The projected rise of people killed while walking in 2018 – as highlighted in a new report, Pedestrian Traffic Fatalities by State, released by the Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA) – should sound an alarm on an urgent crisis in the U.S.: the preventable loss of life and severe injuries that occur on our roadways. …
A recent report from the Governor’s Highway Safety Association (GHSA) documenting an unprecedented increase in traffic deaths among people walking was alarming enough. But to see widespread news coverage demeaning the seriousness of this issue by dumbing down the problem to one of too many pedestrians using cell phones was downright unsettling.
Looking at trends in the short term doesn’t always paint a complete picture. Nevertheless, we can’t help but be discouraged by the direction of traffic safety in the U.S. described in two recent reports — one from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and another from the National Highway Traffic Safety Association (NHTSA). Both reports analyze recent data to answer a similar big picture question: When it comes to traffic safety, how are we doing? Unfortunately, the answer is “not good enough.”