Also, 36,500 people were killed, and 4.5 million people were injured in the USA in 2019.
This report makes the mistake of blaming individuals for not wearing seatbelts and speeding, when a shift in urban design is necessary to mitigate this disaster.
You’re right, I was probably too harsh on the seatbelt point. If you have to be in a car, you should wear a seatbelt. But, the first line of defense is to not be in a car, and the second line of defense is to be on well-designed roads.
American cities lack these two lines of defense. This is probably why crashes are such a big problem here.
I struggle to see how roads designed correctly always help. I will admit that I am not a road designer. In my area we recently redid an area to be a downtown thing with a 25 mph limit. The speed limit before and after the 1/2 mile stretch is 40MPH. I think the design follows items 1, 2, and 3 of this list very well. However, so much traffic fails to even slow down a bit.
It will take a major social campaign to get this to change.
I’d say well designed roads are the first line of defense. Cars crash into people who are not in cars all the time.
That’s a fair point. However, what is the circumstance that leads to a pedestrian crash? Is it something road design might have resolved such as speed? Is it just due to other factors such as alcohol or distracted driving?