While the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic upended many aspects of daily life, including how people get around, one terrible, long-term trend was unchanged: the alarming increase in people being struck and killed while walking. The number of people struck and killed while walking reached yet another new high in 2020. More than 6,500 people were struck and killed … Continued
Our newest report—Dangerous By Design—is here. More than 6,500 people were struck and killed while walking in 2020, an average of nearly 18 per day, and a 4.5 percent increase over 2019. News reports tend to blame individual behavior for these crashes, but we have another explanation for the ongoing epidemic of traffic fatalities: our streets are dangerous by design.
After reading a report like this, some reporters, residents, and local leaders may be tempted to reach for increased traffic enforcement and financial penalties as an obvious solution. But relying on enforcement and financial penalties to solve issues that stem from street design cannot solve the epidemic of traffic fatalities. And even a simple traffic … Continued
the increasing size and weight of personal vehicles are also having an impact on the steadily increasing number of people struck and killed while walking. In addition to designing safer streets, improving vehicle design along four main criteria is also critical for reducing pedestrian fatalities.
This guest post from Strong Towns is a supplement to the 2022 edition of Dangerous by Design, our landmark report on the alarming increase in people being struck and killed while walking, and how the way we design our streets is part of the problem.
Sometimes you have to see it to believe it. So we’re asking you to show us your dangerous streets (or ones that have been designed safely!) With the latest report of Dangerous by Design coming out this summer, we want to see what the roads look like outside of your home — are they stroads? Have safe crossings? Bike lanes non-existent? What about it makes you feel safe or unsafe? Take a video or photo of the place you live or work and share it with us.
Written by Abigail Grimminger.Sometimes we have to see it to believe it. How would street design really look if we prioritized the safety of all road users? Smart Growth America and the National Complete Streets Coalition’s latest video illustrates that when streets are designed to move as many cars as possible as quickly as possible, … Continued
The number of people struck and killed by drivers nationwide while walking increased by an astonishing 45 percent over the last decade (2010-2019). The four most recent years on record (2016-2019) are the most deadly years for pedestrian deaths since 1990. During this ten-year period, 53,435 people were hit and killed by drivers. In 2019, the 6,237 people killed is … Continued
Dangerous by Design 2021 chronicles the impact of street design on pedestrian deaths, but the increasing size of the vehicle fleet is also contributing to the growing numbers of people struck and killed while walking. Federal policymakers so far appear to be asleep at the switch.
In the 2021 Dangerous by Design webinar, Smart Growth America’s Beth Osborne and report author Rayla Bellis explored the report’s finding and rankings, and offered solutions to make streets safer for people walking and biking.