A new report from the Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA) estimates that the number of walkers killed on roadways hit a 33-year high in 2017, even as all other kinds of traffic deaths decreased. Curbed Urbanism Editor Alissa Walker sits down with Alyssa Julya Smith to talk about what this means and what cities can do to help bring those numbers down.
According to GHSA’s 2017 data, five states—California, Florida, Texas, New York, and Arizona—account for 43% of all pedestrian deaths, and Arizona had the highest rate of pedestrian fatalities.
Walker explains that its speed not distraction that actually kills pedestrians. She says the idea that smartphones and marijuana has led to the increase in pedestrian deaths is unlikely the case.
Authorities have moved and expanded the search area for a convicted murderer who escaped from a suburban Philadelphia prison last week, after he was spotted on a trail camera at one of the nation's premier botanical gardens.
