Comment 114245

By kevlahan (registered) | Posted October 13, 2015 at 13:53:28 in reply to Comment 114243

The basic point you and Charles Ball are trying to make is that the risk posed by motor vehicles is negligible and that therefore any differences between cities is also negligible. And, by implication, that we shouldn't worry about it (why else make the point?). It is this claim that I am arguing against.

A 4% lifetime risk of being injured (or killed) as a pedestrian is a non-negligible risk. A 37% lifetime risk of being injured by a motor vehicle is huge (you talked about "danger" not just death)! And 3000 injuries per year is an astounding number from just one source.

The lifetime risk for females for dying of breast cancer is 2.72%, but we still take it very seriously and spend a lot of money and effort to reduce it.

And, unlike other sources of injury and death, we have proven strategies based on simple engineering and physical and psychological principles for dramatically reducing the number and rate of injuries: design urban streets for speeds no higher than 30 km/h rather than the 60-70 km/h design speeds we have now.

And these design changes reduce injuries and deaths for all road users, not just pedestrians.

Comment edited by kevlahan on 2015-10-13 13:56:42

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