Why Pedestrian Deaths Are At A 30-Year High

[Mr. Sparkle]

Source: Npr

Across the U.S., 6,227 pedestrians died in traffic accidents in 2018, the highest number in nearly 30 years. The findings from a Governors Highway Safety Association report show that many of these deaths occurred in big cities like Houston and Miami.

The signs are all over most cities — stretches of road without crosswalks and people needing to walk on roads built for rush-hour traffic. But the real increase, experts say, comes from larger trends: drivers and pedestrians distracted by their phones and a growth of larger vehicles on the road.

snip..

Something else accounts for the 30 percent jump in pedestrian deaths in just the last 10 years. "Looking at the various metrics available, the ones that pop out to me are distraction related to smartphone use and the market share increase in SUVs."

Since 2013, the number of consumers buying light trucks has far outpaced those buying cars. "There's no question that pedestrians hit by SUVs are more likely to die than those hit by a car," he said. SUVs are bigger, heavier and deadlier for pedestrians.

Read more: https://www.npr.org/2019/03/28/706481382/why-pedestrian-deaths-are-at-a-30-year-high

[PeeJ52]

1. Of course, the SUVs hit higher on the body forcing it straight down. Lower cars lift the body up...

that's easy... It's a lot of smartphones though.... it's funny watching those idiots crossing the streets staring at their screens.

[katmondoo]

2. When one of the hugh SUV's park next to me I have a difficult time backing out. They block the view

in parking lots and when you make a right hand turn with a red light. I hate them.

[Cetacea]

16. It's a joke that SUVs are even legal

Unless you are in one or a truck, SUVs block what's ahead, behind, and to the left and right of other drivers.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

27. That's why I almost always park in a pull-through space.

That way I can pull forward, and even if two huge SUV's, which I despise, are on either side of me, it's a fuck of a lot safer than trying to back my car out. That would actually be true of an SUV parked between two others.

[GoCubsGo]

30. This is one of the reasons I always park with the back end of my car into the space.

That way, I don't have to back out. It's not just because of all the trucks. It's also because people here think parking lots are just part of the roadway, and they don't slow down while driving through them. I don't want to risk some idiot tearing around a corner and smacking into me, especially since the fault would be on me, regardless. I have the same complaints when it comes to making turns, as well. I hate them, too. And, don't get me started on most people who have them are incapable of handling them, or parking them without taking up 2 or 3 spaces...

[DownriverDem]

18. Those damn phones

You can't stop progress, but I have a flip phone. Why? I just want a phone. I do know I am going to be forced to get a smart phone if I want to ever buy plane tickets or concert tickets.

[moonscape]

22. Another flip phone user here. Why do you

need a smart phone to buy tickets?

[DBoon]

26. ticket companies will not allow you to print out tickets

they push you to download their app, which displays your purchase to the ticket-taker, oh, and it tracks your personal info for "customer service" and make competition much harder

[hlthe2b]

3. Right turn on red across a cross-walk, without even slowing down...

Left-hand turns desperately made in traffic that ignores official pedestrian lights at crosswalks. I see it all the time and, no, the flower-filled memorials at the site do NOT make it right.

Like with guns, we do very little to improve safety anymore it seems.

[JaneQPublic]

7. Absolutely right.

While my truck was in the shop recently, I decided to brave the 6-lane highway a block from my house to get to stores and other businesses on the opposite side.

But Jeez! even while complying with all crossing lights and keeping an eye out, I nearly got nailed several times by vehicles making right turns both onto AND off the highway, not to mention by late-comers to the stoplight who barrel into the crosswalk and directly into my path before stopping.

What with all the careless, aggressive, and distracted drivers nowadays, you are definitely taking your life into your hands walking in traffic.

[CDerekGo]

4. I was a City Letter Carrier

Who walked along City Streets daily. Amazed me the number of folks I'd see tooling down the major streets of Saint Petersburg, FL driving WAY above posted speed limits (even school buses were speeding) and a good number (about half) were either staring down at their lap while driving, or had their smart-phones directly in front of them while driving.

When did posting, texting, or otherwise being 'connected' become much more important than driving a 4000 pound vehicle? I know, driving is boring for most, they find it tedious. Hell, I used to commute 2 hours each way at one point for work. Yes, it was tough. But driving a car is a responsibility as well. Especially if you have passengers in the vehicle with you.

When your mail delivery route has you walking 12+ miles a day, amazing the driving habits you see of the general public. As well, amazing the inability of driving public to respect pedestrians.

Oh, and for those who wonder how I was able to determine those going over speed limit. My smart-phone had a baseball radar gun app on it. Clocked a School Bus doing 60 in 35mph zone one day. Believe me, I got photo of that bus.

[hibbing]

5. I commute by bus

My bus stop in the morning is along a relatively busy street. The drivers of about 1/3rd of the cars that go by have their faces in their phones.


Peace

[kimbutgar]

6. Driving home yesterday I saw a women stopped at a stop sign texting

I wa making a left and she had a right turn signal on. I sat for at least a minute waiting to see if she was going to move so I made my turn. When I drive and see a pedestrian on the street with their faces in a cell phone I honk and make eye contact especially if I have the right of way. Drivers and pedestrians contribute to this increase.

[SoCalNative]

28. I would also argue that it's not just the smartphones

texting and the like, but also pedestrians that are using them for ipods and listening to music or podcasts. You don't hear what is going on around you and you tend to be more in tune to what you are listening to and not paying attention to your surroundings.

[dlk]

8. Houston is #1 for Alcohol/Drug-Related Auto Accidents...

This may be why the insurance rates there are so high.

[efhmc]

17. I used to hear almost daily when I lived there that someone

was killed while crossing a busy road and they almost always were drunk.

[Archae]

9. Just had a pedestrian killed near me.

The guy was a few feet from a stop light with cross walk, but he jaywalked into traffic anyway, and got run over.

Nothing in news reports about any cell phones, but I bet the jaywalker was texting.

[elleng]

10. "Progress"

[ToxMarz]

11. I chalk it up to natural selection

It will be interesting to study the results in 10,000 years or so

[JohnnyRingo]

12. And possibly because of more electric cars?

Perhaps they're more likely to produce injuries over death because it's at low speed that the lack of sound becomes a problem to pedestrians, but I have a solution.

Maybe at speeds below 40mph electrics take a cue from ice cream trucks and play a recording of "Turkey In The Straw" or "Three Blind Mice".

I'm not sure we can regulate our way through this particular safety issue. I don't think the govt should require nerf bumpers or cow catcher attachments to counter our stupid love of monsterously bigger vehicles. ...and don't text & drive.

[UpInArms]

13. Every time I see a person with a phone on the side of their face or a screen

In the middle of a steering wheel, all I can think is

HANG UP AND DRIVE!

[volstork]

14. Now in my city we have motorized scooters

that are not allowed on the sidewalks, so they run along the curb. They are supposed to follow vehicular traffic laws, but mostly it's a free-for-all, and only a matter of time before someone gets killed.

[mwooldri]

15. Other reasons why: lack of pedestrian visibility at night.

Distracted driving & walking is one reason, and yes growth of SUV usage. I will offer this: if one has to go out at night and walk along busy highways.... wear something that makes you visible, even if it is simply light coloured clothing. Someone dressed in black is hard to spot at night. There's a stretch of US29 in Greensboro that has pedestrians going alongside a busy four-lane highway... poor access to a mobile home community forces some people to do this. I've had a few scares due to my inability to see these pedestrians walking right by the side of a near-Interstate road ... and yes there have been deaths and they did make the news.

Other point: cyclists riding at night with no lights, against the flow of traffic, also wearing black. Hard to see, easy to hit... especially when there is no street lighting.

Bottom line: Vehicle drivers do have a duty to pay attention to the road, but pedestrians and cyclists have a duty to make sure they can be seen too.

[efhmc]

19. _Please see 17. These accidents were almost always at night.

nt

[Stuart G]

20. Whatever it is, it can wait. But..cell phone use is addictive.

Lots of stuff dealing with computers is addictive.

[LisaM]

21. Speaking as a long-time pedestrian, I can tell you that walking is a dangerous game.

SUVs may be part of the problem, but driver and pedestrian distraction by smartphones has to be worse, not to mention (in Seattle, anyway) a relentless burst of construction that forces pedestrians off the sidewalks and into streets, OR forces them to cross the street, then cross back to the same side of the street. Pedestrians are prohibited everywhere downtown. I sometimes have to cross the street five times to go a few blocks (and this problem extends to getting to bus stops, one bus stop I used is closed for four years because of construction) and people are always running across the street against the light to catch a bus.

A pedestrian was recently killed in Seattle near a crosswalk I frequently use, where the next nearest crosswalk is a good half mile away. People jaywalk there a lot so they don't have to add ten minutes to their walk. They desperately need another crosswalk halfway through and I have zero hope that they'll add one.

The newest menace to pedestrians is dockless bikes (thank GOD we don't have scooters here, when I was in San Diego a few months ago I was nearly mowed down by scooters a dozen times). People ride their bikes on the sidewalks here all the time, which is legal, but they are supposed to yield to pedestrians and they absolutely do not, and the city does squat about it.

So, I don't think that SUVs are the biggest problem (though of course if you're hit by one, your odds are not great). I have had more close calls with Ubers suddenly stopping and backing up - a couple of months ago, I was almost hit by Uber drivers twice in the same week.

Worse, I think just a simple public awareness program would go a really long way in slowing the fatalities, and yet I see no attempt at doing this. Ads, signage, threats to ticket drivers who don't yield to pedestrians....there are all kinds of things people could be reminded about, but I have never seen a public safely campaign in Seattle instructing people to watch out for pedestrians, and outlining pedestrian's rights.

Oh, and get rid of right turn on red!!

[BigDemVoter]

23. Big fucking cars + texting. . . . I see it all the time.

[Cold War Spook]

24. When I drive, my flip phone is in my pocket.

My family knows that when I drive I do not answer the phone. At first my wife said that what if she was in an accident. I told her I wasn't a doctor.

[sl8]

25. Contributing factors:

From https://www.ghsa.org/resources/news-releases/pedestrians19

[...]

A number of trends offer insight into the many causes behind the rise in pedestrian fatalities:

• More walking has increased exposure, as one survey[1] estimated that the number of Americans walking to work in the past week increased about four percent between 2007 and 2016;

• Most pedestrian fatalities take place on local roads, at night, away from intersections, suggesting the need for safer road crossings. Over the past 10 years, nighttime crashes accounted for more than 90 percent of the total increase in pedestrian deaths;

• Many unsafe driving behaviors, such as speeding, distracted and drowsy driving, pose risks to pedestrians, and alcohol impairment by the driver and/or pedestrian was reported in about half of traffic crashes that resulted in pedestrian fatalities in 2017; and

• Finally, the number of sport utility vehicles (SUVs) involved in pedestrian deaths has increased by 50 percent since 2013. By comparison, (non-SUV) passenger cars’ involvement in pedestrian fatalities increased by 30 percent over the same time period.

[...]

More at link.

[Glimmer of Hope]

29. I live in a very walkable city but it is unsafe because drivers drive as if there are no pedestrians

and sometimes they are hostile. They block crosswalks and do not look when turning right, left or onto one way streets even when the pedestrian light is on. I experience this almost every single time I take a walk. I was called a bitch by a driver who almost ran me over and was once told to "walk a little slower" when crossing the street. I try to take the bus or Uber instead even when my destination is less than a mile away.

[thucythucy]

31. Now imagine how using a wheelchair

amplifies all these problems.

So many wheelchair users I know have had close calls with SUV and/or distracted drivers.

Not to mention, many crossing lights aren't timed to allow someone in a manual wheelchair to cross before the light changes (and many drivers surge ahead--watching the light, not the crosswalk).

Let's face it, as a society we value toys and tools--be they cars, cell phones, or guns--far more than we value people.

[GoCubsGo]

32. In these parts, it's also full-size pick-ups--which most of their drivers can't even handle.

Most of the people driving these things, as well as SUVs still think they're driving cars, and they treat them as such. They don't realize that being up high, it doesn't feel like they're going as fast as they are. So, they take corners at 40 mph, which means they take up two lanes to turn the damn things. Gawd help any pedestrians trying to cross the road there. The same goes for parking lots, although it's not just the truck drivers who tear through them.

[cstanleytech]

33. I can believe it as I see alot of morons talking on their phones weaving back and forth in my area.

[Igel]

34. Much of it.

Heavier vehicles.

Drivers distracted by their technology.

Somebody else mentioned those wearing dark colors at night.

Those account for a most of the increase, I suspect. And much of it is one-sided, little the pedestrian could do would matter.

I'd add that distraction by technology isn't just driver-side. I almost hit a pedestrian yesterday in broad daylight. She decided that it was okay to step into the road to avoid something in her path. She didn't bother to look to see if there was a car coming; she had her nose glued to her cell phone screen. Then she didn't hug the curb. Because phone.

Most of the pedestrians I see walk facing away from traffic. They wouldn't see a car heading their way even if they didn't have their phones out. I was taught to walk facing traffic, because that way I could possibly take responsibility for my own safety instead of saying, after the fact, "he did something illegal."

I also see a lot of people, mostly younger people, who prefer to walk in the road instead of the sidewalk. It shows that they're proud, angry, defiant, independent, or trendy. Or merely just stupid, and saying, "I dare you to hit me." And they do this, on occasion, two abreast. Because, well, they have the right. But, it seems, no requirement to keep themselves safe.

Now, add it that the vehicles are heavier and the drivers are distracted.

[melm00se]

35. This pops up every few years

where SUVs are blamed for pedestrian deaths and this causes a dogpile on how SUVs shouldn't exist, SUV drivers are the worst etc etc etc.