The Epidemic in Plain Sight: Traffic Fatalities
Last week, Jim Pagels was killed while cycling in D.C. He was 29. A PhD student in Economics. He had just received a coronavirus vaccine. I didn’t know him, but by all the accounts I’ve seen he was a stand up guy whose death is as tragic as it is too young.
His passing has stuck to me over the past few days. Partly because of the morbid tragedy that he made it through a global pandemic only to die while cycling home following vaccination. Partly because his last tweet was about the irony that one would be forced to bicycle through life threatening conditions to receive a life saving shot.
And while those ironies stand out, along with a deep sadness for Mr. Pagels and his loved ones, the reason his death has stuck with me is the cold realization that it could have been me. It could still be me.
I have been hit by a car three times over the past five years while cycling in Boston. All three times, I was cycling in an unprotected bike lane along the roadway. I walked away from each with bruises that took weeks to heal. The cars drove away with a dangling side view mirror and an unhinged door, testaments to the force of impact. I was lucky, three times over.
Jim Pagels wasn’t. He fell victim to an epidemic of human design. One that 40,000 people die from in America every year. Traffic fatalities from motor vehicles crashes is a top ten cause of death for all age groups 1–54 years old (see figure). What’s worse is that traffic fatalities are preventable; they can be eliminated. From a health perspective, they are the low hanging fruit on the tree; less complicated to prevent than suicide or drug poisoning and better understood than cancer. We know multilane roundabouts without separated cycling facilities, like the one Mr. Pagels tweeted about, are more dangerous to cyclists. We know that building cycling infrastructure in urban areas reduces road fatalities for all users, cyclists and drivers alike. We know risk of death or serious injury is associated with speed. We know what we need to do.
And ignoring road safety has implications beyond traffic fatalities. Cycling and walking, alongside public transit, are the ideal transport mode choices to mitigate transportation sector greenhouse gas emissions, improve air quality, and increase the efficiency of urban transport networks. While national surveys on the topic are hard to find, data from the National Household Travel Survey and a nationally representative survey of 16,000 Americans suggests the biggest impediment to cycling is concern about being hit by a car or truck. Investing in road safety can help us move the needle on climate change and solve congestion woes, while saving lives.
We need a wholesale recalibration of traffic safety in America. One that prioritizes and protects cyclists and pedestrians, leverages automated enforcement, updates NHTSA safety regulations to consider pedestrians and cyclists in addition to occupants, and requires that any urban road project include a protected bike lane unless exclusion can be justified. Federal, state, and local government funding and projects all have a role to play, and a coordinated intergovernmental road safety strategy is desperately needed. It’s welcome news to see $20 billion allocated to road safety in the Biden infrastructure plan, along with increased investment in walking and cycling infrastructure. I’m hopeful that additional funding can be a catalyst to the cultural sea change we need to prioritize the safety of vulnerable road users and end this epidemic in plain sight.
