Safety
Over time, bicyclist and pedestrian deaths have become more prevalent in urban areas. In 1975, 50% of bicyclist deaths and 59% of pedestrian deaths were in urban areas. In 2020, 79% of bicyclist deaths and 82% of pedestrian deaths were in urban areas. The cities included in the Benchmarking project are the 50 most populous…
Read More →The United States ranks worse than almost all similarly wealthy nations in traffic safety. In 2019, the population-based death rate in the United States was the highest among the 29 high-income countries and was 2.3 times the average rate of the 28 other high-income countries. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, in 2022,…
Read More →Topic 1 – The Case for Making the Best of Limited Safety Data on Biking & Walking The Benchmarking Report discusses bicycling and walking safety, not general road safety. Bicycling and walking safety is a lens for general road safety because people who bike and walk are some of the most vulnerable road users, and…
Read More →The state of road safety in the United States has led to several distinct movements organized around the concept that all traffic deaths are preventable and that the only acceptable number of traffic deaths is zero. The concept of framing traffic safety in this way and pursuing an approach that can achieve the goal of zero…
Read More →IN THIS SECTION, THE BENCHMARKING REPORT DISCUSSES TOPICS THAT LOOK AT TRANSPORTATION SAFETY WITH A FOCUS ON THE SAFETY OF PEOPLE WHO BIKE AND WALK. This includes how the United States compares to peer countries in terms of road safety, as well as how road safety is a public health problem. This section also acknowledges…
Read More →According to the US Department of Transportation’s National Roadway Safety Strategy released in 2022, “fatalities among pedestrians and bicyclists have been increasing faster than roadway fatalities overall in the past decade, which has a chilling effect on climate-friendly transportation options such as walking, biking, or taking public transportation.” This page looks at bicyclist and pedestrian…
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