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An interesting paper that was published earlier in 2024: > Pedestrian deaths in the US have risen in recent years. Concurrently, US vehicles have increased in

An interesting paper that was published earlier in 2024: > Pedestrian deaths in the US have risen in recent years. Concurrently, US vehicles have increased in size, which may pose a safety risk for pedestrians. In particular, the increased height of vehicle front-ends may present a danger for pedestrians in a crash, as the point of vehicle contact is more likely to occur at the pedestrian’s chest or head. I merge US crash data with a public data set on vehicle dimensions to test for the impact of vehicle height on the likelihood that a struck pedestrian dies. After controlling for crash characteristics, I estimate a 10 cm increase in the vehicle’s front-end height is associated with a 22% increase in fatality risk. I estimate that a cap on front-end vehicle heights of 1.25 m would reduce annual US pedestrian deaths by 509. * https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2212012224000017 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S221201222... > Vehicles with especially tall front ends are most dangerous to pedestrians, but a blunt profile makes medium-height vehicles deadly too, new research from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety shows. * https://www.iihs.org/news/detail/vehicles-with-higher-more-vertical-front-ends-pose-greater-risk-to-pedestrians https://www.iihs.org/news/detail/vehicles-with-higher-more-v... Notwithstanding that, "A New Jersey city achieved 0 traffic deaths in 4 years with quick, high impact ideas": > Hoboken is a city of about 60,000 people that sits within eyesight of Manhattan just across the Hudson River. Its achievement in stopping deaths on the road comes down to simple measures, according to city officials. * https://www.npr.org/2022/08/25/1119110757/traffic-deaths-car-accident-hoboken-new-jersey-vision-zero https://www.npr.org/2022/08/25/1119110757/traffic-deaths-car...

JBlue42 2y ago
Yes, it's not "vexing" when you look around. I'm glad there's data out there as proof as well. Unfortunately, I don't think much will happen on a policy front. US manufacturers are no longer building sedans and are focused on crossovers (which all look and act the same) and trucks. There's even an electric Hummer now which, I don't know, seems to miss the point. No one of anyone political party will go against what the car industry is doing (see all the bailouts across the years) because it's almost as untouchable as Wall Street in terms of looking like you're supporting blue collar jobs programs, union jobs, etc. even if it has a negative effect on society. In a post earlier in the week, someone pointed out the CAFE regulations. That might be the best route. The other side of it is designing cities that have safer streets. Here in LA, that means painting a lane and throwing up some plastic pylons vs actual time, money, and effort to reduce the amount of travel on streets and the speeds we can get up to.
itishappy 2y ago
From your NJ article: > Hoboken director of transportation and parking, Ryan Sharp, said the city had deployed a number of initiatives to make certain intersections and roads safer — things he called quick implementation, high impact solutions. > "Things like trying to improve sightlines at corners by doing what we call daylighting," he said. "So that can be installing something as simple as what we call a vertical delineator post or a flexible bollard. These posts get installed within 25 feet of crosswalks, and they physically restrict cars from parking right up against a crosswalk." > "One thing that you won't see is something called a leading pedestrian interval," Sharp said. "And basically, what that means is we've programmed our traffic signals to give pedestrians a few-second head start when they get into the crosswalk during their pedestrian phase without having to worry about turning vehicles." Designing roads to accommodate pedestrians! Love to see it!

JBlue42 2y ago

Yes, it's not "vexing" when you look around. I'm glad there's data out there as proof as well. Unfortunately, I don't think much will happen on a policy front. US manufacturers are no longer building sedans and are focused on crossovers (which all look and act the same) and trucks. There's even an electric Hummer now which, I don't know, seems to miss the point. No one of anyone political party will go against what the car industry is doing (see all the bailouts across the years) because it's almost as untouchable as Wall Street in terms of looking like you're supporting blue collar jobs programs, union jobs, etc. even if it has a negative effect on society. In a post earlier in the week, someone pointed out the CAFE regulations. That might be the best route. The other side of it is designing cities that have safer streets. Here in LA, that means painting a lane and throwing up some plastic pylons vs actual time, money, and effort to reduce the amount of travel on streets and the speeds we can get up to.

itishappy 2y ago

From your NJ article: > Hoboken director of transportation and parking, Ryan Sharp, said the city had deployed a number of initiatives to make certain intersections and roads safer — things he called quick implementation, high impact solutions. > "Things like trying to improve sightlines at corners by doing what we call daylighting," he said. "So that can be installing something as simple as what we call a vertical delineator post or a flexible bollard. These posts get installed within 25 feet of crosswalks, and they physically restrict cars from parking right up against a crosswalk." > "One thing that you won't see is something called a leading pedestrian interval," Sharp said. "And basically, what that means is we've programmed our traffic signals to give pedestrians a few-second head start when they get into the crosswalk during their pedestrian phase without having to worry about turning vehicles." Designing roads to accommodate pedestrians! Love to see it!