew already onsite. It can be a bit stochastic at first like you mention, but over a while I’ve seen the corridor eventually fill out, making the most of a shoestring budget.

Perhaps something similar where you live?

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

#106

Post by tbrownaw »

softwaredoug wrote: post #42
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…

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

There's an intersection here where the crosswalk button lights up a "no right turn" light hanging next to the usual stoplights.

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

#107

Post by sethammons »

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?

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

#108

Post by ajuc »

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.

Surely that's not THE determining factor behind American transportation system.

Because if it is - seems easy and cheap to fix.

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

#109

Post by CalRobert »

What's even sadder is seeing how many pedestrians are killed _even as far fewer people_, especially kids, are actually walking. It's like watching drownings increase even as fewer people take up swimming.

I walked to school in the 90's and even then the curtain-twitchers scolded my mom for letting me. It has only worsened since, as every destination is ages away and involves crossing multiple 45MPH stroads with monster trucks with 5 foot high hoods roaring down them.

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

#110

Post by alterom »

potato3732842 wrote: post #18
quantumwannabe wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Someone didn't read the article.

>Someone didn't read the article. Someone doesn't understand that any article that's drawing conclusions based on a workflow that involves putting a Chevy Suburban (functionally a chevy pickup from the B pillar forward) and a Honda HRV into the same category is sus at best and anyone uncritically accepting said conclusions is also sus at best. If one wanted to be honest they'd look at GVW or some other metric that tr…

>Like what even is the point of a raw "deaths by state" map?

It does give slightly more insight than the map of US state population per capita[1].

[1] https://facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=710896291698831&id...

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