pedestrian deaths
Researchers Are Sounding the Alarm About Heavy EVs — Even in Europe, Where Cars Are Far Smaller
The swelling size of the average car on the road is threatening the environmental potential of EVs more than proponents may realize, a prominent watchdog group warns.
April 3, 2023
Vision Zero Under the Microscope: Why Aren’t Road Fatalities at 0 Yet?
Washington D.C. has failed to bring down road fatalities because its Vision Zero program is hampered by limited infrastructure improvements, low funding and inconsistent oversight, part one of a new report reveals.
March 29, 2023
Study: Pedestrian Death Rate More Than 2x Higher in Historically Red-Lined Neighborhoods
Communities that were red-lined in the 1930s are still experiencing more than twice the rate of pedestrian deaths today than more privileged neighborhoods — and we can't achieve Vision Zero until we reckon with racist and classist policies that contribute to the disparity, a groundbreaking new study argues.
March 17, 2023
Study: Cognitive Screenings for Aging Drivers Cut Some Crashes — But They Have a Disturbing Downside
Simply taking away the licenses of older drivers who show signs of dementia without addressing the dangers of the car-dependent communities in which they live may not deliver as many safety benefits as policymakers hope, a new study suggests — and it may spike the number of death among seniors who walk and bike, too.
March 14, 2023
Want Drivers to Stop at Crosswalks? Slow Them Down First
Many motorists yield to pedestrians in crosswalks — but not when they're driving at deadly speeds, according to a new study that shows the need to slow down car drivers with broader road design changes, and not just more signs and paint.
January 11, 2023
Road Deaths Surged Alongside Covid — But Who Died, Exactly?
The surge of traffic deaths in the first year of the pandemic can't be completely explained by quarantine-emptied roads that made speeding easy — and new data on who, exactly, was involved in those crashes may lead to more questions than answers.
January 9, 2023
Big Auto’s Fuel Economy Plateau is Especially Bad News for Pedestrians
Average fuel economy on new U.S. vehicles has hit a troubling plateau last year, a new federal report finds — and the reason why is particularly bad news for vulnerable road users, in addition to the planet at large.
December 15, 2022
Why There Are So Few Monuments to Traffic Violence Victims — And Why It Matters
People who die in car crashes largely go unmemorialized in the public realm. Here's why that's bad.
November 18, 2022
‘Walkable City’ 10 Years Later: What If We Took Traffic Violence As Seriously As Terror?
Research suggests that you are 568 times less likely to die in a terror attack than a car crash. So why do cities devote so much less to making their cities walkable than they do to preventing politically-motivated violence?
November 17, 2022
Senators Urge Regulators to ‘Put the Pedal to the Metal’ On Vehicle Safety Standards
The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law has been in effect for a full year, but federal transportation leaders still haven't implemented some of its most crucial safety provisions — and advocates and electeds say its time they step up to stem the record-setting tide of traffic deaths on U.S. roads
November 16, 2022