Here is the shocking truth: 75% of pedestrian deaths are at night.
You need to know this fact because, one, you do not want to be hit, and two, you do not want to hit anyone else. Even more shocking is that this number of nighttime accidents does not happen in other industrialized countries.
The sheer number of pedestrian deaths is staggering … 7300 U.S. walkers died in 2021. This is coming to public attention because of a deeply insightful New York Times article by Emily Badger, Ben Blatt, and Josh Katz.
I deal with traffic accidents every day. Many are from the carelessness of a driver … looking at a cell phone, driving too close, not slowing down at a construction area … but this research shows that we have purposefully designed our roads to ignore those who do not drive a car or truck.
This sounds true to me. We have prioritized cars and trucks getting from one place to another quickly. Here in Mobile, we have interstates running through the city. Also, traffic lights are only for cross streets, which results in some pedestrians having to walk blocks to cross the road safely.
To answer the question of why this is happening in America, it seems logical that many European cities were designed before the invention of the car, so they were mapped out to encourage people to walk. Another interesting fact is that 70-75% of European cars have manual transmissions. That requires two hands to operate … so you can not hold a cell phone.
There are other reasons why pedestrians may be in more danger at night, for example, mental illness, drugs/alcohol, cell phone use, and lack of reflective clothing.
Here is my advice. If you drive at night, watch out for the person walking. You may think you have the right of way and that the person needs to look out for you. But I have seen families destroyed after such an accident, and you do not want to be one of them.
If you suffer from an accident – car, boat, on-the-job, slip and fall, nursing home abuse, etc. – you can talk to us at the Law Firm of Eiland and Ritchie (251) 666-1212. Remember that it is free. We want to help you.
Join us on Sunday night for a shortened NBC 15 LawCall show here in Mobile. We will return to our 30-minute show later in January. All this season, we have been putting aside a few extra hours on Monday mornings to answer any of your legal questions. Just call our office.
Alabama Personal Injury Lawyer