In the United States between 2003 and 2012 , one walker was make by a car every eight minutes . 676,000 of those walker lived . 47,025 of those pedestrian died . That ’s 16 time the telephone number of people who were kill by natural disasters like rising tide , earthquakes , or tornadoes during the same time period .
A Modern reputation by Smart Growth America and the National Complete Streets Coalition called “ life-threatening by Design ” is full of chilling statistic which prove that footer fatalities are a national public health epidemic — one that we ’re not doing most enough about .
essentially , our street are stamp out us .
I know what you ’re go to say : Streets do n’t bolt down people — railway car toss off masses . But here ’s a crucial fact about cars and pedestrian fatalities in the U.S. : If you ’re struck by a car going 20 miles per hour , you have a 95 pct chance of hold up . But if that car is going 40 mph , your chance of living plummet to 20 percentage . Speed , not cars per se , is what bolt down .
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The problem in this land is that our street have historically been design for upper , to help cars go as fast as possible . Our streets are enable our vehicles to become expiry machines . It ’s why many urban center around the world arelowering their speed limitsin their most densely populated areas to 20 miles per hour .
What Will pass off When All Paris Traffic slow To 19 Miles Per Hour ?
Ultimately , a “ twenty is plenty ” mindset will save life , but it ’s not the only solution — nor is it feasible across the add-in for many cities . What metropolis need to do is find their deadliest streets and redesign them for pedestrian prophylactic before one more person is killed .
Identifying Mean Streets
How do we find the bad streets in the country ? The “ Dangerous by Design ” story offers one method , order metropolitan region with the Pedestrian Danger Index ( PDI ) , which value how likely a footer is to get struck by a car while walk . The figure is derived from two bits of datum : The percentage of people who walk to work and the number of pedestrian human death . A high number is uncollectible . The nationwide average is 52.2 .
Here are the cities with the gamy PDIs . As you register the list , you ’ll start to notice the things they have in vulgar ( besides , well , Florida ) .
These cities are all in the Sunbelt , a region that see exceptional urban growth during the age of the car . They are largely all cities which explicate around a culture of drive , without pedestrians in psyche . These street present deeply engrained purpose problems , like the want of crosswalks and sidewalks , which are difficult to fix in a comprehensive way 50 or 60 year after the fact .
The Least Crossable Streets in America
According to the report , most fatalities in these situation occur on “ arterial roads”—those high - capacity road that are n’t quite freeways although sometimes they are as broad and fast . These are a fact of living in new , more sprawl community , but they are n’t the only culprit . Change want to come block - by - block .
Measuring Safety
So how do we target the deadly streets for change ? A new tool calledStreetScore , grow by MIT ’s Media Lab , could assist .
Created as a collaboration between theMacro Connectionsgroup and theCamera Culturegroup , StreetScore measures perceived street safe . Using a motorcar - encyclopaedism algorithmic rule , StreetScore can read street - scene images , colligate sure textures , colors and shapes with safe features . The more of those safe feature it spots , the higher the score , with 10 being the soap . Above is its mapping of New York City , the good streets are green .
As you could see with these image , the rating seem to correlate with the feature we ’d associate with safe streets : sidewalk , bike lane , density . But what ’s authoritative about StreetScore is that it measures percept — not , say , crashes which have already hap . Perception is crucial because that is what tempt the way we labour . Not only does a speed demarcation change the behavior of the driver , but certain visual cues like trees , landscape curbs , street ignition , cycle lanes , and the mien of multitude walking advance driver to slow down .
urban center can see where substructure changes need to be go through based on what sort of behavior a street will encourage .
Google’s Road Diet
Another solvent to prevent pedestrian deaths that you might be thinking about , especially in lite ofGoogle ’s announcement last hebdomad : Autonomous cars . Yes , these will help remove the element of gadget driver error — which ca n’t come soon enough . But self-governing vehicle also signal a larger switch in the way cars move around a city , meaning our ancient power system designed for man - function cars will quickly become outdated .
Google ’s Self - Driving machine Is the Future We call for
Our streets will shrink .
count this : With self - drive vehicles there will also be two other major ethnical changes : the decline of car ownership , as more citizenry shrug off a personal auto for a car - communion servicing — why have a railcar in your service department when one can fall to you anytime?—and more effective traffic flow . Our streets will no longer need to be as wide due to both melt off loudness and more well-informed routing .
What ego - drive railcar will do is help cities apply “ road diets , ” where planners tighten the routine of lanes require for car travelling . Streets plainly wo n’t need to be as full , free up more space for larger sidewalk , protected bicycle lanes , and shade tree diagram — all those good things that make our walks more gratifying . Our streets will become safer as they become smart .
A Culture of Fear
The final tier in battle walker death is citywide insurance policy that enforces safe streets . Earlier this class , both New York City and San Francisco releasedVision Zero plans , which aim to eliminate pedestrian fatalities . While the plans are different , they have like design , including a combination of both improve infrastructure and messaging to range more focusing on prophylactic . In New York City , the annualBigApps contestis devoted to get Vision Zero - link up tech solutions , andnew statute law transcend last weekmakes it easier to hold drivers accountable for crashes .
Can New York City Achieve a Modern Goal of Zero Traffic Deaths Per Year ?
A Vision Zero plan should currently be on the desk of every mayor of every metropolis in the U.S. Simple change could bring through the lives of hundreds of people . Yet it ’s not a precedence for cities , many of which — even the ones with Vision Zero plan — are choosing to crack down on the one blank space they can target and restrain footer : jaywalking .
Law enforcement is trying to win over walkers they should be frightened of the street , or that clank are somehow their fault , like this horrible TV produced by L.A. ’s police force department .
“ All too often pedestrians and members of our cycling populace are seriously injured or killed in collisions involving motor vehicles , ” sound out LAPD Captain John McMahon . “ It ’s of import for downtown Los Angeles occupant to know that this is a impenetrable urban environment which can be dangerous to both wheeler and pedestrians . ”
Not only does the telecasting position L.A. ’s fresh vivacious street life as grievous , 39 s in , the video recording shows a car illicitly entering a crosswalk while multitude are walking with the signal . No curiosity pedestrians are in peril — no one is ticketing the vehicle breaking the law !
This is a crucial takings around walker safety where many cities have it backward . Cities should be focused ondecriminalizing jaywalkingand finding ways to redesign streets that welcome and honor pedestrians , not make them finger like second- or third - family citizen on the roadway pecking order . In the UK , where there are no jaywalking laws , therate of walker fatalitiesare far less than the U.S.
Why Do Pedestrians Have to Press “Beg button ” to Cross the Street ?
Streets that are safer for pedestrians are safer for everyone . redesign a street , while not always cheap or easy , is the single most in force way to prevent exit of life — saving driver , cyclists , and pedestrians . How many more multitude have to die before metropolis take action ?
In New York City this year , pedestrian deathsare on course toexceed the number of homicides , which is a perplexing fact to confront . Statistically , you ’re more probable to be hit by a car than a accelerator pedal . Our streets have accidentally become more venomous than something explicitly design to kill .
Top image by April Bertelsen , Portland Bureau of Transportation
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