
Why are pedestrian deaths increasing in the US? - jseliger
http://cityobservatory.org/why-are-us-drivers-killing-so-many-pedestrians/
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chiefofgxbxl
The article links to another article by freep.com that really boils the
problem down to high-profile, "blunt-nosed" SUVs and trucks (picture:
[https://www.gannett-cdn.com/labs/death-on-
foot/graphics/NU_0...](https://www.gannett-cdn.com/labs/death-on-
foot/graphics/NU_062018-Jeep-Honda-size-FULL.png?width=1800)). This is
something I've taken note of in my city. When I park my short sedan next to
some of these pickups, the pickups' hoods are taller than my entire vehicle.
So imagine your entire body being slammed by that. If you were instead struck
by a sedan, your body would more likely roll over the hood and dissipate some
of the impact.

At the end of the day, the failure is with how our vehicles in America are
tested and rated. Safety ratings for vehicles are only in "their class",
meaning for instance that they don't smash a sedan into an SUV; they only
smash sedans into other sedans, and SUVs into other SUVs. This presents a
major asymmetry, leading buyers to think SUVs are safer, when that safety
comes at the _expense_ of other users of the road, including people on foot
and bike.

A major step toward reducing fatality rates in a vehicle-person collision is
to factor in pedestrian safety when evaluating vehicle safety rates.

~~~
btrettel
As a cyclist in Austin, one of the first things I noticed when I moved to
Texas was how many vehicles have grille guards. The vast majority don't buy
these because they need them. They buy them because they like the look or
because they think it'll make their vehicle survive a collision better. I've
often thought about what the grille guard would do to me or a pedestrian.

~~~
bin0
So if a truck hits you at eighty miles per hour, what will kill you: the force
of the truck, or the grille guard?

Also, as a fellow Texan, you're dead wrong. The majority of the people who
have those have them because they have ranches and _do_ need them.

~~~
btrettel
The answer to your question is obvious and not relevant. I don't ride on roads
where anyone goes near 80 mph, so I do think that the grille guards will
contribute to lethality in my case.

Given that I live in central Austin, I find it hard to believe that most
drivers I encounter with grille guards need them because they have a ranch.
That would imply that many more people have ranches than I believe is true.
Plus, I grew up in a rural area outside of Texas and rarely saw grille guards,
even on farms.

~~~
sieabahlpark
I too never drive into the local city from my suburban or rural home. The mere
thought of it is insane.

------
DoreenMichele
_It’s worth noting that even though walking is far more common in Europe, and
streets are generally narrower, and in older cities, there aren’t sidewalks,
but pedestrians share the roadway with cars. Despite these factors, Europe now
has a lower pedestrian death toll per capita than the US.

We walk less, but we die more._

I think it's _because of these factors,_ not _despite_ them. We die more
because pedestrian traffic has dropped so low that drivers no longer look for
foot traffic.

I have lived without a car more than a decade. Driver's frequently are shocked
to notice me. I do all I can to catch their eye and make sure they see me.
Otherwise, they just make their turn/ go through the crosswalk like I don't
exist.

~~~
vkou
On my trip to work today, I observed a chap stopping traffic to jaywalk across
a street to get in his car.

A minute, and half a block down, I saw him honking at a pedestrian, who was
crossing an intersection on the walk sign.

There's an amazing bit of cognitive dissonance that happens when your run-of-
the-mill moron climbs behind the wheel of a vehicle.

~~~
dsfyu404ed
Shitty pedestrians make shitty drivers and vise versa. Sounds pretty
reasonable and obvious to me.

------
sidlls
What about distracted pedestrians? I've had to swerve into car lanes from the
bike lane almost every day this last week because some pedestrian with his
face buried in a phone absent-mindedly steps off the curb against the light.
What fraction of the increase is attributable to that?

When I drove a car I used to sympathize with both cyclists and pedestrians.
Now that I've been commuting and frequently running errands by bicycle for a
couple of years my sympathy has waned significantly due the behavior I observe
in my fellow cyclists and pedestrians.

~~~
TheBigSalad
I walk and drive as part of my commute. When I'm walking I swear I'm the only
person who doesn't wear headphones, and this is a very busy urban area with
lots of cars, people, and narrow streets. I would imagine it's the same in
Europe though, what do I know?

~~~
linuxftw
I was in Europe recently. Didn't observe too many with headphones in while
crossing streets or on the metro.

Another uniquely American thing I've witnessed is people not even bothering to
_look_ when crossing the street because of whatever video they're watching on
their phone.

~~~
brokenmachine
Unfortunately not unique. I've seen plenty of morons doing that here in
Australia as well.

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JohnTHaller
There's a near-exact correlation with the rise of smartphone use in the US.
Anecdotally, I've almost been hit more often in recent years here in NYC and
it's almost always due to absolute morons staring at their cell phone while
behind the wheel.

~~~
camhenlin
Anecdotally, and I'm sure other people can share similar experiences: I've
also had a couple of instances of people jay walking, popping out from behind
a parked car right into the road - staring at their cell phone and not at the
street around them - and have had to slam on my brakes to keep from hitting
the person. I'm glad to have been paying attention but things could have
easily gone badly.

~~~
jonnycomputer
popping out behind a huge SUV or truck nearly as tall as an adult...

~~~
ndiscussion
Not sure if you're trying to justify the jaywalking here, but if you want to
live through 2020, I suggest looking before you leap.

~~~
jonnycomputer
who said anything about jaywalking? big cars block visibility at intersections
too.

------
martin-adams
I'd be curious to know if there's any link the use of automatic vs manual
transmission cars. In Europe 80% of cars sold are manual, and in the US 3.9%
are manual.[1]

That alone probably doesn't mean much because that was still the trend 10
years ago. But the use of smartphones may have increased. Long story short,
does a manual transmission reduce distracted driving because it's harder to
use your free hand for other activities?

[1] [https://www.thezebra.com/insurance-news/2805/manual-vs-
autom...](https://www.thezebra.com/insurance-news/2805/manual-vs-automatic/)

~~~
CydeWeys
Those stats on automatic vs manual are out of date. Automatics are approaching
half of new vehicle sales in Western European countries now. Of course, that's
a leading indicator for all cars on the road, so manuals still dominate .. for
now.

I don't think this is particularly relevant to pedestrian deaths though. You
can still find ways to distract yourself in a manual.

~~~
eric_h
> You can still find ways to distract yourself in a manual.

True, but it's harder to text and drive when you really do need both hands
(and both feet) to drive successfully.

Anecdotally, I find driving a manual transmission keeps me much more in tune
with all of the variables involved in driving (inside and outside the car)
than driving an automatic does.

~~~
dsfyu404ed
One of my daily drivers has a manual. If I wanted to be distracted in it would
not be appreciably harder. In fact it would probably be easier because the cup
holder location in that vehicle is more convenient for my cell phone. If I
drove something with modern performance characteristics (enough torque to
start in 2nd, hill assist, etc, etc) the fact that it has a manual would be
even more of a non-issue.

~~~
CydeWeys
That was my experience with it as well. Once I got "fluent" in driving manual,
I wasn't even consciously thinking about it, so it wasn't any harder to get
distracted than when driving an automatic. And your hand isn't even on the
shifter most of the time anyway.

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sneakernets
Pedestrians were in cities hundreds of years before, vehicles should never
have been promoted to first place. How to fix this in the cities? Remove
almost all instances of cars getting near pedestrians by:

1: Removing one way streets. Having to drive all the way around to go
somewhere nearby keeps the car on the road that much longer and doubles the
number of crosswalks to pass through. 2: Removing left turns. Cars invading
the pedestrians' right of way from the other side of the street is dangerous.
3: Reducing city speed limits from 30mph to 15. 30mph is ridiculous. 4\.
Enforcing carpooling. One person driving a huge SUV is such a waste of gas,
space, and contributes to highways doubling as parking lots at rush hour. 5\.
Promoting city housing as much as possible for all new growth. For every
honest baby-boomer suburb created with proper planning, there were two white-
flight suburbs hastily created without. 6\. Demanding companies in the city
limits revise the need for employees to commute. Employees who can do their
job at home deserve that privilege.

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e40
I'm somewhat of an expert on this, since I've been walking to work since 1995
(except for 1 year) and I've logged more than 20,000 miles on sidewalks
through 2 cities.

What really, really concerns me, in the last few years, are tints on driver
side windows. My rule is, I never walk in front of a car unless I made eye
contact with the driver. I will even, if I approach from the passenger side,
knock on the hood if they are looking left. With the new tints, there are many
cars in my city where I cannot see the driver. At all. This confuses me, since
I thought opaque tints were illegal.

~~~
1-6
Anecdotal... Who put you in charge of experts in walking? Lol. Flames aside,
your point about tinted windows is interesting but I'm pretty sure it's not
uncommon in other countries outside of the US.

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CydeWeys
I hate to say the "R" word, but, I think we need more regulation. It's clear
that manufacturers and consumers aren't trending in the right direction here
in protecting all members of society on the streets (not just those in
vehicles), so the government needs to step in and mandate it. The increasing
prevalence of large pedestrian-unfriendly vehicles is a terrifying trend.

Another change in concert that might help is much higher gasoline taxes.
Gasoline can cost upwards of $8 per gallon in many parts of Europe. When fuel
is that expensive, you _really_ don't want to get a vehicle any larger than
necessary. By contrast, fuel here in the US is way too cheap, and way too many
people get large vehicles who have no real need for them, and aren't charged
nearly enough extra for the privilege.

~~~
supergauntlet
Gas taxes disproportionately affect the poor though. I agree with your premise
that we have too many large vehicles and there's no good incentive to pick a
vehicle that's "just" large enough for your uses (so of course everyone picks
these enormous trucks and SUVs), but I just think there has to be a better way
of regulating than a gas tax.

~~~
Townley
Is a gas tax really regressive? (asking not because I don't believe it, but
because I've never seen this idea stated before). I can see how it's more
likely to be regressive among car-owning lower income people (who devote a
larger portion of their income to gas, and would therefore be
disproportionately affected).

But lower-income people are also less likely to own a car. Even among those
who do, they're more likely to moderate their gas usage, more likely to find
ways to carpool, and more likely to find the fuel savings of a smaller car to
be compelling.

~~~
gnu8
Outside of large cities with functional mass transit, most low income people
do own (or finance) cars. Otherwise they would be no-income. You can find a
lot of low end job listings that say “reliable transportation” and they don’t
mean a bus ride sandwiched between two several-mile hikes. Their cars will be
perhaps 10-15 years old, depending on whether their state has winters or
emissions laws. They can’t afford the latest fuel efficient vehicles and might
be getting 18-25 miles per gallon. Fuel will be a significant fraction of
their transportation expense compared to anyone with a higher income, so a
fuel tax will necessarily be regressive.

------
dr_dshiv
"Stop Murdering Our Children"

This political campaign in the Netherlands transformed society in the 1970s.
It is a model for political reform in the US

[https://usa.streetsblog.org/2013/02/20/the-origins-of-
hollan...](https://usa.streetsblog.org/2013/02/20/the-origins-of-hollands-
stop-murdering-children-street-safety-movement/)

------
TheBigSalad
There's also a trend in the US where people are moving out of suburbs and into
big cities. And there are far more people walking and biking to work than
ever. So there's definitely more pedestrians than 10 years ago. I can't speak
for Europe's trends.

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cm2012
Pedestrian deaths are at a record low in NYC due to Vision Zero. Talk about
bucking the trend.

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xwdv
I hit a pedestrian a few years ago. I was heading to an intersection to make a
right hand turn while at the same time a guy on his phone was walking to
cross.

Unfortunately he happened to somehow be walking at a constant bearing with
decreasing range to my line of sight, hiding right behind my A pillar.
Luckily, because I was decelerating to turn at the last minute I didn’t strike
him hard enough to do much harm, but he was visibly shaken.

~~~
_nalply
This happened to me too. I hit a woman on a bike, because she unfortunately
kept behind a pillar. Now when turning I always rock my torso sideways to and
fro to increase the view angle. I feel stupid doing this but I think I avoided
one or two more accidents this way.

~~~
smileysteve
> because she unfortunately kept behind a pillar

Your wording seems to blame a slower vehicle being passed for not being passed
before the passing vehicle crossed the slower vehicle's lane.

~~~
_nalply
Sorry, I didn't mean to. It's my fault.

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dumbfounder
I live in a walkable neighborhood but there are a lot of people that commute
through my neighborhood to downtown DC. There are crosswalks where cars are
supposed to stop for pedestrians, but many don't. I feel like the rise of
these laws that require cars to stop at these crosswalks has to be part of the
problem. Cars are supposed to stop but they are either driving too fast or
they just don't stop. Or if you have a few lanes to cross the first car stops
and the next car doesn't see you. I feel like these crosswalks give people a
false sense of security that they can cross without vigilance at any time.
Without these laws you simply need to wait until the coast is clear. That
seems much safer to me. Is there a study to support my instincts on this?

~~~
brokenmachine
It sounds like you are blaming pedestrians for not being "vigilant" enough,
when in reality it is the cars that are not stopping and giving way to
pedestrians on a crosswalk like they're supposed to.

>these crosswalks give people a false sense of security that they can cross
without vigilance at any time

I'm Australian so I'm not sure if a crosswalk is exactly the same, but the
whole point of what we call a "pedestrian crossing" is that a pedestrian can
cross at any time with as much or as little vigilance as they want.

It is illegal to not give way and it is illegal to drive across the pedestrian
crossing if there is a pedestrian already on it.

I very much doubt you'll be able to locate a study showing that jaywalking is
safer than crossing at a pedestrian crossing.

~~~
dumbfounder
Not jaywalking. It used to be that you had to cross at a crosswalk AND wait
for traffic to be clear. The crosswalk was the place to cross to make sure
people weren't crossing at any place they choose. But now that there are laws
that require you to stop at any crosswalk with a pedestrian in it, people are
crossing and they expect the cars to stop, but not every driver is in tune
with this, especially those from outside the city, and it creates a dangerous
situation.

~~~
brokenmachine
Basically you are saying that because the drivers are not obeying the laws, we
should throw our hands up and admit it's impossible and change the laws so
they have right of way.

That's a fair position to take, but I would be questioning why it is that the
drivers are unaware or unwilling to obey those laws?

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mc32
Wonder what Europe is doing differently than us. Are we seeing an increase of
pedestrians on our streets and roads?

Hopefully assistive technologies help curb some of these trends as they filter
down to base models and older vehicles get replaced with newer one which have
these features.

As for the current cause, although they contrast with Europe and play it down,
I have to think it’s primarily caused by driver distraction (and pedestrian as
well but on the defensive side) rather than either rise of SUVs and or
“entitlement” as well as perhaps a rise in “pedestrians” (people walking of
running of jogging, etc.)

~~~
maxxxxx
"Wonder what Europe is doing differently than us. Are we having more
pedestrians on our streets and roads?"

It's definitely about being used to it. In Munich there were pedestrians and
bikers everywhere so you quickly learn to always watch. In California now I
see a bike maybe once a week so I often don't look anymore.

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baybal2
Cars in America got even more big and heavy, that's why.

One of reason why they got so heavy in the first place... was the higher
requirement for crashworthiness.

People who come with those crashworthiness requirements need to put at least
some effort thinking them through.

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littleweep
More distracted drivers than ever?

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ekianjo
Pretty disappointing article since it does not answer the question at all.

~~~
sirbranedamuj
I don't think the author claimed to have the answer, the title is literally a
question.

If there was a reason why surely it wouldn't be an issue because we would
already know how to fix it.

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Sharlin
Discouraging that even in Europe the curve has all but flattened.

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RickJWagner
"Especially if the death rat had grown by 50 percent in less than a decade."

Holy crap. There's a 'death rat'? And it is growing that fast?

