Traffic Fatalities

New Data Show Fatality Rates Rising on Roads, Even With Less Traffic

September 26, 2020 by Levinson and Stefani Leave a Comment

Earlier in the pandemic, we reported on findings that showed road safety had not improved, even though traffic was incredibly light during the nation’s stay-at-home mandates.

A recent study says not only are roadways not safer–they are deadly.

The National Safety Council has released preliminary data explaining that motor vehicle death rates jumped throughout May, regardless of shelter-in-home orders. Estimates show that when compared to 2019, data show a 23.5% rise in fatality rate per miles driven.

The group, which works to bring an end to the main causes of preventable death and injury, released this information during a roadway safety webinar in mid-July. It explained that per 100 million vehicle miles traveled in May, the mileage death rate was 1.47, up from 1.19 the same month in the year prior. Still, although fatality rates rose, there was a 25.5% drop in total miles driven throughout May 2020 compared to May of 2019.

“Unfortunately, the pandemic has exposed our road safety culture for what it is,” said President and CEO of NSC, Lorraine Martin. “We did not reap the safety benefits we should have experienced.”

The riskier roads at hand are now threatening to undo the traffic safety improvements made over the last few years. With three consecutive years of growing fatalities rates between 2015 and 2017, the United States had seen a gradual decline in overall traffic deaths. Now, more people are resuming their commutes to work, and traffic accidents are now the leading cause of workplace deaths.

May 2020 is the third month in a row that drivers were much more likely to die in a vehicle crash, according to NSC’s estimates. Throughout March and April, motor vehicle death rates per miles drive rose as compared to rates from the same time period in 2019. According to data, there was a 36.6% increase in death rates per miles driven in April, which also saw a mileage death rate of 1.47 per 100 million miles driven. This is up from 1.08 in 2019, although the number of miles driven decreased by 40% from April of 2019.

In March, during the beginning of the pandemic, data showed that there was a 14% increase in fatality rate per miles driven, with a mileage death rate of 1.22 per 100 million vehicle miles driven (up from 1.07 in March of the year before). This occurred even though the number of miles driven decreased by 18.6% from the same time frame in 2019.

NSC has collaborated with its SAFER task force to develop recommendations and guidance to help employers during this time, with information on safer routes and enhanced transportation safety while on the job. This resource details the reasons why employers should focus on roadway safety for their workers both during the pandemic and after.

“As motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of workplace fatalities, transportation safety should be integral to every organization,” said Martin. “An employer’s reopening strategy is an opportunity to emphasize and reiterate the need for safe streets, as well as safe workplace transportation. Employers can make a real difference in improving safety on our roadways, helping to protect their employees, as well as other road users.”

Martin explains that although reasoning behind these high death rates may still be confusing right now, she believes that the clearer roads have persuaded many drivers to operate their vehicles with less care. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration associate administrator for research and program development, Nanda Srinivasan, said that drivers are often tempted to speed on an empty road. Additionally, many drivers may participate in impaired driving or refrain from using a seat belt.

“It’s clear that our open roads have created somewhat of an open season for reckless driving,” Martin said.

During the first five months of 2020, six U.S. states saw notable jumps in roadway fatalities–New Hampshire had a 64% increase, Connecticut 39%, Louisiana 15%, Missouri 12%, Arkansas 10%, and North Carolina 6%.

According to Srinivasan, drivers need to always keep in mind these safety fundamentals: buckle up, don’t speed, and drive sober.

Executive director of the Governors Highway Safety Association, Jonathan Adkins, also explained that a majority of crashes have some kind of behavioral factor involved, like drinking or speeding.

“The number one concern from Governors Highway Safety offices is five letters: speed,” he reiterated.

Adkins also noted that “traffic-calming infrastructure” would help the issue, which is a method of improving roadways’ physical layouts. There are specific designs that can improve overall road safety, and Adkins cited one example in which some recently-shut-down streets in Charleston have given easier access and higher safety levels to pedestrians and bicyclists.

“Traffic-calming infrastructure is fantastic,” he said. “We’re seeing this across the country, and it’s really encouraging.”

A great safety-centered resource for organizations, employers, and independent drivers to join is NSC’s Road to Zero Coalition, a group of 1,500 members working to end all roadway deaths by 2050.

Pedestrian Traffic Deaths Are At A Ten Year High – Too Much Screen Time Could Be A Cause

March 2, 2020 by Levinson and Stefani Leave a Comment

A newly published study by the Governor’s Highway Safety Association, a not-for-profit comprised of the highway safety offices of the 50 states, better known as the organization behind the click-it or ticket campaign, is suggesting that pedestrian deaths in motor vehicle incidents are at a ten year high. The numbers seem to match the claim. Incidents of pedestrian deaths in car crashes are up while other traffic deaths are declining. Therefore, the percentage of traffic fatalities involving pedestrians now comprises a larger percentage than before. These are the worst numbers since 1990.

Bigger Cars Means More Damage

The study links the fact that there are more SUVs on the road now than before as a possible cause of the increase in fatalities. A heavier vehicle has the potential of causing greater damage than a smaller passenger car like a sedan. Pedestrian deaths involving SUVs went up 50% between 2013 and 2017.

Vehicle trends are definitely changing. People want bigger cars. Automakers are responding in kind, limiting their offerings for smaller cars in the US. For people with families, purchasing a small car or a sedan is an unlikely choice. People also feel safer in bigger cars. The perception is that larger vehicles offer greater crash safety protection. As other categories of motor vehicle crash deaths decrease, it gets harder to argue against that conclusion.

There Are More Nighttime Crashes Too

The study points to other factors as well. Nighttime crash deaths are increasing. Pedestrian deaths seem to be increasing in numerous categories. When the publishers looked at nighttime vs. daytime fatalities, instances at night were up 45% from 2008 to 2017, whereas daytime instances went up by 11%.

Any premature loss of life is tragic. Pedestrians and drivers alike would be well served by keeping an eye out for one another as both groups certainly have the right to travel using surface streets. It’s common sense that anyone who goes anywhere should try and take proper safety precautions. However, the study also looks at population growth as a factor contributing to these alarming statistics. With increasingly bigger cars and more people in a given town, there could be more opportunities where drivers and people on foot will encounter one another, meaning the more that people proceed with caution when going from place to place, the better.

We Need to Pay Attention to Distracted Driving

One more possible factor contributing to this increase in pedestrian traffic deaths is people not paying attention to the road or where they are going. We certainly have an increasing number of big cars out on the road, but we also have more electronic devices. Screen time has significantly increased since 2008.

Consumers were first introduced to the iPhone in June of 2007. Since then, the image of a person with their eyes glued to a tiny screen has become ever present. If you ever look around at the drivers next to you when you’re stopped at a red light, unfortunately, it won’t be uncommon for one of those people to be holding up a smartphone.

The evidence against allowing drivers to use handheld electronics is mounting. Illinois, among other states, has passed stricter rules regarding the use of mobile devices behind the wheel. Some researchers have equated using a smartphone while driving as similar to being drunk and getting behind the wheel. Both have been shown to slow down reaction times and decrease our ability to focus on what’s going on outside our windshields. Just think of your own experiences. If you have ever missed a turn because you were having a conversation with a passenger, imagine how poorly you drive trying to send a text message.

The one thing we all have control over is the use of our phones. Whether you are a pedestrian or a driver, there can be no debate – if you’re looking at a screen, you are not looking where you are going. If you need to check your phone, the best thing to do is go to a safe place. If you’re driving, find a safe place to pull over. If you’re walking, find a safe place to stop. When it comes to injuries or death, none should be the result of smartphone distraction.

Number of Traffic Fatalities Down in 2019

January 28, 2020 by Levinson and Stefani Leave a Comment

With 2019 now in the rearview mirror, new data suggest the last year of the decade proved to be a positive one for drivers across the United States, as traffic fatalities saw a year-over-year decrease of 2.2% throughout the first 9 months of the year. According to Transport Topics, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimated there were 26,730 fatalities that occurred in 2019. While the statistics alone appear to be alarming, many should see this as a positive sign as it makes “the third quarter of 2019 the eighth consecutive quarter for year-over-year declines in traffic deaths since Q4 of 2017.”

Not only does this data establish that the United States has consistently been decreasing the number of traffic fatalities each year, but it proves that more drivers on the road and more miles being driven on average across the entire United States does not necessarily mean more fatalities will occur.

For instance, the Federal Highway Administration has also released data showing there has been a 1% increase in overall miles travelled by Americans in the first nine months of 2019, with an increase of 24 billion miles.

While this news is certainly positive and provides the nation with an idea of the direction in which certain initiatives are going, it’s important that we do not view such statistics in a vacuum.

To be sure, there has been a 2.2% decrease in traffic fatalities, but as is often the case, there is no silver bullet approach when it comes to trying to curb what can often feel like inevitable results.

According to the National Safety Council, a non-profit organization specializing in decreasing preventable deaths, the Road to Zero Coalition has been actively promoted. The Safety Council’s plan to eliminate all road deaths entirely serves as a guide for both state federal governments to adopt specific strategies to ultimately put an end to all traffic fatalities by 2050.

As highlighted in the report generated by the council, the strategies proposed are based on three “approaches” the coalition has found to be integral to succeeding in their initiative:

1. Doubling Down on What Works

Supporting policies that are based on research in roadway design and construction, vehicle engineering, law enforcement, consumer education, and trauma care.

2. Accelerating Advanced Technology

Establish new partnerships with manufacturers, technology companies, and EMS and trauma systems, as well as with public safety and health groups.

3. Prioritizing Safety

Adopting a “Safe System Approach” that prioritizes using proven safety methods which allow for individuals to make mistakes, yet such mistakes will not result in actual death.

In addition to establishing an overall guide for states to adopt, the council also holds “Road to Zero” webinars which serve as an introduction for new members joining the coalition to learn what other cities and states have already encountered in attempting to implement such strategies.

Although the task that the National Safety Council is trying to accomplish appears to be far larger in scope than what is realistically possible, such ambition has not gone unnoticed. Since its inception, the Road to Zero initiative has garnered roughly 900 members of the coalition. Among those members include the Federal Highway Administration, Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. This is precisely what needs to occur across the United States for such lofty goals to be achieved.

It may seem unrealistic for us to be able to completely curb traffic fatalities when a 1% increase in the miles travelled across the country resulted in 24-billion-mile increase; however, when such a large number of companies and organizations are united behind these goals, there will be results.

Some may view the 2019 traffic fatality statistics as nothing more than a necessary update to the public to establish that the funding and donations being received are actually paying dividends. While that may be true to some extent, it is absolutely essential to remember that a silver bullet does not exist, and the efforts being put forth by such organizations as the National Safety Council are truly worth monitoring.

It could very well be the case that over the first few months of 2020 a spike in traffic fatalities occurs, but that should not mean we stop implementing these strategies in the future. Even without a silver bullet approach to decreasing traffic fatalities, our states, cities, and communities owe it to citizens to provide smart and convenient traffic routes and policies. Without implementing such policies, their failure to do so could render them accountable for future fatalities that were otherwise preventable.

Chicago Announces New Plan to Reduce Downtown Congestion

November 1, 2019 by Levinson and Stefani Leave a Comment

On October 18^th, City officials announced two new initiatives to reduce downtown congestion and increase the use of Chicago’s bus system. Through the new initiatives, Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced that ride-share apps will see an increase in fees, specifically downtown and in the surrounding areas. Additionally, Lightfoot announced the city would be adding additional bus-only lanes throughout the city to incentivize public transportation.

Both of the announcements follow what has been a long-awaited response by Chicago’s administration to curb the significant increase in ridesharing occurring throughout the city, which has clearly had a negative effect on the use of public transportation for downtown commuters. After the announcement, Curbed Chicago provided a breakdown of how Uber and Lyft users would be affected by the new initiative. For starters, “the new proposal would decrease the amount for shared trips to 65 cents and increase single rides to $1.25.” In doing this, the city is hoping to clearly incentivize riders to think about carpooling. However, this isn’t nearly as aggressive as Chicago’s special downtown zone fee, which will see the single trip fee increase $2.28 to $3.00. Curbed Chicago goes on to explain that “the downtown zone fees would apply between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m. and the proposed downtown area includes the Loop, River North and a portion of the West Loop. The boundary streets include: Lake Shore Drive, Roosevelt Road, Desplaines Street, Van Buren Street, Ashland Avenue, Grand Street, North Branch Canal, North Avenue.”

Overall, these are drastic announcements by the city. No matter the public policy at hand, commuters are likely to not take too lightly to a two dollar increase in taxes and fees for every ride they try and catch in the downtown area. For many, especially those living in nearby neighborhoods, there is going to be dissatisfaction. With that being said, we can only hope that such a decision will bring positive results not only for traffic congestion, but for rider and pedestrian safety as well. As we have written countless times, traffic congestion brings unwarranted dangers to those in the city. For example, it was announced in the 2019 Urban Mobility Report that Chicago commuters lost a total of $1,307 annually due to traffic congestion, which was the result of vehicle damage, wasted gasoline, and many other factors associated with increases in traffic. More shocking, according to TRIP, the National Transportation Research Nonprofit, traffic congestion studied as recently as 2016 showed that the trucking industry lost a total of $74.5 billion due to the operational costs associated with traffic. All of this establishes that while it may appear absurd and a downright overreach to drastically increase taxes and fees associated with ridesharing in Chicago, there is far more at play then giving the city money for failing to take public transportation. We should hope that driver safety and vehicle costs are one of those primary factors.

Chicago’s New Bus Initiative

Along with the new fees for ridesharing comes an initiative to revamp and give an incentive to the public in taking the bus system. “The Bus Priority Zone Program will bring bus-only lanes, queue jump signals, and better traffic light timing to some of Chicago’s highest ridership routes,” writes Curbed Chicago. As a result of the $20 million dollar plan, the goal is to remove “slow zones, bottlenecks, delays, and bunched up buses that come one right after the other.”

Curbed Chicago also had the opportunity to speak with the Executive Director of Active Transportation Alliance, an organization that advocates for providing safe walking, bicycling, and public transit options in communities. Executive Director Melody Geraci stated that “transportation is the great but invisible connector between people and opportunity. We don’t think about it as much as we think about affordable housing, or access to grocery stores and jobs but all of those things are only connected if we have a great transportation system.” Geraci went on to state that since 2008, Chicago had also seen its bus ridership decrease by 28 percent. Ultimately, this goes hand in hand with the issues that traffic congestion brings as well. Commuters do not want to sit in traffic on a bus filled with other people they don’t know. They would much rather be in their own vehicle or be driven, if they have the means to do so. With that being said, the city’s approach to enhance the bus experience throughout the city will certainly bring positive results if done correctly. For starters, we will all be better off with fewer cars on the road. It will not only help with increasing the air quality in downtown, but it was increase traffic safety. For us, that is the most critical aspect of this new plan. If the city initiates these proposals and traffic does decrease as a result, we should see that as a huge win for Chicago. The better chance of keeping vehicles and drivers off the road, the better position drivers are to get to their destination safely.

Chicago Releases Long-Expected West Side Traffic Safety Plan

October 10, 2019 by Levinson and Stefani Leave a Comment

Mayor Lori Lightfoot and the city of Chicago recently announced a West Side Vision Zero Traffic Safety Plan, which aims to address the prior administration’s intent to create a comprehensive infrastructure plan based on “crash data to identify 43 high crash corridors and eight high crash areas in Chicago,” according to SmartCitiesWorld, an online publisher specializing in infrastructure analysis. The new plan comes on the footsteps of the city’s announcement that it would spend $6 million on establishing proper infrastructure and safety on the West Side of Chicago. As part of this initiative, the Chicago Department of Transportation (CDOT), recently installed pedestrian islands at the intersection of Madison St. and St. Louis Avenue. This announcement and the work soon to begin on the West Side is all being done under the City’s Vision Zero Chicago initiative, part of a global movement that addresses fatal infrastructure issues throughout cities with the belief that crashes can be easily avoided so long as the proper infrastructure is in place.

According to the Vision Zero Principles the city prominently displays on its website, the new initiative sets out to adopt and implement specific plans that match accordingly to high crash areas. As discussed above, the recent pedestrian islands that were installed on the West Side are just the beginning of acknowledging and trying to alleviate the injuries likely to occur in neighborhoods with dangerous infrastructure issues. Overall, actions such as these fit under the umbrella of the City’s ultimate goals which it declares are to:

Invest equitably in communities that are most affected by severe traffic crashes.
Work to change behaviors and perceptions to build citywide culture of safety.
Make streets safer for all users.
Encourage and implement policies, training, and technologies that create safer vehicles and professional drivers.

All of this goes to say that Chicago understands there are communities that have long been neglected when it comes to issues such as infrastructure; and the West Side is certainly one of those communities. As the initial high crash data showed, seven of the eight high crash areas were located on the West and South sides of Chicago. With the introduction of this new plan, residents of these communities will be receiving long awaited uptick in public safety standards that will render the roads and sidewalks far safer for all.

The West Side Initiative

Although the official plan has yet to be posted to the City’s dedicated website for this topic, Streetsblog Chicago wrote an analysis of what can be expected. “The Vision Zero West Side Plan includes 15 strategies to improve traffic and pedestrian safety in East and West Garfield Park, North Lawndale and Austin. The recommendations include safety improvement around transit stations; efforts to promote walking and biking to school.” Overall, the new plan appears to go all in on alleviating a lot of the issues that have plagued this part of the City for years. What makes this plan different than other projects that have been announced in the past is the fact that it truly is comprehensive and input from community leaders on the West Side and all around the city have been taken into consideration. For example, in creating the West Side initiative, the CDOT worked with the Garfield Park Community Council, the North Lawndale Community Coordinating Council, Lawndale Christian Health Center, Build, and Austin Coming Together.

While the plan that has been proposed appears to be all about public safety policy, there’s more to it that CDOT is hoping truly transforms how people travel on the West Side and engage with their community. For example, while traffic safety is a key part of the initiative, the plan also calls for job creation and an increase in quality of life. One way it aims to achieve these two goals is through allowing residents to feel safe walking, biking, and using public transportation. While such things and fixing light poles and cleaning up transit areas seem small, the reality is that actions such as this make individuals more likely to use means other than driving for transportation purposes. As we have repeatedly addressed, the more individuals on the roads and increasing the odds of traffic throughout the city, the more crashes and injuries that will result so long as infrastructure issues remain.

Ultimately, this new initiative may appear to be no more than a pipe dream for communities that have long been promised change throughout the city, but the real hope remains that CDOT will hold to its plan and transform parts of the city and will keep those on the road safe, and the residents in the community much safer.

Chicago Experiences a Significant Increase in Pedestrian Deaths Since July 1st

August 9, 2019 by Levinson and Stefani Leave a Comment

With this summer’s introduction of e-scooters to the streets of Chicago, much of our coverage and interest has revolved around how the City plans to not only curb traffic incidents arising from scooter users’ inability to follow the makeshift laws that have been established throughout the Summer, but the overall affects such riders have on pedestrians, bicyclists, and cars that are navigating the streets alongside them. Thrown to the wayside among this news cycle has been the fact that Chicago has actually experienced a large increase in the number of pedestrian deaths since the beginning of July. As previously reported by Streets Blog Chicago, the Chicago Department of Transportation had acknowledged that pedestrian deaths as of June 2019 had actually seen a 40% decrease year over year. Unfortunately, July proved to be much more dangerous for pedestrians in the city.

According to Block Club Chicago, “between Jan. 1 and July 31, 23 pedestrians were killed in the city. Six of those deaths occurred in July, the deadliest month for Chicago pedestrians since April 2018, when eight pedestrians were killed.” Making these numbers even more problematic is the fact that many safety experts throughout the community believe the issue to be a growing number of vehicles on the road. Unfortunately, the Department of Transportation has also found that one-third of the 23 pedestrian deaths in 2019 occurred in a marked crosswalk. As we have seen time and again, distracted driving remains a likely factor in these types of deaths. And why is that? For starters, our lives revolve around technology that we believe to be easily accessible at any moment. As we are walking down the street, we can video call our friends and family members and simultaneously multitask with the abundant number of apps we have on our phones. It is pretty easy to understand how we become so desensitized to taking our eyes off the road and letting our surroundings take a backseat to what we are really focused on. But that’s not an excuse and it should remain that way as the technology we use in our everyday lives becomes more advanced.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has an entire section on their website pertaining to this topic and we certainly recommend that all drivers become familiar with it. For instance, they state that “sending or reading a text takes your eyes off the road for 5 seconds. At 55 mph, that’s like driving the length of an entire football field with your eyes closed.” In addition, distracted driving, such as texting, has truly proved to be incredibly dangerous with 3,166 people being killed in motor vehicle crashes in 2017. All this goes to say that it just really is not worth it, and the ramifications of such driving pose far greater risks than missing a text or call from someone.

Drivers Are Not the Only Issue

While it may be easy to point fingers at the driver in situations such as these, the reality is that pedestrians may be just as negligent as the drivers themselves. As one-third of the 23 pedestrian deaths in Chicago have taken place in marked crosswalks, it is very likely that several of those instances included a pedestrian who was walking across a crosswalk while looking down at their phone or with it up to their ear. The issue with our lives revolving around these devices is not that they take our attention away from just the road, but our surroundings entirely. As we have previously written, many states have started invoking laws that ban cell phone use in crosswalks. The danger such actions pose is far too high and unnecessary just as they are for drivers. With that being said, the issue may be two-fold; however, we all know that individuals in marked crosswalks have the right of way and we should not be experiencing this issue in 2019. As a society, we have had years to adjust and understand the ramifications of these devices. It’s upon us now to make certain that drivers understand their actions and pedestrians do all they can to be safe. As Chicago has clearly had a far better year than previously regarding deaths, all it takes is a bad day and series of unfortunate circumstances for these accidents to take place. Unfortunately, whenever we see such accidents occurring where they shouldn’t, it makes the alarm bells sound and we must acknowledge that something is wrong. As Chicago becomes more populated and the number of drivers on the road increases, it will become more dangerous, but it really does not have to be that way. Distracted driving does not have to be a thing because we control these devices. We should be doing everything we can to curb it.