Why pedestrian death rate is shooting up, and how to save more lives
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in the U.S. are climbing at an alarming rate, jumping 46 percent since reaching a low point in 2009, according to federal data. Now, a new study from the
Insurance Institute for Highway Safety
identifies some trends behind the numbers and offers some recommendations.
Among the
‘ findings: Pedestrian crashes have become not only more frequent, but deadlier, with deaths per 100 crashes with pedestrians rising 29 percent from 2010, when they reached their lowest point, to 2015. Unsurprisingly, the increase is happening mostly in urban and suburban areas, in the dark, and the fatalities are generally happening away from intersections, on busy main roads or arterial roads.
It’s the last finding that might be especially stinging for the American buying public: Fatal pedestrian crashes are increasingly likely to involve
or high-powered vehicles, as measured by the ratio of horsepower to weight. IIHS says while pedestrian crashes still most frequently involve cars, fatal single-vehicle crashes involving SUVs increased 81 percent, more than any other type of vehicle.
That’s leading IIHS to suggest that automakers rethink how they design the very SUVs American car buyers are snapping up in droves.
“SUVs have higher front ends, and often the design for the vehicle is much more vertical than passenger cars,” IIHS President David Harkey
. “We do think that the number of SUVs on the roadways now and the size of the vehicles is playing some role.”
For years, IIHS has been
highlighting the idea of modifying the front ends of vehicles
to make them “softer” if they strike a pedestrian — via crushable hoods, fender cushion heads, pedestrian
and headlights that break away on impact, among other ideas. Automakers have mostly focused on pedestrian-detection systems that trigger automatic emergency braking, such as
‘s EyeSight system, which relies on two cameras mounted to the interior roof behind the windshield. IIHS is also urging automakers to develop better headlights, an area it began evaluating as part of its comprehensive crash-test program in 2016.
IIHS is also recommending that officials lower speed limits on busy roads that attract pedestrians and make broader use of
to enforce existing limits. And it says urban planners should design roads with better accommodations for pedestrians, noting that arterial roads often lack mid-road crossing lanes and instead require pedestrians to walk long distances to reach an intersection. Cities and suburbs should also include features like pedestrian-activated beacons or median crossing islands for mid-block crossings, it said. In Detroit, which had the highest pedestrian death rate of major U.S. cities in 2016, the city saw improvements in pedestrian fatalities after installing 65,000 streetlights, according to the
Free Press
.
The 5,987 pedestrian fatalities in 2016, the latest year for which data are available from the
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
, represented 16 percent of all crash fatalities. Overall, the number of annual pedestrian fatalities is still down 20 percent compared to 1975, but the 2016 toll was the highest since 1990.
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May 8, 2018 at 10:34AM