Tag: traffic fatalities

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No Comparison Between Covid-19 And Traffic Deaths

Almost 40,000 traffic fatalities each year is an ongoing, catastrophic national health issue.  This week President Trump made the comparison between vehicular crash fatalities and the Corona Virus, asserting that traffic deaths are the cost of keeping the economy alive.
The president isn’t the only one making this comparison. Other legislators and administrators as well as news outlets have continued this false narrative.

Trump Says COVID-19 Deaths May Be the Price We Pay For A Strong Economy — Just Like Traffic Deaths

Deadly car crashes are not the price we must pay to sustain our civilization. Neither are coronavirus deaths.

By Kea Wilson

“Trump’s comment followed an equally jaw-droppingly callous statement by Wisconsin Senator and Senate Homeland Security Committee Chairman Ron Johnson a week earlier.”

“We don’t shut down our economy because tens of thousands of people die on the highways,” told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on March 18 in a discussion about the impact of coronavirus on the national economy. “It’s a risk we accept so we can move about.”

Read the article:

https://usa.streetsblog.org/2020/03/24/trump-says-covid-19-deaths-may-be-the-price-pay-for-a-strong-economy-just-like-traffic-deaths/

 

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Pedestrian Deaths Are Soaring

We have to own cars, so the total of 6000 pedestrian deaths, and a total of 40,000 deaths by car last year is a built-in consequence.  REALLY!?!!  If this was drug related, or disease, or other epidemic we would be outraged! This rant is brought to you as a response to people complaining about the “dangers” of electric scooters recently introduced in Asbury Park. FOCUS on the REAL PROBLEM. #toomanycars #slowthecars  Scooters and bikes in Asbury Park are alternatives to cars, and we need to keep open minds to save lives, and to protect health and the environment. Asbury Park is poised to be a city that truly gets it right.

Why Are U.S. Drivers Killing So Many Pedestrians?

 
by Joe Cortright

If anything else—a disease, terrorists, gun-wielding crazies—killed as many Americans as cars do, we’d regard it as a national emergency. Especially if the death rate had grown by 50 percent in less than a decade. But as new data from the Governor’s Highway Safety Association (via Streetsblog) show, that’s exactly what’s happened with the pedestrian death toll in the U.S. In the nine years from 2009 to 2018, pedestrian deaths increased 51 percent from 4,109 to 6,227.

There are lots of reasons given for the increase: distracted driving due to smart phone use, a decline in gas prices that has prompted even more driving, poor road design, a culture that privileges car travel and denigrates walking, and the increasing prevalence of more lethal sport utility vehicles. Undoubtedly, all of these factors contribute.

Read more…

https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2019/7/2/why-are-us-drivers-killing-so-many-pedestrians

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Death By Car Is Increasing – Are We Ok With It?

As driving remains as a top mode of transportation in the U.S., pedestrians are increasingly at risk of injury and death — What are we doing about it?  Will Asbury Park experience “bikelash” for additional bike lanes, complaints from drivers for possible slower, calmed traffic?  Or will residents and visitors realize that Asbury Park is becoming a model of a city that builds infrastructure to save lives, and improve quality of life for everyone…?

Report: Pedestrian deaths continue decade-long climb

Jason Plautz January 23, 2018

A new report from Smart Growth America found there were 12,057 pedestrian deaths in 2016 and 2017 combined (6,080 and 5,977 deaths, respectively), the two highest totals on record since 1990.

The threat has been rising since a low of 4,109 deaths in 2009, a more than 35% increase. Over the past decade, pedestrian fatalities have happened at a rate of 13 per day, according to the report, which drew data from the federal Fatality Analysis Reporting System.

As new mobility options like shared bikes and scooters expand in cities, advocates warn that not enough is being done to design roads that can accommodate the full variety of travelers, leaving sidewalks and bike lanes crowded.

That’s especially pronounced in low-income and minority neighborhoods, which traditionally see less infrastructure investment. African Americans and American Indians were more likely to be at risk as pedestrians. Charles Brown, a researcher at Rutgers University’s Alan M. Voorhees Transportation Center, said that reflects the higher share of minority residents who have to walk to work, even in neighborhoods with “a lack of sidewalks and overall connectivity” and a “lack of complete streets.”

Read more…

https://www.smartcitiesdive.com/news/report-pedestrian-deaths-continue-decade-long-climb/546608/