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Pedestrian fatalities are rising in the US
- matthewfcarlson 5y agoI recently moved to Austin from Seattle. People had told me that people tended to be more car focused and less pedestrian/bike friendly in Austin compared to the PNW. I didn’t believe them. Look at all the bike lanes, I told myself. I could easily ride my bike to work, it’s only 7 miles. Then I saw a guy on a bike get absolutely crushed by a truck turning right without stopping. A cherry picked example but a very convincing one. I’ll be sticking to the bus thank you
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- weird-eye-issue 5y agoI got downvoted recently here for saying that Austin is not bike friendly and you'd be really lucky to live close enough to work (or wherever you're going) for it to even be feasible. Not sure what reality people live in where they feel safe biking in Austin. If you can afford to live downtown and you work downtown (which is a very, very small percentage of the Austin population) then yeah maybe you can bike to work, but like I said in my previous comment that is basically an edge case.
- teslafire124 5y agoThat's depressingly accurate. US infrastructure is so bad.I went to Austin a month ago and there are a lot of highways outside of the main city. Biking along those roadways sounds insane.
- twalla 5y agoIt does't help that the Google maps cycling directions are often woefully bad. I just put in my old (2 mile, downtown) Austin commute and the entirety of the suggested route was on streets I would never ride on for fear of my own safety, and my personal risk tolerance for these types of things is pretty high. There's protected bike line on most of 3rd street that can get you across the entirety of downtown and Google maps just ignores it.
- prox 5y agoI heard a few years back it the same for London, I do hope it has improved last time I was there.
- midasuni 5y agoI’ve ridden in centeal london over the last 15 years. The biggest problems have always been buses and taxis. Riding in 2020 when everything was abandoned was great. I was in a hotel near Blackfriars during the first lockdown, and rode along Oxford street, barely any traffic at all - it’s normally chock full of buses attempting to kill you. Ride confidently, take the lane, ignore the bus and taxi drivers who think they own the road, and it tends to be fine. Outside of london there’s a big problem with car drivers though - every year in the U.K. about 40 pedestrians are killed by car drivers while they are on the pavement, yet we continue to turn a blind eye to drivers who drive on the pavement, and even those who attempt to murder people with their car get off with less than a year in prison https://www.stokesentinel.co.uk/news/stoke-on-trent-news/dad-hurled-himself-over-3ft-5593822 https://www.stokesentinel.co.uk/news/stoke-on-trent-news/dad...
- ehnto 5y agoInfrastructure can only help so much, you have to be in a bike friendly community for it to work really well from home to your destination. Of course on the sparodic separated bike lanes it goes well, but then you get to the last few miles and you're dropped into the traffic at the mercy of people who haven't seen a bicycle until now, and you are definitely in their space not the other way around. Because people take time to change, I think the two bandaids for the social problem are expanding separated bike lanes and then dropping people into pedestrian/cycle shared streets, not the roads. I know I know, you didn't buy the Ultegra gear set just to sit on the big ring dodging foot traffic, but a cycling city will need to cater to the majority of commuters not the speed machines. Most potential cycle commuters are just everyday people wanting to meander into work and around the city centers.
- xmprt 5y agoUntil it becomes faster, cheaper, or more convenient to cycle than drive for most cases, people will continue driving.
- ehnto 5y agoWell it is definitely cheaper, but I would hazard a guess it's not always faster from the burbs. For me it is because I am a 30 minute ride and in car traffic it is 45m-1h. So it checks all the boxes you mentioned. But people still drive here. I think convenience is subjective too, since I find it convenient to not deal with car parking in the CBD and I don't find the cycling inconvenient, but others would consider the cycling inconvenient enough that an extra 15 minutes in the car doesn't worry them.
- baliex 5y agoIt’s the convenience that’s missing. The difference is not having to worry about the weather (too hot, too cold, wet) and even aside from that, carrying an extra set of clothes even in ideal conditions. And you’re obviously limited as to how much you can carry. Speaking as someone who cycles as a hobby and for transport around the city (commuting and leisure).
- kody 5y agoI used to commute from Flatbush to Chelsea in NYC via bike. Other than tourists chilling in the bike lane, no problem. The rattiest cab and National Guard hummer deferred to my ratty little bike. Now in SoCal, I don’t even feel comfortable walking my kid in a stroller on the left side of the road without some shithead roaring round the corner honking at me cause god bless America roads exist for your Expedition.
- agumonkey 5y agoI have a 7mi commute I do by bike, 50% is along an isolated channel, the rest is city. At first I tried to find the shortest path, meaning more city than channel, now I do the opposite, I'd rather enjoy the peace even if it means 2-3 more miles.
- endymi0n 5y agoSo the US has city layouts that were exclusively designed around cars since the 50s and never had any design change. Put into that a maximally polarized society that for one half gets all woke and concious now, trying to navigate this maze by bike that was never meant for it — while the other half upgrades their housewive tanks to completely new levels of ridiculousness every year to assert their dominance over the helpless and celebrate contempt. What could possibly go wrong? EDIT: Putting some constructive criticism here: Effecting change is possible. It just takes the ingredients univerally loathed in the US: Coordinated city planning and lots of regulation plus one or two decades until the results are visible, „big government“ at its finest. Currently I don't see the slightest hint of buy-in possible for that. I still remember photos of cars passing through the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin in the 90s, that would be unimaginable right now if you stood there.
- staticautomatic 5y agoThis is a neat vision but is it actually happening?
- h0l0cube 5y agoLamenting that people only view things through the lens of politics, while only looking at things through the lens of politics
- jfoutz 5y agoI can deal with my stuff without politics, but when I need cooperation like when sharing a road how do I avoid politics? Isn’t getting buy in to share the road inherently political?
- jdavis703 5y agoYes it seems to be happening. It’s happening way too slow compared to how fast Paris has revamped their streets. But bike lanes, bulb outs, road diets and what not are slowly being implemented in US cities.
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- spoonjim 5y agoIt's 100% texting, both drivers and pedestrians.
- erentz 5y agoMaybe this is a cause of the increase. But the root cause itself is the really abysmal way we design our streets that creates unsafe conditions. The Not Just Bikes channel addresses this frequently with examples from The Netherlands where they have a stronger focus on acknowledging humans suck and designing for safety, e.g: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ra_0DgnJ1uQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ra_0DgnJ1uQ
- pengaru 5y agoI see a depressing number of folks infinite scrolling, eyes glued to their screens, while walking in public. Texting is too specific, it's smartphones in general...
- Leparamour 5y ago>It's 100% texting, both drivers and pedestrians. This is unfortunately very true, even for societies which are much more sensitive to this issue. As a regular cyclist in my hometown of Berlin/Germany I sometimes see so much as every third car driver looking at or obviously typing on their phone although this is illegal and of course dangerous.
- rcMgD2BwE72F 5y agoI only commute by bike in Paris, France. The infrastructure has so much improved that if the city continues to protect bikes and pedestrians, there will be a point where I don't care if drivers aren't attentive (thanks to protected bike lanes everywhere, larger sidewalks, car max speed soon limited to 30 km/h on all streets, Idaho stop for bikes at almost all traffic lights, car ban in some districts on Sundays, no more "send uniques" for bikes, better signs, camera and speed traps, "coronapistes" that duplicate the subway map, etc). I generalize but infrastrucures changes everything to a point where a city can easily get rid off car (give us a few years...). It's all infra since that's the only thing that changed here in the past decade: we finally dare to bike now, only because it's protected enough we don'fear for our life every few meters nowadays. For this reason, biking has become the default for most of my friends and colleagues. And the last few who haven't swichted are either taking the metro/RER or walking. The last drivers are professionals (who need to move heavy things and the infra does not support electric cargo bikes yet), old and fuck-you-momey rich boomers who still see biking as being weak, some families (who can afford to still live in Paris?!) but same issue as cargo bikes, and lost tourists (why the hell do huuuge tourist buses are allowed in so dense blocks?!).
- dotcoma 5y ago“Cars killing people on foot”, that is.
- kqr 5y agoWell, car drivers. Cars don't kill people, as they say.
- honzzz 5y agoI believe that part of the problem might be that people have lost "traffic reflexes" and situational awareness during lockdowns. Anecdotal evidence: as a cyclist I now encounter a lot more people suddenly stepping from the sidewalk right in front of me without looking. It feels like every week has a years worth of hairy situations when compared to pre-covid era.
- kody 5y agoNo shit. Not only do we simply not have sidewalks, drivers in their gigantic dumb-phone-enabled SUVs and lifted trucks have no incentive to not drive like complete jackasses at all times until they pancake someone. It’s absurd to me that 1) roads are no longer built to be pedestrian-friendly and 2) drivers aren’t constantly ticketed for driving like assholes. Disclaimer: I’m an NYC-SoCal transplant. But god damn I wish these drivers weren’t so bloodthirsty for road rage ultra kills.
- CalRobert 5y ago"until they pancake someone" - even that's not enough, really.
- kody 5y agoMy second major bike accident (first was being doored) was getting rear ended by a minivan. She treated me like someone in a vehicle, not a, you know, bike. There’s a real disconnect for some people driving a multi-thousand-pound steel piece of equipment where they project their sense of safety on fleshy human bodies at all times.
- unixhero 5y agoDon't bike in traffic, just dont. It is annoying.
- CalRobert 5y agoMaking it a crime to kill people with your car would be a start. If you're sober you can pretty much kill people with no fear of meaningful consequences.
- oblio 5y agoAren't there vehicular manslaughter laws in the US? In Romania you have them for DUI, breaking general traffic laws (going through a red light, not respecting pedestrian crossings, etc).
- kqr 5y agoUnsettlingly often, the verdict in cases like that is "the driver was not at fault" or "the driver could not have foreseen that" or "the pedestrian did something unexpected" or "the pedestrian should never have been there in the first place". And of course! That's the way it has to be. It is so easy to accidentally kill someone when you are driving a big vehicle that in order for anyone to drive at all, they need some degree of protection from the law.
- throwaway0a5e 5y agoThere are. Intent matters. Despite the GP's hyperbole if you kill someone in any sort of circumstances that are not highly sympathetic you are in for a bad time with the courts.
- imnotlost 5y agoLet's see, off the top of my head... Turn on red while the pedestrians get the signal to walk. Drunk driving is very common. Driver licensing requirements are extremely low (you have a pulse) and driver education is ridiculous compared to any other developed nation. Road and intersection design is deadly wrong just about everywhere, traffic moving while people crossing, etc. You could look at how other countries are improving this (look at Sweden) but let's be real - the US will never learn from other countries, that would obviously be a sign of some sort of weakness - redesigning roadways, nah, it's cheaper for people to die.
- kqr 5y agoAnd as a resident of Sweden, while many things are going well, it's clear planners still don't understand how travel by non-car works. Most importantly, in the quest for safety, convenience for non-car traffic is almost always sacrificed, making car travel all the more enticing. This is the wrong feedback loop to have. Semi-recent example. Problem: number of accidents involving people crossing the street too high. Solution: remove zebra crossings. Now don't get me wrong -- this has reduced street crossing accidents. But it has also made foot travel much more inconvenient, because you now have to either walk much longer to find a crossing, or wait for all traffic to pass and then make a mad dash for it. (As a side effect, car travel got a bit more convenient because there are now fewer places you're expected to stop.) This repeats in all shapes and styles constantly. In the name of safety, cyclists are re-routed for almost a mile (!) around what was previously a hundred-yard straight line. The underlying problem, I think, is that planners see that car people are trying to get somewhere. They don't seem to realise that pedestrians, cyclists, etc are also just trying to goddamn get somewhere. These activities are almost universally treated as a hobby or pastime. (You see this even on the local Craigslist-type sites, where bicycles are not under the "vehicle" category where I would expect them, but under "hobby".)
- anigbrowl 5y agoThe implicit assumption, I think, is that car drivers have more money and pay more taxes and thus should get priority.
- DoktorEgo 5y agoWhile visiting family at the beach in New Jersey this summer, I was glad to see bicycle lanes had been painted and were being maintained. Then came the first bike — going the wrong way. Keep in mind, these routes consist of parallel, block-separated one-way roads (one each for north and south), so there's only one way for bikes to go on either road. This is a problem because, typically, drivers only look in one direction when turning onto said one-way roads. Often, they'll briefly check the other way for pedestrians, but bikes may come up fast. Anecdotally, I've noticed an uptick in bikes in the area, and I've witnessed many drivers (including myself) get into close calls. While the other comments about urban planning and properly designing "bike friendly" streets are correct, bikers must share some responsibility and avoid making bad decisions. Also, on the topic of pedestrians: there are unfortunately many people who hold a "car first" mentality, and simply won't stop for walkers. Fatalities among pedestrians and bicyclists in the US have a significant cultural component that mustn't be overlooked. Perhaps better pedestrian infrastructure would encourage better behavior.
- anigbrowl 5y agoThis absolutely legit and you shouldn't be downvoted.
- CalRobert 5y agoNotJustBikes did a great video on how safe streets are amazing for a child's freedom. Sadly I know of no location in the US I'd let my child cycle to school. https://youtu.be/ul_xzyCDT98 https://youtu.be/ul_xzyCDT98
- acd 5y agoI think cell phones usage are causing distracted drivers. Ie the brain has harder to focus.
- fergie 5y agoIf pedestrian fatalities are increasing as cars become "smarter" or "autonomous" then this is a cause for concern. I am always baffled by some of the driving coming from supposedly super-duper-AI-enhanced cars. You would have thought that it would be impossible for a Tesla to break the speed limit, burn over a pedestrian crossing that kids are waiting at, or to make a turn without using a turn signal, yet you see this happening fairly often.
- joelbondurant 5y agocovid-19 is doing it.
- adevx 5y agoArticles like this makes me realize how privileged I am, living in the Netherlands with such good pedestrian/bicycle infrastructure. The law here is also in favor of more at risk road users, so a car is more or less by default financially liable in an accident with a pedestrian [0]. There are exceptions, but overall this makes you really careful to not hit even the most reckless of cyclists. [0] https://wetten.overheid.nl/BWBR0006622/2018-03-15 https://wetten.overheid.nl/BWBR0006622/2018-03-15
- CalRobert 5y agoEyeing Utrecht for the sole reason it might mean my kids have something resembling independence.
- matttproud 5y agoIt’s the planning codes, zoning, and orthodoxy. (And relative deprivation for why it never improves.)
- tux1968 5y agoIt also has a lot with the car-centric nature of urban planning. Can't recommend this guys entire channel of videos enough: https://youtu.be/ORzNZUeUHAM https://youtu.be/ORzNZUeUHAM He delves into a movement known as "Strong Towns" that look to undo a lot of the mistakes city planners have been making for the last half century. Edit: Here's a link to another of his videos where he shows why it is dangerous to walk in many North American cities: https://youtu.be/uxykI30fS54?t=240 https://youtu.be/uxykI30fS54?t=240
- tkgally 5y agoFor a surprising (to me) historical perspective, a video recently posted to YouTube [1] shows a remastered film taken from a car driving through midtown Manhattan in 1945. There seem to be no crosswalks or lane markings, and pedestrians cross wherever they like [2]. Market Street in San Francisco at around the same time looks similar [3]. I wonder what the pedestrian fatalities were like in those days. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Br8u7u35weA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Br8u7u35weA [2] https://youtu.be/Br8u7u35weA?t=116 https://youtu.be/Br8u7u35weA?t=116 [3] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JfM6La2RlAg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JfM6La2RlAg
- flycaliguy 5y agoThis is how things operate in other parts of the world. When I was in Naples I often waited for a mother with a stroller so I could cross beside them.
- djmips 5y agoMy personal data point is that parking lots are becoming ever more dangerous. This is a societal issue. My father told me that parking lots are for people. But over time I see people driving faster and with less care in parking lots.