'Pedestrians are 2-3 x more likely to suffer a fatality when struck by an SUV or pickup truck than when struck by a passenger car'

Interesting read...most buy SUVs for the look, space and the safety (their own).  'SUVs, with their higher front-end profile, are at least twice as likely as cars to kill the walkers, joggers and children they hit'.  This is a new angle to consider - how these vehicles effect the safety of others particularly those on foot.


As someone highly interested in tracking these deaths, see https://www.nashvillepedestriandeathregistry.org/, the type of vehicle driven should be listed in the data collected on each pedestrian death.




TO READ ARTICLE, CLICK ON LINK:  https://www.freep.com/story/money/cars/2018/06/28/suvs-killing-americas-pedestrians/646139002/

This picture says it all.  Everything is geared to the person IN THE CAR and NOT someone on foot.  The width of the road, the height of the signage.  This is NOT a safe or healthy place for a pedestrian.

Death on foot: America's love of SUVs is killing pedestrians America's love for SUVs is killing pedestrians, and federal safety regulators have known for years.

Eric D. Lawrence, Nathan Bomey and Kristi Tanner, Detroit Free Press/USA TODAY NETWORK

‎7‎:‎30‎ ‎PM June 29, 2018

Highlights from the article:

Almost 6,000 pedestrians died on or along U.S. roads in 2016 alone — nearly as many Americans as have died in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2002. Data analyses by the Free Press/USA TODAY and others show that SUVs are the constant in the increase and account for a steadily growing proportion of deaths. 

Their investigation found: 

• Federal safety regulators have known for years that SUVs, with their higher front-end profile, are at least twice as likely as cars to kill the walkers, joggers and children they hit, yet have done little to reduce deaths or publicize the danger.
• A federal proposal to factor pedestrians into vehicle safety ratings has stalled, with opposition from some automakers. 
• The rising tide of pedestrian deaths is primarily an urban plague that kills minorities at a disproportionate rate.
• It is most prominent in cities both in the industrial heartland and warm-weather spots on the nation’s coasts and Sun Belt. Detroit; Newark, New Jersey; St. Louis; Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Miami, San Bernardino, California, Birmingham, Alabama; Tampa; Fayetteville, North Carolina; and Phoenix had the 10 highest per-capita death rates among cities with populations of at least 200,000 in 2009-16.

Look at the grill height.  You can see, that if struck, how much more damaging an SUV would be to your vital organs. 

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety calculated an 81 percent increase in single-vehicle pedestrian fatalities involving SUVs in 2009-16. The Free Press/USA TODAY analysis of the same federal data, counting vehicles that struck and killed pedestrians rather than the number of people killed, showed a 69 percent increase in SUV involvement.

'Pedestrians are 2-3 x more likely to suffer a fatality when struck by an SUV or pickup truck than when struck by a passenger car'




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Idle-Free City?

The heat and exhaust from cars can be overwhelming for pedestrians - especially at this time of year.

Just a reminder and something to consider

Walking District Pace Car Bumper Stickers Available!

Walking District Pace Car Bumper Stickers

are available!

Contact: http://thesidewalkfoundation.org/ at thesidewalkfoundation@gmail.com

3 neighborhoods have active Walking Districts - West End/Hillsboro, Cleveland Park (East) and Una
(Antioch).  Speed limits are reduced to 20 mph on neighborhood streets and 25mph on collectors roads.

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The concept of a Walking Districts is pretty straightforward.  Designed for local streets that are highly walked but have a low Sidewalk Priority Index (SPI) score.  With our current system of using the SPI, these areas would be last on the list of sidewalk creation.  And, maybe rightfully so.  The areas I am talking about are low volume in vehicular traffic neighborhoods and many have a park-like feel.  

The concept entails 3 things making it a quick, easy, and inexpensive fix.  The first is signage:  a sign announcing that you are entering a Walking District.  The second is a street decal (think of the bicycle decal you see on roadways but change it to a pedestrian).  The third is a speed limit reduction to 20mph.

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Walking Districts Information - Nashville

John Zimmer from Lyft: 'We don't need as many roads and parking lots'

NPR - How I Built This -Lyft - John-Zimmer


I agree with John Zimmer.  'Until we've accomplished the fact that you don't need to own a car in a city, until we've accomplished the fact that we don't need as many roads and parking lots in our cities, until we allow for our cities to be, you know, redesigned around the people living in them instead of the cars that are parked in them, then we're not happy'.




We want cites that are built for the PEOPLE and not just cars & their parking...  

Not this...

THIS!

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The Sidewalk Foundation is pleased to announce four $500 micro-grants to be paid to those who build their own sidewalk in Nashville!

The Sidewalk Foundation is pleased to announce four $500 micro-grants to be paid to those who build their own sidewalk in Nashville!






The Sidewalk Foundation of Nashville is very thankful to have recently received two $1000 donations!  Thank you to those who are putting a donation behind the belief that it is our right to walk comfortably and safely in this city. 


We are turning these donations directly around and are offering four $500 micro-grants to those who put in their own piece of sidewalk per Nashville's Public Works standards.

Two of these grants are being offered to those who live on Bowling Av as this is my sidewalk project # 1!  Bowling Av is getting a sidewalk extension from West End to Forest Park but, the remainder, to Woodmont, is not in the plan.  The first two homeowners who puts in their piece on Bowling will be awarded $500 from The Sidewalk Foundation.  The additional two grants will be opened up to anyone of Nashville who does the same. 

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I want to remind Nashville that we have a long history of neighbors pitching in to complete wanted projects.  Woodmont Blvd was the first paved road in Nashville AND it was funded by those who lived in the neighborhood (in 1914!!!). 

Most likely understand, as disappointing as this is, that our city cannot fund all needed sidewalks in a timely way.  The estimate to completion date for Nashville's sidewalk network, at our current pace, is 1000 years from now.  If we truly want walkability, we will all need to help.  

To make a donation: 

 http://thesidewalkfoundation.org/ 

Please contact us if interested in a $500 grant for sidewalk production per Public Works standards: 

 thesidewalkfoundation@gmail.com

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3 Easy Ways to Support NEW SIDEWALKS in NASHVILLE!

Shade Parade Nashville and The Sidewalk Foundation of Nashville are working hand in hand to raise money for NEW SIDEWALKS.  At this time, we have two $500 micro-grants available for those who put in their own piece. 

We'd like to do more!

You can help by:

• donating directly to The Sidewalk Foundation of Nashville -  100% goes directly to NEW SIDEWALKS
• purchase from Boon Supply - Sidewalks of Nashville - 50% of purchase goes directly to NEW SIDEWALKS

Coming soon:  Native TN Echinacea plants!  This fall, I will be selling these beauties to raise more money for NEW SIDEWALKS.   

The details of how a loved one passed while biking or as a pedestrian is telling.  As reported by NPR this week, about half of these cases are not even reported

'I looked for any details, any scraps of acknowledgment from the world, about my brother’s existence and passing. It was not headline news in LA; I don’t think it made it into the LA Times or onto the evening news'.

To read, please click on LINK:
https://usa.streetsblog.org/2018/06/25/please-try-to-look-squarely-at-the-crisis-of-traffic-fatalities/

Kirsten Brewer and her brother Tom. Photo: Kirsten Brewer

About 40,000 Americans lost their lives in traffic crashes last year. Traffic violence is a public health crisis. But we rarely hear from the people who lose loved ones, who mostly suffer in silence. We invited readers to share their experiences of coping with devastating loss caused by traffic collisions. Kirsten Brewer responded with this essay.


In 2016 my brother Tom was biking home in Los Angeles. He took a street that I would learn is quiet for LA, but statistically deadly for bicyclists and pedestrians. At about 6 p.m. on this particular Saturday, a drunk driver in a box truck careened down a side street, hitting parked cars before killing my brother at an intersection. He was 26.


That first night after I got the call I was shocked and frightened. My brother was already dead, yet I was scared of what was to come. We had few details that first night, and my recollection is fuzzy. Trauma affects your memory.


We weren’t quite sure that it was a drunk driver. We didn’t know it was a truck. We didn’t know where exactly my brother was in LA. 


It was late in the East and there was nothing I could do. I tried to sleep; I could not at first. The fear felt like I was on the edge of a tremendous pit. It was inevitable that I would fall into this pit. I worried that my brother had suffered. I worried that the crash had been gruesome. Most of all I feared what would follow when that pit of grief sucked me in. I had no idea what was to come for me or my family. 


Over the following weeks I went through the rituals of unexpected death. I called friends and family to inform them; then I texted and emailed others because the conversation became unbearable.
I looked for any details, any scraps of acknowledgment from the world, about my brother’s existence and passing. It was not headline news in LA; I don’t think it made it into the LA Times or onto the evening news. My small, hometown newspaper back East did a cover story. They interviewed my dad and photographed him in his apartment in front of a wall of photos and my brother’s artwork.