The Walker Is Not To Blame
The auto industry has successfully continued to hijack the American lexicon, influencing police reporting and journalism.
People who walk in any condition, whether drunk, using drugs, young, old, texting, or otherwise distracted, or people with physical or mental disabilities are not to blame when then are injured or killed by drivers. Highways and even local roads and streets have insufficient or totally lacking infrastructure for people. Cars are prioritized to our peril.
No, “Drunk Walking” Is Not Causing the Rise in Pedestrian Deaths
By Angie Schmitt July 6, 2018
A new report from PBS News Hour violates the most basic precepts of good journalism in a pathetic attempt to pin the rise in pedestrian fatalities on people who drink and walk.
Stories like this cause real harm. They give officials in cities like Austin cover not to do anything but blame the victims. They perpetuate the marginalization of people with no choice but to walk on dangerous streets, who are more likely to be poor, black, or brown.
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Towns should be celebrating inebriated people who chose not to get behind the wheel, not blaming them for crashes.
Exactly!