Pedestrian safety

Pedestrian deaths are continuing to skyrocket as the pandemic drags on — and since 2019, analysts say the death rate for walkers has eclipsed the rate of population growth by a factor of at least nine. According to the latest fatality estimates from the Governor's Highway Safety Association, U.S. drivers killed 3,434 people on foot in the first six months of 2022, an increase of five percent over the same period the prior year — and a staggering 18 percent increase over the number of walkers who died in early 2019, the last year before the pandemic.  The group also pointed out that those numbers can't easily be explained by non-traffic-related factors, noting that since "2019, the last pre-pandemic year, pedestrian fatalities have surged 18 percent in just three years – nine times faster than U.S. population growth."

Slow Streets started with unambiguous signs that made clear to drivers that Slow Streets were “closed to thru traffic.” Over time, they have been watered down, covered up, or not installed at all. This is the wrong direction for Slow Streets; we need SFMTA to do more, not less.

The feds have taken steps to understand how a wider range of bodies are likely to fare in a car crash. But as regulators finally begin to look outside the car, some researchers think it's time they start thinking about our brains, too — particularly when it comes to kids.

A cyclist had the nerve to feel "entitled" to a safe bike ride. But the San Francisco Fire Department thinks it's more important to park wherever they please, even when it's not an emergency

More children died in crashes last year than in another other year in the Vision Zero era and crashes remain concentrated in areas that are known to be treacherous, according to a new report that crunches the numbers on the bloody 12 months of 2022.

Many motorists yield to pedestrians in crosswalks — but not when they're driving at deadly speeds, according to a new study that shows the need to slow down car drivers with broader road design changes, and not just more signs and paint.

The surge of traffic deaths in the first year of the pandemic can't be completely explained by quarantine-emptied roads that made speeding easy — and new data on who, exactly, was involved in those crashes may lead to more questions than answers.

In what could be a model for cities across America, Cincinnati is creating an in-house team to build safer streets for people who walk and roll, and vaulting over one of the most common roadblocks to saving vulnerable road users lives.

It's time to watch all the nominees and vote at the bottom for your favorite Streetfilms production.