- cross-posted to:
- gestapo_usa@lemmy.dbzer0.com
- cross-posted to:
- gestapo_usa@lemmy.dbzer0.com
Over the same period, such deaths declined in most other developed nations, according to United Nations data.
From the WSJ article: https://www.wsj.com/us-news/the-deadly-1-5-mile-corridor-that-shows-the-fatal-flaw-in-americas-road-design-8f424579
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that’s a problem that will fix itself when there are no more pedestrians left
As both a pedestrian and on the road, I’ve almost gotten killed on my bike so many times I’m surprised I’m not dead yet
How did they go up in 2020 in the us
Between the rise of SUVs, and the increase in distracted driving, I’m not surprised in the slightest.
We really need to treat driving offenses with way more scrutiny.
I found out recently that operating a boat while intoxicated is a mandatory jail sentence. Meanwhile there are people out driving drunk right now who are 3+ DUIs.
I think it should be 1 and done. After that, you should have to choose between being legally allowed to purchase alcohol, or being legally allowed to drive, and if you blow over 0.00 on a breathalyzer after that, it’s an automatic 10 year sentence.
That won’t be possible until there are practical alternatives to driving across all towns and cities.
I think its about time we stop talking about the US as a developed nation. It really isn’t for a majority of americans, and it does appear to be steadily devolving. It’s maybe not yet a fully fledged 'poor country" but it is way more of a shithole than I would suppose 80% of countries in the developing world. And the fact that do many Americans think they’re the greatest country since sliced bread came around is something I find bemusing
Nice one dude! Very original! America bad!
I wonder why
https://historyjar.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Suburban-Family-Life-1.jpg
Searching for “wholesome kid with family car 1950s” results in photos slightly different for some reason (not that mass motoring waa ever the answer)
They should not be legally classified as a car. That should require a special license to drive. That thing is like a freaking wheel loader.
Here comes the fun part. They are legally not classified as a car, at least not in the US. That’s the whole point and the reason, why they are allowed to be much deadlier for everyone else, unsafer also for those inside and more polluting.
So you do need a special license to drive this behemoth?
Oh no, normal license is fine. It just means it doesn’t need to meet the same safety or emissions regulations, and also has a lower tax rate. Because it can be used for work you see
Agree with you. These should be considered as heavy vehicles (sorry if I’m wrong. English is not my native language). The number of these accidents that happen in the US is insane.
Not only have the vehicles gotten bigger, but the conservatives have purposely pushed vehicular homicide as something that is acceptable for groups like protesters. Just mention a “liberal” blocking the road to any conservative to have them quickly quip that they would run them over.
Normalizing vehicular homicide is totally a reflection of our safe and sane car culture in the US.
I went to America for the first time a year and a half ago. The biggest culture shock was definitely the horrible infrastructure. Second to that was the amount of dogs that weren’t trained at all.
People talk a lot about feeling unsafe in areas like Tenderloin in SF, but being near any of the dumb, giant car traffic made me feel way more unsafe.
People talk a lot about feeling unsafe in areas like Tenderloin in SF, but being near any of the dumb, giant car traffic made me feel way more unsafe.
For sure, I feel like I’m going to get killed every time I bike anywhere even though I live in a low crime area
I’ve spent time in over 30 countries, including developing and emerging countries, and the US is by far the one I felt the least safe in.
What made you feel unsafe, specifically?
Lemmy.
I am not the original poster but I would say the horrendously pedestrian hostile design of pretty every place outside some older neighbourhoods and central areas is one of them. But also the poor neighbourhoods feel dangerous, more so than in many other parts of the world (of course there are even worse places, South African cities for example, from what I have heard).
I see, yeah.
I hear (and see footage of) some pretty awful things happening in Mexico and Brazil as well. Those darn favelas. 🫣
How the F did US jumped up in 2020? Did the cars start to run into buildings to make up for the diferance in pedestrian trafic?
Where I live in the suburbs ebikes have also gotten a lot more popular over the past few years
In 2020, the pedestrian traffic changed from commuting to lots of people going out on daily walks, often in areas that aren’t set up for pedestrians. I’m guessing that’s a contributing factor.
People went fucking nuts that year
Only that year?
They just stayed nuts after. Cops stopped doing anything (except murdering people, of course). Nobody cares.
There was a build up before, like they were in training. 2020 flipped a switch and now they’re pros being nuts.
The US is de-civilizing itself out of frustration
Canada too, ripping out bike lanes.
It really does blow my mind, if you look at graph after graph of the US compared to the world, so much of the world is in line and the US is a constant outlier and yet people venimently state how good things are and “it’s just because the US is so big”, which is a complete fallacy.
Always been a state of barbaric cruelty. Literally founded by enslavers.
Don’t forget that it was in part religious people who left Europe, because Europe was not religious enough for them, in the 18th and 19th century.
If US Baby Boomers could read.
As someone without a car in the US, I am obviously pro-urban pedestrian infrastructure. We need more and better busses, and far more walking / biking options that keep us away from cars entirely. If you can’t walk from any one place to any other in a city, that’s two or more cities in a trench coat, you know?
I do wonder what a graph of average driven hours would do to this chart. Per 100,000 people of course shows more are dying per person. But if US citizens drive twice the total hours(completely made up number) as those in other countries, then we would actually have less pedestrian deaths per driven hour no?
per hours driven our per km driven is a car centric misleading number for many purposes. That is because car centric planning increases the distances one needs to drive, without creating additional value. Going to the supermarket doesn’t get any better just because the supermarket is double as far away. So the per 100,000 people number is a better representation.
Of course, people having to drive longer and further also means higher risk of deaths and accidents but that is just a compounding issue caused by car centric design itself. It is part of the problem, not some externalised factor that should be compensated for.
While I do agree that we probably have less “per hour driven” I think this metric is important because it still reflects the danger to the average person. If I get hit by a car it’s not going to make me feel any better to know “that person was driving for a really long time before they hit you”.
Factually it’s an interesting metric. But it doesn’t make pedestrians feel any safer
On the other hand, the US has far fewer people walking around than those other countries, and this is per capita, not per 100k pedestrians
Terrible street design which prioritizes speed of cars over the safety of the community. The rich and selfish get to kill everyone else so they don’t have to wait a bit longer crossing town.
Added bonus: the cars also pollute the fuck out of your home in the process.
In addition, the tarmac tanks get bigger and bigger to a point where you just can’t see pedestrians at all.
It’s interesting to me that Italians have such a terrible reputation for being dangerous on the roads, and even at the start of the graph period they had lower pedestrian fatalities than the USA.
It IS that bad. However, when compared to the US, there are safety measures in place here that allow us to survive even if the drivers are awful.
To be fair, it’s anecdotical, but considering the amount of craziness I see every day in my city, i’m amazed at the low amount of deaths.
That reputation is understated, but I think it’s still a more walkable country in general.
Hostile, selfish, and distracted drivers
The drivers are a constant. This is a symptom of regulatory capture.
The cars are not the same. This is a consequence of regulatory failure, though.
You can call it failure, but it’s serving someone that engineered it. This isn’t merely a failure to act or an unforeseen consequence, intentional choices have been made that knowingly trade human well-being for commercial interests. This is government serving capital interests before humanity or its own citizens.
I say it’s specifically regulatory capture because of the way one regulatory body is defeating protections provided by another one. The dangerous and popular class of vehicles exist to thwart regulations that apply to what was previously considered normal-sized vehicles. If they could they would have just done away with the regulations, but they are limited to their captured offices’ authority.
Sure, it is a failure from the perspective of public interest. It isn’t an accident.
Just for a better understanding, it would ve interested to see how the share of pedestrians developed in that time. Did decrease, remain similar or even increase?
Isn’t this largely to do with American car safety standards focusing only on the occupants of the car, rather than both the occupants and other people? Isn’t the Cybertruck rated as one of the safest vehicles by US standards but is considered to dangerous to be driven on most European roads for this reason?
There is no evaluation of the Cybertruck in the EU, but your general description is not entirely wrong. Tesla never even tried to make that ztash can street legal in the EU, knowing that their front facing stainless steel blades have no chance because they are insane from a pedestrian safety perspective and their are rules that forbid that.
Safety authorities and regulators in the US obviously don’t care much about the life of pedestrians. If they did, the Cyvertruck would not be street legal in its current form.
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