In 2022, cars killed 7,508 pedestrians, the equivalent of 18 fully-loaded Boeing 747s crashing with zero survivors. That means a pedestrian died roughly every 70 minutes, with no breaks in the tide of fatalities for weekends or holidays. This flood of death is recent: American roads were demonstrably safer to walk on just a decade ago, with thousands fewer pedestrian deaths.
Experts are unanimous in their assessment of the situation: this is a disaster.
For Motor1.com: Pedestrian deaths are an emergency. We need to start acting like it.
Damn...
I know recently in houston, they've increased the penalty for hitting pedestrians in crosswalks due to the number of incidents in the last couple years. This town is already so unfriendly to pedestrians and cyclists and it really doesn't help that there are so many unwalkable areas (blocks and intersections with no sidewalks, sidewalks near highways, long stretches of nothing).
My dad used to cycle short distances around town and he was way more comfortable with cars than I was and he just completely stopped in the past 5 or 6 years because it really is treacherous. People get mad about bike lanes but imagine how cyclists feel...
