New data shows which states were more deadly for pedestrians in 2023

Preliminary road-safety data for the first half of 2023 has been published.

See full article...

 

[ScifiGeek]

Some day we’ll make it friendly and comfortable to be outside a car in the US. The number of cities where you can comfortably live without a car I can count on 2 hands: DC, SF, Boston, NYC, Seattle, and Chicago. Nothing else even comes close which is a terrible shame. No wonder pedestrian deaths are so high.

I don't know that I would class those as comfortable, so much as possible. They still seem like car centric cities compared to people centric cities in the Netherlands.

 

[mobby_6kl]

The colors they chose might have been deliberate. There is also another color that needs to be chosen.

• Red and blue is associated with politics.
• Using red with a color other than blue might encourage the political association. (Sure blue has a similar association but it might be weaker.)
• Red associated with “bad” (as you said) and green is associated with “good”, but green states might not really be good (enough).

Then use a monochromatic scale or something, anything would be better than inverting the traffic light convention

 

[adamsc]

It's going to be great when they don't enforce the ban on turning right on red starting next year.

I still laugh at how they stalled on enforcement of bus camera tickets to avoid “confusing drivers” as if anyone who can’t figure out a red painted “bus only” lane is otherwise fit to drive.

 

[Navalia Vigilate]

Gave up road biking ages ago after being hit twice by vehicles. Once by a pickup with a middle finger up as I careened over my handle bars into a spinning slide. Never biking again. Just keeping it to surfing storm fronts, sailing in gale force winds, and snow boarding down black diamond slopes for safeties sake.

 

[Dark Jaguar]

I still laugh at how they stalled on enforcement of bus camera tickets to avoid “confusing drivers” as if anyone who can’t figure out a red painted “bus only” lane is otherwise fit to drive.

When you have people who see a road is blocked off for a parade just... bypassing all obstructions anyway, well there's a reason I think alternative city designs that don't encourage everyone to get their own personal deathtrap might be a better focus.

Some people get so used to their precious "routine" that they can't tolerate ANYONE deviating them from that course. Life is change. Routine is death itself.


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQouhhs5mb0

 

[Fred Duck]

But the fact remains that 18 people go for a walk every day and don't return home due to preventable crashes.

I never realised being a paediatrician was so dangerous. I shall do my part by never taking walks.

The only acceptable number of traffic deaths is zero.

Thus begins The United States' War on Traffic Fatalities.

 

[danan]

Midblock crossings are nice because they vastly simplify and reduce the perceptual/cognitive workload for pedestrians and drivers alike, compared to corner crossings (especially where right turns on red and left turns are not regulated).

But with tall vehicles often parked close to the lines, midblock crossings do need to be equipped with some form of signaling (says Captain Obvious), and hopefully a curb bulb to punish the 1:10 drivers who didn't get good parenting.

Interesting, I read “only 22 percent of pedestrian deaths occurred at crossings” as indicating the problem was more about pedestrians not using the existing corner crossings, but on re-read it’s a bit ambiguous (how many were on country roads without crossings? How many were people getting out of there parked cars?). I’d expect putting in mid-block crossings should help, although more detailed data than just the article is needed to make that clear.

But 22 percent doesn’t really sound like an “only” to me in any case. That’s still a couple of people every day, and indicates there are likely ways to make crossings safer as well.

 

[GMBigKev]

I guess my view would be that the OP is describing what would amount to about 2 hours of walking and said that they had a "few" hours to kill (which I'd consider three hours and maybe four at the very most).

I guess if you only intend to stop for a few minutes at each of the Lincoln Memorial and White House it is doable, but many people would end up spending a bit more time at each location likely making a "few" hours not enough.

And then along the way between the stops they mentioned, you have the Washington Monument, WWII, Vietnam and Korean War Memorials, the sculpture garden, Floral Library (I guess depending on the season ), etc. Unless you are dead focused on your two stops and walk past all of these (and others), a few hours probably really doesn't cover it.

Few people in my experience have said "I want to walk across the mall" and add in "over the course of a lovely day stopping at various memorials and museums and restaurants."

Speaking of which, semi-related PSA here:

Do not go to DC and expect to see all the museums in a day. You'll need at least two, three, days if you're just wanting to zip around but seriously looking at the museums you better schedule a half day for most.

 

[david1024]

A 20mph city limit? Wow. I think that's great. And if you crunch the numbers it probably doesn't increase travel time if you have a lot of red lights and stop signs. Around here, they'll kick you out of town for even suggesting a lower limit... Let alone even enforcing the 35mph they have now (even though you can only average 15 mph -- or less no matter how avressive your acceleration is)

 

[Rauth85]

I mean, the biggest culprit in the Baltimore area is the underground market for VA temp tags, which allow drivers to avoid having to register with the MVA and also avoid having insurance. And then the fact that no traffic laws are being enforced in the city. And the panhandlers and squeegee workers at every intersection walking into traffic. And the crumbling infrastructure...

I see a lot of florida and nyc plates here in chicago. I wonder what scam that is.

 

[david1024]

There's a reason I watch "not just bikes" so often. I dream of cities that deemphasize cars and emphasize walkability and so very many other city design changes (such as changing zoning laws) that would lead to the kinds of city designs people wanted to see back in 190X.

I really don't think anyone wants 190x city designs. Unsanitary and dangerous. The roadways, such as they were, were deadly and hazardous. We'd never survive with our heads down at screens.

We, as people, know how to build properly, but who gives up land-revenue to enable it? Not the folks that need properly designed cities... At least for now.

 

[Gooner1]

Well of course you got honked at for stopping on yellow! Yellow means floor it!

Even aliens know that!

 

[Rauth85]

The way they frequently run red lights, always ignore no left turn signs, and quite often drive on the hard shoulder when it's busy literally infuriate me.

some water ballons full of paint thinner work well for the hard shoulder drivers.

 

[zman54]

It absolutely is.
Here’s a brief explanation: http://www.mikeontraffic.com/85th-percentile-speed-explained/

Pedestrians shouldn’t be on roads (except where those roads don’t have sidewalks.. which really should not happen), except to cross at a marked crossing. Roads are for cars.

No, it isn't "absolutely is". That link is talking about collisions between cars.

There is no "absolute" reason a rule that might be reasonable for a 65 mph hour highway should be applied to a 20-25 mph area that people want to be a mixed used space (not just used only by cars).

There is also a notion that roadways that are safer for pedestrians are going to be safer for cyclists.

If the idea is to also encourage cycling, then what's "good engineering" might need to account for more than the speed car drivers feel safe doing.

 

[Granadico]

A 20mph city limit? Wow. I think that's great. And if you crunch the numbers it probably doesn't increase travel time if you have a lot of red lights and stop signs. Around here, they'll kick you out of town for even suggesting a lower limit... Let alone even enforcing the 35mph they have now (even though you can only average 15 mph -- or less no matter how avressive your acceleration is)

My Volt tracks average MPH apparently and despite whatever the previous owner used it for and my initial year of having a 25 mile commute mostly on freeway, the average MPH was never above 30 mph. My drive to work on city streets in a car takes 20-25 minutes on mostly 40 mph empty roads at 5am, and on my bike is about 32 minutes going 11 mph average, and on my ebike that can go 20 mph is still about 25 minutes.

Lowering the speed limits will barely put a dent in travel times, but unless the roads are actually redesigned to have narrower lanes and physical obstructions so make it harder to speed, people will still be barreling through them if they're able to.

 

[zman54]

Then use a monochromatic scale or something, anything would be better than inverting the traffic light convention

Where are traffic lights are orange, blue, and gray? What "inversion"?

White might be read as "no data". Different degrees of gray might not be great when there are negative values. If you use white for "no change", then any gray will be seen as greater.

(It's a bit odd that you can't see any possible problems with using monochrome.)

Nothing is going to be perfect.

 

[Slik]

Yes, they already have.

And dont forget Hitchhiker's Guide, where Ford Prefect was named due to the confusion over what was actually the dominant species on Earth.

 

[Gooner1]

some water ballons full of paint thinner work well for the hard shoulder drivers.

Given all the other comments about MD drivers' attitudes you should hope he doesn't have a concealed carry permit.

 

[Reaperman2]

I started walking to school in 1st grade, crossing 2 busy streets with no crosswalks. Most kids in my school did the same. It's really not that hard if you look both ways before crossing.

Why I was able to do this at age 7 while the grown-ass adults I see every day dodging traffic -- instead of using a crosswalk or waiting for a lull -- can't do the same will forever remain a mystery to me. Today I live in Vegas and the things I see pedestrians do even when they have a DO NOT CROSS sign is ridiculous.

Stupidity kills.

 

[dagar9]

Lots of times I see the comments in urbanism articles eventually devolve to the point where someone claims that they would rather live safely in a car-centric suburban or rural area than suffer the blight and danger of an urban area.

The response to that is to first acknowledge that people should like where they live, and if living in a rural or suburban area is someone's (quite reasonable) preference, then that is great.

But it is also worth pointing out that it is actually not necessarily true that less dense, rural areas are safer than dense cities when you add traffic fatalities to the mix.

For example (to pick a medium sized city that I am familiar with) Portland OR had a population of roughly 650,000 people in 2023. That year, they had 63 traffic fatalities and 74 homicides for a total of 137 deaths by these two causes (21.37 fatalities per 100K residents).

The state of Wyoming (population ~ 585,000) had 16 homicides and 137 traffic fatalities: a total of 160 deaths (27.40 fatalities per 100K residents).

Both in total number of deaths and per capita deaths, it is safer to live in “dense” Portland than “rural” Wyoming. Obviously this is a very rough calculation and only focuses on motor vehicle caused fatalities vs. injuries sustained by individuals from motor vehicles. It also ignores non-fatal but still violent crime. It also ignores overall health statistics (which tend to favor more urbanized areas fwiw).

But what it does do address the often ignored danger of living somewhere where driving is required when thinking about the safety of a particular region. *


Some other statistics on combined 2023 homicide/traffic fatalities per 100k residents:

City or State	fatalities/100K	Traffic Fatalities	Homicides	Population
Vermont	13.75	69	20	650K
Seattle	13.9	28	74	734K
Montana	21.64	203	35	1.1M
NYC	6.96	203**	386	8.5M

**extrapolated. There had been 183 traffic deaths in the first 9 months of the year

* I understand that these are all motor vehicle-caused fatalities, not just pedestrian fatalities as described in the article. But it is still a relevant metric.

Re "crime in urban areas", there are a couple of factors in play. One is that there are more people in urban areas. Another is that urban areas are where TV stations and reporters are located, so that's where crime coverage occurs. (And a subset of that is, "if it bleeds, it ledes", crime stories get great viewership, and viewership is what TV stations sell.) In my limited experience (growing up in a rural area, subsequently living in various cities for 50 years, mostly in neighborhoods suburbanites are scared of) individuals in rural areas (such as my parents) seem more likely to be crime victims. The mix of crimes is different (mostly due to density difference), rural has more property crime and guns per capita, more drunk drivers, while urban has more muggings and white-collar crime.

 

[dagar9]

How this has played out is now other people will get vehicles that are higher off the ground and bigger to feel "safer". And thus you have this spiral where we get bigger and bigger vehicles that are worse and worse for pedestrians. On top of that, these cars are even less efficient since you're packing less people into more space, which in aggregate makes traffic worse.

So it's just worse for everyone.

It's an opportunity for entrepreneurs, though! Luxury vehicles by Peterbilt and Freightliner, SUVs by Mack! But companies like Mercedes will get there first, since they're already in both truck and luxury automobile business.

 

[rosen380]

Midblock crossings are nice because they vastly simplify and reduce the perceptual/cognitive workload for pedestrians and drivers alike, compared to corner crossings (especially where right turns on red and left turns are not regulated).

But with tall vehicles often parked close to the lines, midblock crossings do need to be equipped with some form of signaling (says Captain Obvious), and hopefully a curb bulb to punish the 1:10 drivers who didn't get good parenting.

Would love more crossings near me. One walk my daughter and I do fairly often is from our house to Burger King. Sure Burger King might not be a super healthy choice, but I figure tying it to a ~44+ minute walk helps

So, we have three options-- one is to make a mad dash across a generally busy four lane road. Google puts it at 22 minutes each way and a hair under 1 mile.

Or the safer routes which involve walking the wrong direction for a bit to get to a crosswalk or walking by BK to the next crosswalk. Those come in at 1.24 and 1.45 miles with estimated times of 28-32 minutes.

I guess it isn't too big of a deal to add 12-20 minutes to not have to worry (as much) about traffic safety, but if there was a crosswalk roughly in the middle, we'd get both

 

[trekker473]

Given the rise of electric vehicles, hybrid vehicles, and just plain gasoline vehicles that have auto-stop/start on the engine, the fuel savings as the driving reason for allowing right on red is dissipating. It'd be nice if it could be repealed.

That being said, even existing locations with No Turn on Red signs aren't followed, and there is no enforcement to speak of, so people keep doing it. That being said, I have surprised people who have violated No Turn on Red signs by expressing my opinion by having whatever I have with me strike their vehicle...

More restrictive road speeds and repeal of right on red laws will lock up cities and probably frustrate drivers into performing even more dangerous driving behavior. City planners need to make walking corridors that conveniently allow for traversing cities on foot while separating pedestrians from traffic. An illustration of my point is that very few pedestrians get hit on the freeway, despite the high speed. That said, our culture has allowed pedestrians to become ridiculously oblivious to traffic. It needs to be accepted that if you step into the street you can be hit by a car. Although the driver of the car will always be at fault, we need to be clear that everyone is responsible for their own safety.

 

[Dark Jaguar]

Even aliens know that!

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QR10t-B9nYY

 

[Tristram]

Without reading the article, my hypothesis:

Totals: By total number of miles of urban road miles or population, guessing population so CA?
Rate: Hmm, % of urban roads, population density, or total road miles off the top of my head maybe NJ?

Checking article. Huh. Did not expect that. A/C apparently cause pedestrian accidents.

 

[mcswell]

"Lower speed limits are lifesavers": Might be nice to enforce speed limits, too. Here in Maryland, I'm going to get a ticket some day for obstructing traffic by refusing to drive more then 10 mph over the speed limit.

 

[chiasticslide]

Aggressive, reckless, and lawless is a lifestyle in Baltimore.

As a Baltimorean, can confirm. I want this on a t-shirt.

 

[trekker473]

Would love more crossings near me. One walk my daughter and I do fairly often is from our house to Burger King. Sure Burger King might not be a super healthy choice, but I figure tying it to a ~44+ minute walk helps

So, we have three options-- one is to make a mad dash across a generally busy four lane road. Google puts it at 22 minutes each way and a hair under 1 mile.

Or the safer routes which involve walking the wrong direction for a bit to get to a crosswalk or walking by BK to the next crosswalk. Those come in at 1.24 and 1.45 miles with estimated times of 28-32 minutes.

I guess it isn't too big of a deal to add 12-20 minutes to not have to worry (as much) about traffic safety, but if there was a crosswalk roughly in the middle, we'd get both

This, and the fact that there are large blocks or collections of blocks with no way for the public to cross through on foot is a huge component of why many cities are not as walkable as they could be.

 

[truth serum]

Re "crime in urban areas", there are a couple of factors in play. One is that there are more people in urban areas. Another is that urban areas are where TV stations and reporters are located, so that's where crime coverage occurs. (And a subset of that is, "if it bleeds, it ledes", crime stories get great viewership, and viewership is what TV stations sell.) In my limited experience (growing up in a rural area, subsequently living in various cities for 50 years, mostly in neighborhoods suburbanites are scared of) individuals in rural areas (such as my parents) seem more likely to be crime victims. The mix of crimes is different (mostly due to density difference), rural has more property crime and guns per capita, more drunk drivers, while urban has more muggings and white-collar crime.

"* I understand that these are all motor vehicle-caused fatalities, not just pedestrian fatalities as described in the article. But it is still a relevant metric."

It's less than relevant. It's misleading. ... Comparing snowy mountainous roads to urban driving. Yeah no.

 

[markgo]

Some day we’ll make it friendly and comfortable to be outside a car in the US. The number of cities where you can comfortably live without a car I can count on 2 hands: DC, SF, Boston, NYC, Seattle, and Chicago. Nothing else even comes close which is a terrible shame. No wonder pedestrian deaths are so high.

Philadelphia crushes SF if you include the suburbs (SEPTA > Caltrain) and has one of the highest bike commute percentages in the US.

 

[mcswell]

some water ballons full of paint thinner work well for the hard shoulder drivers.

Not sure why this post got downvoted. But I've often thought about carrying a large screw driver while walking, to scratch speeding cars.

I know, the screwdriver would get flipped out of my hand, or my arm would break or something. But it's still fun to think about. Carrying a rock might be safer.

 

[k h]

I'd bet homeless folks spend 45 times more time as pedestrians than your average pedestrian. Was this study normalized for time spent? Homeless also likely spend a lot more time walking at night than your normal pedestrian which is especially dangerous. Not sure what your argument is exactly but changes that benefit pedestrian safety also benefit the homeless.

Caring for the homeless and getting them off the street would dramatically reduce pedestrian deaths and injuries.

 

[Dark Jaguar]

Caring for the homeless and getting them off the street would dramatically reduce pedestrian deaths and injuries.

But, also making pedestrians have the right of way on city streets, and eliminating jay walking laws, would do a lot to help this and wouldn't take years to accomplish. Other countries manage this just fine. Jaywalking is a uniquely American crim that people crim.

 

[Deleted member 521511]

Because Maryland is a joke when it comes to things like driver education, driver licensing, mandating insurance, and so on. You’ll never see more lawless driving in the US than you will around Maryland license plates.

Wish that was explained to the MVA when I got my car registered in Maryland, which required proof of insurance before I was able to complete it.

I moved to MD in 2013 and it started bad and got worse in terms of driving, thanks to the Pandemic. I've seen people going 50 in the left lane on 95, a car turned left into oncoming traffic, stopped and then reversed in a busy intersection to go a different way; various other examples like people turning out of a plaza onto a busy road with not a care for any of the vehicles driving. I've learned through experience that "defensive driving" is a myth in this state and it's really just "drive however way you think you can get away with." Given that the times I've seen people stopped is pathetically low, that plan seems to be bearing out.

 

[olePigeon]

As a kid growing up in the South Bay Area of California, I just assumed getting hit by cars was normal. Up through college until I started driving and not walking or riding a bike so much, I think I've been hit by no less than 10 cars. Majority of them from someone turning right from a light that just turned green while I began walking in a crosswalk, but probably a 1/3 of them being hit while I was on my bike. I'd say about 1/2 of them actually checked if I was OK, with the other 1/2 just driving off like nothing ever happened or they just stole something.

People simply don't look or they just don't care. They're 100% fixated on traffic from the left, then just blindly turn. I learned to minimize it as much as I could by going out of my way to walk behind a vehicle rather than in front of it. But even then, I had a car back into me. ¯\(ツ)/¯

 

[Option 9]

[...] electronic extortion surveillance systems for unlimited free money into the cities bank account.

As it turns out these devices do not force you to pay if you go at or below the speed limit. Saved me good money once I figured that out!

 

[570rmy]

It's almost like we designed our cities and infrastructure around cars entirely instead of for people . We make it easier for cars to go fast and sleep wherever they want for free yet humans get policed when they sleep on public lands. Cars kill on average 5.5 million people per year from air pollution alone.

We need to radically change how we interact with our world away from one in which individual car ownership is the default to one centred around humans and actual living beings.

 

[mmiller7]

Yes, but smaller pedestrians can be completely hidden by the hood of a truck, especially a lifted or "squatted" one.

Hell not even smaller ones. I've walked thru local shopping center lots and seen pickups that I have to look UP to see the top of the grill and hood. I'm 5ft10in, not what I call "small". I don't know if a driver would be able to notice the top of my hair in such a vehicle as I cross in front of it.

 

[k h]

OK a pretty strong north vs south divide.

I propose its due to their being more people outdoors esp in the first 6 months of the year, because the outside temperatures are higher,
ergo more pedestrians = more pedestrians killed

The worst pedestrian death rates are in the states that are warm enough for homeless people to live outdoors on the street all year long.