When I first got interested in writing about road safety a few years ago, my question was simple: Why are so many pedestrians and bicyclists dying on US roads?
According to Smart Growth America, pedestrian deaths in the United States have increased by 75 percent since 2010. Latest report. Numbers began to rise dramatically in 2020, with pedestrian deaths reaching a 40-year high in 2022.
In the intervening years, I learned a lot about the causes of traffic fatalities in the United States 50 percent higher than other comparable countries.
These include dangerous road designs that make it easy for drivers to speed, and a breakdown in traffic enforcement that allows some bad drivers to get away with it for so long that they end up killing someone. I also reported how US drivers spend more time using their phones while driving than people in other countries, and what survey data seems to suggest that US drivers There is a more lax attitude towards road safety compared to their European counterparts.
But one thing I still don’t understand.
Why has the government failed to address the fact that large, heavy vehicles are more lethal to pedestrians and cyclists than smaller cars? There’s a way to make cars safer for everyone — and that includes changing how the government defines a “safe car.” In Europe, government regulators test new vehicles to see how dangerous they are to pedestrians and cyclists and incorporate that information into their safety ratings. They have been doing this for years. The US does no such thing.
5-star safety readings you look for cars? That rating is for people inside the car. So if you’ve been reading about the rising death toll of vulnerable people on the roads and thinking about buying something that’s going to be safe for them, you won’t find that information. The government is currently not testing for this.
I’m not the only one who finds this absurd. A few weeks ago, Rep. Jamie Raskin, a Democrat from Maryland, sent a letter to the Government Accountability Office asking them to investigate the relationship between vehicle design and pedestrian safety. He asked the office to suggest what measures the government should consider to reduce pedestrian and cyclist deaths.
“This fatal trend in our roadways makes the United States a terrible exception among developed nations,” Raskin wrote. “Federal regulators could probably do more to address the safety risks to pedestrians and bicyclists that are created by unsafe vehicle designs.”
Vox is reporting on the letter for the first time today. GAO has confirmed to me that it has received Raskin’s request and will investigate the matter.
It’s a small but important victory for those who care about the safety of pedestrians and cyclists.
The government has known that car design plays a role in pedestrian deaths for decades, but it has been slow to act.
Last year, an approx 3,373 pedestrians Killed while walking in the US only between January and June.
“We’re faced with a situation where it’s getting safer and safer to be inside the car, while it’s getting more and more dangerous to be outside the car, and it’s time for us to turn this around,” said Dan Langenkamp, a constituent. Ruskin’s. Langenkamp became an advocate for safe streets after his wife, Sarah Debink Langenkamp, He was killed while riding his bike in 2022. As a diplomat, Debink Langenkamp was evacuated from Ukraine for his safety after a Russian invasion, only to be killed by a truck on a street in suburban Washington, DC.
“If lawmakers don’t do this, our government won’t budge, I don’t think,” Langenkamp said.
We’ve known for decades that larger, heavier vehicles are more dangerous to pedestrians and cyclists.
In 2004, Rowan University researchers published a study that noted that light trucks — vehicles like SUVs and pickups — are at greater risk of fatal head or chest injuries when hitting people because of their size, weight and relative stiffness. Another systematic review of available research conducted in 2010 found that the risk of fatal injury for pedestrians in a collision with a light truck 50 percent was higher It was for someone hit by a conventional car.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which oversees vehicle safety ratings, has been kicking around the idea of adding a pedestrian safety test for years. The agency asked the public in 2015 for comments on adding a pedestrian safety testing program used in Europe. In 2022, NHTSA proposed a 10-year road map for upgrading overall safety ratings, called the New Car Assessment Program, or NCAP. Last year the agency proposed not immediately changing the 5-star rating system in favor of issuing a “pass-fail” grade for vehicles in pedestrian safety and making the grades available online. The agency said it would consider updating the ratings in future updates to NCAP.
Anyone who has worked in policy before knows that change takes time, especially where government is concerned.
But that seems like a long way off, especially considering the number of pedestrian and bicyclist deaths in recent years. Vox reached out to NHTSA for an update on their efforts, but they did not respond at the time of publication.
Thousands of people die every year while walking in the U.S. — too many to justify waiting another 10 years before making meaningful, fundamental changes in the way we value vehicles.
Even lawmakers are disappointed.
“For too long the federal government has prioritized speeding to the exclusion of all other transportation priorities. This philosophy has serious implications,” said Rep. Earl Blumenauer, an Oregon Democrat who has been pushing Congress for safer roads and vehicles for 28 years. “It’s time to design vehicles that don’t cripple pedestrians. It shouldn’t be that hard.”
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