shitty urban design is a bigger reason than people think

US drivers are notoriously bad drivers.

In my Florida city it's high for several reasons:

Bad underfunded public transportation means everybody and their grandmas are driving whether they should be or not. With sprawl it's difficult to keep a job without a car.

Cars don't always stop even when pedestrians have the legal right to cross, they have a might makes right mentality or just aren't used to looking for humans in the crosswalk at the intersection.

I will say that every person here knows someone killed by a car, the rate may look kinda low on a population level but it reaches across all of us, so I don't understand how it doesn't get addressed. The city government here does try, but is constrained by the county and state, and even the lighted crosswalks are often violated, they need gates like a railroad crossing, and more pedestrian bridges. There are a few places we can walk under a bridge here, they are old, and very cool, but no place to cross the river that isn't a car road, not many places to cross the car road except on the surface of the road.

Anyone else feel that site reads like AI? Registered 2023, all posts have the same format. New random articles every 3-4 days complete with research & graphs. Occasionally off topic.

I've been wrong before though. It's hard for me to identify AI content sometimes.

The one thing that wasn't mentioned is stopping distance of heavier vehicles is longer than lighter vehicles. So if a driver sees a pedestrian and brakes from the same speed and distance is a heavier vehicle they will strike the pedestrian at a higher speed with more mass. This trends up as the average weight of the vehicles trend up over time, which includes both SUVs/trucks and EVs. That would explain the increase in sedan deaths alongside other types of vehicles.

I have some family that lives in Louisiana and every time I go I'm just horrified by the lack of public amenities. There are just no sidewalks in huge portions of that state. Just huge stretches of long winding two lane roads 45 mph weaving erratically through heavily forested areas with sharp turns and no visibility. No sidewalks on the side just steep drainage ditches. It's a death trap. If you tried to walk on that road, especially at night, you're asking to die. Nobody walks anywhere if they can avoid it. Every time I visit I am just blown away.

I'm a european who has driven a lot in Texas plus some more around the gulf states.

Hoboy, where do I begin... Just to name a few off the top of my head:

• Headlights are lame. Even at night.
• TRUCKS
• Awful roads. Even Houston, a very car centric city, has roads made from a blend of 80% concrete and 20% potholes
• Speed limits seem to be more of a suggestion
• Tailgating culture
• Zipper merge, motherfuckers. Ever heard about it?
• Average vehicle standard is pretty shoddy. I've seen so much that wouldn't be allowed on the road in Europe.
• Infrastructure and options for non-motorists is pretty much missing, leading to people walking around the feeders
• Police seem more concerned with enforcing stop signs than anything else traffic related. On that note, build some fucking roundabouts!

Because our entire lives are built around cars and not humans. Nobody gives a fuck about people in the US there is profit to be made.

Because in a shock between the two steel will often be stronger than muscle and bones? /s... says I, a pedestrian that has not owned a car since the early 00s.

The sidewalk is dangerous! Its much safer to walk in the road where the drivers can see you, so they can avoid you. /s

The real answer is people not paying attention or big truck didn't see.

From personal experience, people have become more complacent/oblivious when walking.

I've never seen so many people just blithely walking into a street without looking at the lights, whether I'm driving or walking.

Even had a pedestrian wait to cross against the walk light and then flip me off the whole time.

So, yea, I blame pedestrians.