You don’t want a PhD in physics to know that it’s worse for a driver to hit you with a truck than a sedan. They’re simply heavier, that means they hit you with extra power. Nonetheless, whereas studying the Dialog’s latest article on how our present method to street security is outdated, one of many statistics within the publish actually jumped out — A bicyclist is 291 % extra more likely to die in the event that they’re hit by a truck as a substitute of a sedan.
Sure, you learn that accurately. 291 %. Vans are practically thrice deadlier for bicyclists than vehicles are. And when you can in all probability belief the creator — he’s a site visitors engineer who truly does have a PhD — to not pull numbers out of skinny air, that statistic truly comes from a latest paper printed by city economist Justin Tyndall. That paper helps quantify how truck design itself is a hazard, not simply weight.
Tyndall discovered that growing the peak of a automobile’s hood by about 4 inches raises the chances of a pedestrian loss of life by 22 %. For ladies and people over the age of 65, the danger is even increased at 31 %, whereas youngsters see a rise of 81 %. So sure, weight is an element, as power nonetheless equals mass instances acceleration, however the place and the way that power hits you is vital, too. It could, after all, suck to get hit by somebody driving a Miata, however because of its form, it’s extra more likely to hit you in your legs, throwing you onto the hood.
A truck, however, is extra more likely to impression your torso and head, throwing you onto the bottom the place you threat hitting your head on the asphalt and even being run over. Recovering from two damaged femurs sounds depressing, however it’s acquired to be higher for everybody concerned than being lifeless or surviving with vital mind injury.
Because the creator factors out, although, the issue runs deeper than there simply being too many large vans and SUVs on the street. Our street infrastructure is designed to get individuals killed. A lot of our streets are far too broad, trying extra like highways that occur to have decrease pace limits, and crosswalks are sometimes poorly designed and too far aside. It’s a system set as much as prioritize vehicles and encourage dashing:
These are the types of systemic circumstances that result in many so-called street person errors. Look just under the floor, although, and it turns into clear that many human errors characterize the standard, rational behaviors of typical, rational street customers given the transportation system and automobile choices we put in entrance of them.
Look extra deeply, and you can begin to see how our underlying crash knowledge provides everybody a cross however the street customers themselves. Everybody desires a data-driven method to street security, however right this moment’s commonplace view of crash knowledge lets automakers, insurance coverage corporations and policymakers who form automobile security requirements off the hook for embiggening these ever-larger vehicles and light-duty vans.
It additionally absolves site visitors engineers, planners and policymakers of blame for making a transportation system the place for many People, the one rational selection for getting round is a automotive.
Sadly for these of us who sometimes love to do issues aside from drive vehicles, like maybe strolling to a close-by brewery, large automobiles are as standard as ever, and reworking city infrastructure takes time. Nonetheless, enhancing our infrastructure is a crucial a part of making this nation safer. We want extra protected bike infrastructure. We want higher pedestrian pathways, wider sidewalks and at-grade crosswalks. We want street diets which can be designed to gradual site visitors down. Even bus speedy transit, whereas an enormous funding, would make life in city areas higher and safer.
If the federal government isn’t going to do something to rein in automobile measurement, on the very least, it might give us the infrastructure essential to preserve us protected whereas we’re simply going about, attempting to dwell our lives. Particularly since, allegedly, Tesla can’t assure the Cybertruck will cease accelerating simply because the driving force hits the brakes.
