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I've noticed that pedestrians in the US tend not to look at cars coming their way when they cross intersections - I'm not sure if it's an attitude of "you're su

I've noticed that pedestrians in the US tend not to look at cars coming their way when they cross intersections - I'm not sure if it's an attitude of "you're supposed to stop for me" and and they're willing to bet on that happening every time, or if they're really unaware of the danger of a few tons of steel coming at them. This always struck me as very strange as someone from Europe - they teach kids in elementary school to look both ways and not to underestimate the speed of a car. There are about 2500 pedestrian deaths in the US every year [1], it's just tragic and some of these fatalities could certainly be avoided :/ Edit: Since sgc mentioned 6-6.5k pedestrian deaths per year in the EU, which didn't sound any better than the US, I tried to come up with pedestrian fatalities per 100k population (data for 2012 or 2013): | Country | Fatalities per 100k | % pedestrian | Pedestrian fatalities per 100k | |---------+---------------------+--------------+---------------------------------| | USA | 10.6 | 14.1 | 1.4946 | | Italy | 6.1 | 16.2 | 0.9882 | | Germany | 4.3 | 16.7 | 0.7181 | #+TBLFM: $4=$2*$3/100 http://apps.who.int/gho/data/node.main.A997?lang=en http://apps.who.int/gho/data/node.main.A998?lang=en This example really speaks for itself. [1] https://www.npr.org/2017/03/30/522085503/2016-saw-a-record-increase-in-pedestrian-deaths https://www.npr.org/2017/03/30/522085503/2016-saw-a-record-i...

sgc 9y ago
I'll bite! According to https://ec.europa.eu/transport/road_safety/sites/roadsafety/files/pdf/statistics/historical_country_transport_mode_graph.pdf https://ec.europa.eu/transport/road_safety/sites/roadsafety/..., there are 6000-6500 pedestrian deaths per year in the EU (the data is only in graph form). EDIT: here is the raw data: https://ec.europa.eu/transport/road_safety/sites/roadsafety/files/pdf/statistics/historical_country_transport_mode.pdf https://ec.europa.eu/transport/road_safety/sites/roadsafety/... As someone who has spent a fair amount of time in both places, I can say that the US pedestrian feels more entitled due to an almost universal pedestrian legal right of way outside of controlled intersections (stop lights). It's a foolhardy attitude, and completely antithetical to the way people are taught (which is: look right, then left, then right again before stepping off the curb). But Italians often do the same because they wouldn't ever cross the street otherwise, and there will be a small group of risk takers adding to the statistics in every country.
- dschuler 9y ago
  The first link is very interesting - for example the UK was able to reduce pedestrian fatalities from ~1500 per year (absolute numbers) in 1991 to ~500 in 2014.
  - sgc 9y ago
    I was definitely impressed with the improvements. There is an EU wide plan for fatality reductions for 2020. It doesn't appear they will hit their targets, but much seems to have come of it.
- user5994461 9y ago
  There is also a pedestrian right of way in Europe, at least in the countries I know of. I think that European drivers are convicted when they hurt a pedestrian. I don't think that Americans get convicted as often or as long. That could explain why they don't drive as carefully.
  - sgc 9y ago
    How could you possibly come to that interpretation of the data? There are 2.5x more pedestrian fatalities in the EU. It would appear that US roads are safer for pedestrians, and of course drivers are convicted if they are at fault.

sgc 9y ago

I'll bite! According to https://ec.europa.eu/transport/road_safety/sites/roadsafety/files/pdf/statistics/historical_country_transport_mode_graph.pdf https://ec.europa.eu/transport/road_safety/sites/roadsafety/..., there are 6000-6500 pedestrian deaths per year in the EU (the data is only in graph form). EDIT: here is the raw data: https://ec.europa.eu/transport/road_safety/sites/roadsafety/files/pdf/statistics/historical_country_transport_mode.pdf https://ec.europa.eu/transport/road_safety/sites/roadsafety/... As someone who has spent a fair amount of time in both places, I can say that the US pedestrian feels more entitled due to an almost universal pedestrian legal right of way outside of controlled intersections (stop lights). It's a foolhardy attitude, and completely antithetical to the way people are taught (which is: look right, then left, then right again before stepping off the curb). But Italians often do the same because they wouldn't ever cross the street otherwise, and there will be a small group of risk takers adding to the statistics in every country.

dschuler 9y ago
The first link is very interesting - for example the UK was able to reduce pedestrian fatalities from ~1500 per year (absolute numbers) in 1991 to ~500 in 2014.
- sgc 9y ago
  I was definitely impressed with the improvements. There is an EU wide plan for fatality reductions for 2020. It doesn't appear they will hit their targets, but much seems to have come of it.
user5994461 9y ago
There is also a pedestrian right of way in Europe, at least in the countries I know of. I think that European drivers are convicted when they hurt a pedestrian. I don't think that Americans get convicted as often or as long. That could explain why they don't drive as carefully.
- sgc 9y ago
  How could you possibly come to that interpretation of the data? There are 2.5x more pedestrian fatalities in the EU. It would appear that US roads are safer for pedestrians, and of course drivers are convicted if they are at fault.