When it comes to traffic fatalities, Seattle is doing well compared to most North American cities. The New York City Department of Transportation recently studied impacts of traffic accidents, including fatal pedestrian accidents, and found that it’s more dangerous to traverse Detroit than Seattle. But it’s safer still in Portland and New York:
The folks over here claim that each of these were pedestrian deaths—using an info graphic that depicts each death with a pair of empty shoes (sniffle)—but it’s not that bad. Actual pedestrian deaths were lower. “Pedestrians accounted for 52% of traffic fatalities from 2005-2009,” the NYC DOT reports. But when you consider “all the vulnerable roadway users”—motorcycles, bicycles, and pedestrians—they make up 71 percent of New York City’s traffic fatalities. You can read the whole report, which is pretty neat, in this .pdf. Among other improvements, they recommend installing 1,500 more countdown crosswalk signals and re-engineering 60 miles of streets.
I’ve come within a hair of joining them about a dozen times in the past year trying to get across 36th in Frelard, which I need to do several times a week, and where marked intersections are miles apart and traffic typically goes 45-50 MPH, and never, ever, ever stops (as required by law) at unmarked intersections.
The fellow at Canal Coffee sent a letter asking the city how his wheelchair-bound friend was supposed to get across the goddamn street, and asking for a striped crossing at least, and was told, “oh no, if we stripe it, it will give pedestrians false hope that they might make it across, and they’ll get run over, and it will be their own damn fault even though they’re legally in the right.”
Seattle’s arterials are used not as arterial streets but as freeways, with heedless cars moving in many cases faster than on the clogged freeway. And I say that as a driver.
Looking at the list the American ones with large minority populations are at the bottom. Coincidence?
I’d describe all the American cities listed, except Portland, Seattle, and maybe Milwaukee, as having “large minority populations.” That’s how our cities are. So I guess you could call that a coincidence if you really want to.
Right. New York has hardly any minorities.
Well of course New York has a lower mortality rate. Everybody’s on the subways.
It’s per capita, not per mile driven. People drive a whole lot in places like Atlanta, Los Angeles and Detroit, so you’d expect more traffic deaths in those places. It would be interesting to see the numbers corrected for miles driven per capita.
today a cyclist blew through a red light while a bunch of us were crossing with the green/walk on University Ave – dangerous. Could have hit someone, since he was going around 35.
5280 @5,
That’s what I was thinking too. NY has a much higher percentage of their population using public transit rather than driving. And if you look at the list, that is true about every city above Seattle, other than Portland.
More people using transit + fewer people driving cars = fewer traffic fatalities.
Also, to get fatalities in car-only accidents, one must be able to get up to a speed with some actual force. Having an accident at 5 mph doesn’t allow for enough force to be deadly. &$?!ing Rush Hour assholes.
@7 (aka WiS): Where is “University Ave”? Did you mean Univ St downtown? Did you mean Univ Way (aka the Ave) in the udist?
It’s possible for a bike to go fast down the Ave, but it’s unlikely your guy was going 35. What intersection were you at? Where did he start from?
NYC also just has lots and lots of pedestrians. It’s much easier for a driver to miss seeing just one person crossing the street than it is to miss seeing an entire flock (herd?). That might account for NYCs lower ped deaths too.
Woo, go Atlanta! We win! Hey, what does this graph show, again?
NYC doesn’t have right-on-red either. And as @9 said, it’s rare for a car to get going that fast due to all the starting and stopping.
right on red > leading to collisions with jaywalking. sorry. i didn’t realize explain myself so great there.
@1 it’s a plot.
I put a GPS tag on your shoe so they could hit you.
@6 I think you have it right. I know first hand that Detroit has very little in the way of public transit and an obvious car culture
However I looked it up and the major cities (with major sports teams) that had the highest AA populations and they were in order Detroit, Baltimore & Atlanta. This is what prompted the comment and it is likely just a coincidence.
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@10 he started from the Twilight Zone.
Technically, University Ave becomes University Way at one point. You must be new around here.
@17, there’s no such street as “University Ave” in Seattle. Never has been. The name of the street in question is “University Way” for its entire length, and has been since 1919.
You must be new around here. Or phenomenally stupid.
@18,
Why do they call it “The Ave” anyway?
@18: I suppose there’s a small possibility that he once saw this mistake sign and didn’t realize it was a mistake: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ave-st…
@19, it predates the current name. It is an avenue, small a; it runs north-south. It was originally 14th Avenue, and called “the Ave” by locals and students, before it was renamed by flouncy civic do-gooders.
The “NE” dates from the directional renaming that took place I’m not sure when, in the 50s I think. Before then, I think the streets in the U district were just N, but I could be wrong. My oldest city directory is 1960.
Broadway is also an avenue that doesn’t have “Avenue” in its official name. What others? Lake City Way, East and West Marginal Way, Airport Way, Alaskan Way….
@5, @8, @everybody,
People in NY know how to fucking drive, they are AMAZING at it. It TERRIFIES me to be in a car with them because they do all these fast things and barely react. I grew up in Seattle so I am an incompetent driver, but hey, I know all the rules of the road! (It makes me a terrific pedestrian in NYC)
EVIDENCE: We just had a fucking TORNADO (Kinda) and for 2 min the sky in Brooklyn/Queens became full of rain. It was IMPOSSIBLE to drive or keep driving. There were a handful of fenderbenders and nobody died (Because of car crashes). There is NO WAY that would happen in many other areas, Hell if that happened on I-5, 2 min of blinding rain? = Devastating.
Also yes a fuckton of people ride the subway, but we have more than enough on the streets as well.
@21,
Thanks for the info. I was quite confused the first time I saw “Way” on one of its street signs, but I got over it.
@22, one time in New York a friend and I got into a cab which turned out to be being driven by a teenage jacker, who had no idea where anything was — “the Village”, nope, “Washington Square Park”, nope, “Broadway”, nope, and then proceeded to drive 50 MPH down several sidewalks, up a one-way, and shoot out into a major avenue against the light like a complete maniac, laughing and turning back to look at us the whole time. Good drivers, yeah.
The greatest New York driver of all time is of course Stan Murch, getaway man for Dortmunder’s gang in the series of Donald Westlake capers (and at least one movie, “The Hot Rock” with Robert Redford).
Other interesting variables would be the size of each city in square miles and the linear miles of street surface to gauge the relative opportunity to be a fucking idiot and run over a pedestrian or other vulnerable user at high speed. Still, why would Atlanta be so much higher? [Insert stupid Southern stereotype here]
I’m surprised pedestrian deaths are so low in SF, and nonplussed that I’ve apparently got twice the chance of being murdered here than I do of being hit by a car.
Like #25 mentions, it’s hard to see a pattern at face value here. As cheesy as it sounds, the best I can think of—and I’m obviously no expert here—could largely be the pedestrian culture of each town (i.e. not only investment in pedestrian infrastructure by each city, but a city’s residents respect for traffic law.)
Cars are big and fast and hurt no matter where you live, but try and picture someone cutting across a main thoroughfare on foot in London, Tokyo, or Stockholm. Now, how about Milwaukee or Atlanta?
The immediate question would be:
what does sweden do and why don’t we have the balls to do it here?
I think they take your license away immediately if you hit a pedestrian.
@24 Oh man, it sounds like you got the worst cab driver ever, regardless of city. However, if you really were driving on the sidewalk, you would’ve killed or injured several people. Perhaps you were exaggerating for effect? Maybe it’s that one guy who accounts for the 3.49 deaths per 100,000, all on his own. Maybe he’s moved to Atlanta by now.
There are some crazy drivers in NYC, just like anywhere. I do believe it is the mass transit and mass traffic that accounts for lower fatalities, though.