Good morning, readers.
In Raleigh in 2022, there were 24 pedestrian deaths. It was a 64 percent increase over 2019, the previous year for the highest number of pedestrian deaths, when there were 14.
Unfortunately, Raleigh’s not an anomaly.
The rate of pedestrian deaths is rising across the country. And in Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill, pedestrian deaths occur at higher rates than the state average despite all three local governments employing dedicated traffic safety programs that work to curb preventable accidents.
So far, Vision Zero—the goal of ending all traffic fatalities—has proven elusive.
Much of the increase in traffic fatalities in North Carolina and the Triangle is because of the state and the region’s booming population. Wide, multi-lane roads in urban-suburban, built-up areas with surrounding commercial and residential development are the sites of most traffic fatalities. There’s no shortage of such roads in the Triangle. And the prevalence of cell phones could be contributing to an increase in distracted driving, though there isn’t good data to corroborate this.
Now, town officials are focusing on traffic calming measures on locally operated roads to achieve Vision Zero. These include reducing speed limits to 25 miles an hour, installing rapid flashing beacons at pedestrian crosswalks, erecting bollards between lanes, improving signage around heavy pedestrian areas, and installing raised crosswalks.
They’re also working to raise the profile of Vision Zero among residents and drivers.
“We’re still averaging 30 to 40 percent of our [traffic] fatalities a year, unfortunately, being pedestrians,” says Sean Driskill, Raleigh’s Vision Zero program manager. “So for my group, that’s why there’s an approach to target those individuals around schools, around downtown areas, just overall around locations where we know there’s high [pedestrian] traffic.”
Have a good Thursday,
—Jane
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Today’s weather
Partly cloudy with a high of 53 degrees.
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