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I think the primary reason for Europe being safer for pedestrians is that the speed limits are much lower. On roads with sidewalks, the speed limit is typically
by itronitron 7y ago
I think the primary reason for Europe being safer for pedestrians is that the speed limits are much lower. On roads with sidewalks, the speed limit is typically 30kph to 50kph, which is 18mph to 31mph. So pedestrians have more time to hear cars, and drivers have more time to see pedestrians and stop if needed.
Other factors... there is no right turn on red, most cars are manual transmission, drivers have to be more alert in order to not hit oncoming traffic, etc.
- DoreenMichele 7y agoI've lived in Europe. There are plenty of differences, so of course you can't blame any one thing. But I also grew up in America and walking was far more common here when I was growing up. When an activity starts to go extinct, myriad forms of seemingly invisible support for it also stop happening, including changes in mental models and assumptions for people whose thought processes impact outcomes. Europe has always been more pedestrian friendly, in part because a lot of it was built before cars existed. There are countless towns where you cannot drive in some sections because it was built hundreds of years ago. You park and walk in. The US has much less of that. You see it on some major college campuses. You mostly don't see it as some historic part of town built before the car even existed. The existence of intractable, highly valued old parts of town like that will inevitably influence life experience, mental models and ongoing design policies, among other things. We just don't have that same psychological anchor for our landscapes and policies.