why these mayoral collision course

How much does pedestrian avoidance reduce pedestrian collisions?

Why did the number of pedestrian deaths decrease in the 90s?

Why did pedestrian avoidance systems start?

What causes pedestrian deaths?

When will pedestrian sensing be mandatory?

Which country is the most shaped, physically and culturally, by the presumption that the uninterrupted flow of?

Is the road safer than ever?

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Collision Avoidance Courses are likely offered by your state police

Do some research online, but chances are your state offers an extracurricular course on collision avoidance, or just driver’s safety courses in general. I took mine at the James N. Robey Public Safety Training Center, where they train police officers and firefighters alike.

Why paying for this course is worth every penny

Other than the in-class portion of the day, nothing about this Collision Avoidance Course felt like Driver’s Ed. The program didn’t just teach me and the other students how to drive, it taught us how to drive our particular cars. There was a Toyota Sienna piloted by a woman who was clearly afraid of driving.

How much does pedestrian avoidance reduce pedestrian collisions?

In the US, almost every article about pedestrian avoidance systems cites a single real-world impact study, holding it up as evidence that such systems could decrease pedestrian collisions by 35%. This study is the best one available, for the simple reason that it is the only one available. This makes its weaknesses all the more glaring: it considers only one system, the Subaru EyeSight, and uses a severely limited methodology that – as the study’s authors acknowledge but press coverage never does – meant the authors could not know for sure that they were accurately counting the total number of times Subarus hit pedestrians. No one can honestly claim to know how well these systems do what they claim. A 2018 study concluded that, when it came to simply detecting pedestrians (let alone avoiding them), these systems would have to improve their performance tenfold just to match that of humans.

Why did the number of pedestrian deaths decrease in the 90s?

No one would have confused the US for a walkers’ paradise – at least part of the reason fewer pedestrians died in this period was that people were driving more and walking less, which meant that there were fewer opportunities to be struck. But at least the death toll was shrinking. The fact that, globally, pedestrian fatalities were much more common in poorer countries made it possible to view pedestrian death as part of an unfortunate, but temporary, stage of development: growing pains on the road to modernity, destined to decrease eventually as a matter of course. The US road death statistics of the last decade have blasted a hole in that theory. (A similar trend has been observed with regards to the country’s cyclists: a recent analysis found that cyclist fatalities decreased through the 80s, 90s and 00s, but since 2010 have increased 25%, with 777 cyclists killed in 2017.)

Why did pedestrian avoidance systems start?

Instead, they grew out of a desire to make war more bloodless – or more bloodless for the US side, anyway. In 2004, the US Department of Defense announced a race, open to all comers. Entrants were asked to build a vehicle that could undertake a journey without immediate human input: no driver in the car, no remote control. Whoever’s vehicle made it through a 150-mile course in the Mojave desert first would win $1m.

What causes pedestrian deaths?

A sk a room full of road safety experts what is causing pedestrian fatalities to increase and most will admit that, well, they are not exactly sure. Every time a car hits a pedestrian, it represents the intersection of a vast number of variables. At the level of those involved, there is the question of who is distracted, reckless, drunk. Zooming out, there are factors such as the design and condition of the road, the quality (or absence) of a marked pedestrian crossing, the speed limit, the local lighting, the weight and height of the car involved. In a crash, all these variables and more converge at high speed in real-world, non-laboratory conditions that make it hard to isolate the influence of each variable.

When will pedestrian sensing be mandatory?

In the EU, regulations passed earlier this year will make such systems mandatory on new cars starting in 2022.

Which country is the most shaped, physically and culturally, by the presumption that the uninterrupted flow of?

A Los Angeles freeway: ‘The US is the country in the world most shaped, physically and culturally, by the presumption that the uninterrupted flow of car traffic is an obvious public good.’ Photograph: Étienne Laurent/EPA

Is the road safer than ever?

For drivers, roads are safer than ever – but for people on foot, they are getting deadlier. Car companies and Silicon Valley claim that they have the solution.

How much does pedestrian avoidance reduce pedestrian collisions?

In the US, almost every article about pedestrian avoidance systems cites a single real-world impact study, holding it up as evidence that such systems could decrease pedestrian collisions by 35%. This study is the best one available, for the simple reason that it is the only one available. This makes its weaknesses all the more glaring: it considers only one system, the Subaru EyeSight, and uses a severely limited methodology that – as the study’s authors acknowledge but press coverage never does – meant the authors could not know for sure that they were accurately counting the total number of times Subarus hit pedestrians. No one can honestly claim to know how well these systems do what they claim. A 2018 study concluded that, when it came to simply detecting pedestrians (let alone avoiding them), these systems would have to improve their performance tenfold just to match that of humans.

Why did the number of pedestrian deaths decrease in the 90s?

No one would have confused the US for a walkers’ paradise – at least part of the reason fewer pedestrians died in this period was that people were driving more and walking less, which meant that there were fewer opportunities to be struck. But at least the death toll was shrinking. The fact that, globally, pedestrian fatalities were much more common in poorer countries made it possible to view pedestrian death as part of an unfortunate, but temporary, stage of development: growing pains on the road to modernity, destined to decrease eventually as a matter of course. The US road death statistics of the last decade have blasted a hole in that theory. (A similar trend has been observed with regards to the country’s cyclists: a recent analysis found that cyclist fatalities decreased through the 80s, 90s and 00s, but since 2010 have increased 25%, with 777 cyclists killed in 2017.)

Why did pedestrian avoidance systems start?

Instead, they grew out of a desire to make war more bloodless – or more bloodless for the US side, anyway. In 2004, the US Department of Defense announced a race, open to all comers. Entrants were asked to build a vehicle that could undertake a journey without immediate human input: no driver in the car, no remote control. Whoever’s vehicle made it through a 150-mile course in the Mojave desert first would win $1m.

What causes pedestrian deaths?

A sk a room full of road safety experts what is causing pedestrian fatalities to increase and most will admit that, well, they are not exactly sure. Every time a car hits a pedestrian, it represents the intersection of a vast number of variables. At the level of those involved, there is the question of who is distracted, reckless, drunk. Zooming out, there are factors such as the design and condition of the road, the quality (or absence) of a marked pedestrian crossing, the speed limit, the local lighting, the weight and height of the car involved. In a crash, all these variables and more converge at high speed in real-world, non-laboratory conditions that make it hard to isolate the influence of each variable.

When will pedestrian sensing be mandatory?

In the EU, regulations passed earlier this year will make such systems mandatory on new cars starting in 2022.

Which country is the most shaped, physically and culturally, by the presumption that the uninterrupted flow of?

A Los Angeles freeway: ‘The US is the country in the world most shaped, physically and culturally, by the presumption that the uninterrupted flow of car traffic is an obvious public good.’ Photograph: Étienne Laurent/EPA

Is the road safer than ever?

For drivers, roads are safer than ever – but for people on foot, they are getting deadlier. Car companies and Silicon Valley claim that they have the solution.