That’s actually pretty common in other places… See this story about what driving is like in Cairo for example, where apparently no one looks when they cross the street, because the traffic moves so slow…
And it’s not just pedestrians, the driver plays a role too. People who drive are are driving a massive vehicle (even if you drive a small car) that can easily kill people on foot or on a bike. Drivers should see that as a serious obligation to others on the road…
This, road rage, and people taking their anger out through aggressive driving.
Great article!
I saw this happening all the time in cities in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. I used to joke that it was like playing live action Frogger.
While there was an element of “I’ll leave crossing the street safely in the hands of Allah” going on, the people were, for the most part, doing exactly as the article says, both drivers and pedestrians.
My dad was nearly killed by a distracted driver when I was thirteen. That experience made me keenly aware of what a car of any size can do. I don’t wish that horror on anyone, but do wish everyone learned that lesson.
A couple of other factors:
In a lot of cities, aside from the main roads, there are a lot more roads where there is no footpath and cars expect to have bikes, people etc in the street and have to pay more attention.
In many city centres, the average speed is quite slow, many areas of London are now officially 20mph zones.
Giant trucks
Cellphones
Speeding
Alcohol
Marijuana
Homelessness
Deaths are up because the decisions individual car drivers are making are more dangerous to pedestrians, cyclists, and other drivers (and pollution wise, society at large). And those drivers are generally insulated from their dangerous decisions. the absurdist verbage used in reporting the killing of pedestrians by motorists is a mirror on how our society blames those who are killed.
At my job in the ER I see people who have been injured every day. These are the reasons, and these things have changed (except alcohol, which has been an ever present danger, though was actualy reported to be decreasing pre-covid).
The USA didn’t change their roads to be even more car centric in the last 10 years, but deaths are up. The USA didn’t make headlights different in the last 10 years, but deaths are up at night. The USA didn’t grow more fragile pedestrians, ,but deaths are up. The USA hasn’t had a massive increase in bicyclists or pedestrians, but deaths are up.
Insead, the USA decided to have more giant trucks, more cellphone use, more speeding, more alcohol use, more marijuana use while driving, and has more homeless folk than the last 30+ years.
Homelessness is the odd outlier - and the best discussions I’ve read about it are because the homeless are often forced to camp and sleep near busy high speed roads, and that makes them more vulnerable to getting run over, and all the other factors work towards that same thing.
This R&T article (what a crummy website, their print edition of the article is much easier to read) talks about the most deadly vehicles. Deaths are up because the decisions individual car drivers are making are more dangerous to pedestrians, cyclists, and other drivers. You have to click the View Gallery button to read the article small bit by small bit - horrid design. https://www.roadandtrack.com/news/g44567280/cars-most-deadly-to-other-drivers/
A few months back, I read an article about the increase of pedestrian and bicyclist deaths since 2010. A study had attributed this mainly to the increase in the number of pickup trucks and large SUVs as a percentage of all vehicles on the roads. As other posters here have mentioned, the study said that when those types of vehicles hit a person or bike, they tend to cause more torso and/or head damage than when a regular sedan hits a person or bike. Additionally, the person/bike struck is more likely to go under the truck/SUV, causing additional damage, whereas someone struck by a sedan is more likely to end up on the hood or going over the hood.
So… yeah. Freedumb.
It’s fairly obviously a combination of factors:
The US already had a much higher accident rate than many seemingly comparable countries.
That’s partly because the US driving test is a joke compared to most advanced countries.
Even though US transport environments are mainly built around cars not other transport, and speed limits are often higher in urban settings.
Then you have the growth of pickups and SUVs in size and numbers causing worse injuries.
The one difference that springs to mind is the healthcare system, and I assume the operation of emergency services.
The obvious answer to this is, obviously, arming the pedestrians properly, i.e. with something that has real stopping power, obviously. None of this AR-15-style nonsense, that’s for kids.
Now I do realise that anti-tank weapons tend to be somewhat on the cumbersome side of things. But freedom doesn’t come for free, pedestrians have the right to bear arms and to stand their ground, regulations are just nanny state overreach and don’t work anyway, and last but not least American problems need American solutions.
They did, though, because
Basically, yes. My wife and I sold our house two years ago and now travel full time in an RV. Unfortunately pickups are the only vehicles out there with a 13k lbs towing capacity. It’s also the only vehicle we have for local, non-towing driving. It was a tradeoff we deemed worthwhile. But the moment we get off the road, we’re getting a much smaller vehicle.
I will say my cat loves it, since she gets to sit harnessed in a comfy bed that straps to the center console.
We really do try to avoid cities most of the year, and once in a while we’ve rented a smaller vehicle if we need to drive in a more congested area. Or borrow one if we’re near relatives for a while.
I’ve had pickup trucks off and on for decades, needed for my work (construction) or hobbies. And the stock available on the American market is rather limited. I buy used, and even then the last time I was able to find what I consider a “normal” sized truck was over 10 years ago, and it was a real clunker already.
I get that people on this thread are blaming individual consumer choices on this front, but we’re done a real disservice by the “free” market hereabouts.
That makes sense! Thanks!
Safe travels!
THIS.
If the Tacoma had an inch or two more headroom, I would have bought that instead of my Tundra; However, I do plan on keeping the tunny as long as humanly possible. If Edison Motors comes up with a retrofit kit for the light truck market, I’d do it in a heartbeat. (Alternately, I’ll start poking around for some 80’s vintage one-ton models and electrify it instead.)
It’s a shame that there aren’t more rigs like this available:
The reason for that is that the mass consumer market doesn’t buy pickups or SUVs for their technical capability in carrying loads, towing or off-road driving. They buy them because it makes them feel safe, or big, or whatever. But when 80% of the market for a pickup is middle-class urbanites, it obviously reduces the incentive for car companies to service the other 20% specially.
(80% of SUVs sold in the UK are registered to drivers who live in urban areas.)
We have speed cameras and just LED radar signs that only tell people to slow if they are speeding here in the San Diego area–I have never seen one single driver ever slam on their brakes when the sign reads out that they’re speeding.
move along, tr*ll
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