CityNerd | Car Crashes in the US: Who's Responsible, Who Bears the Costs, and How We Talk About It (with Data!) @CityNerd | Uploaded April 2022 | Updated October 2024, 1 hour ago.
The United States has a road safety problem. Americans die from traffic violence at a far higher rate than people who live in similarly developed countries like the UK, Japan, and Australia.
This video reviews the state of traffic safety in the US, looking at how people die on our transportation system, how trends have changed over time, and how much work is left to be done. While motor vehicles have become heavier and more powerful, auto manufacturers have also dramatically improved features (like airbags and crumple zones) that have led to better overall crash survivability for car drivers and passengers.
At the same time, safety for people walking, biking, and rolling has gotten worse, with few engineering improvements to protect vulnerable road users.
We'll spend lots of time with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's Fatality Analysis Reporting System, looking at how all the data is coded and what it can tell us. And we'll talk about prospects for future transportation safety improvements.
Other CityNerd Videos referenced:
- Top Urbanist Ballparks: youtu.be/aXQx1_Zi1BA
- The Problem With Pickup Trucks: youtu.be/aIy5uv5-VrE
- The Stroad Ecosystem Examined: youtu.be/azYHW1vXZaM
- Cost of Car Dependency 2022: youtu.be/c2rI-5ZFW1E
Resources:
"How the Brooklyn Subway Shooting Unfolded" By Keith Collins, Lazaro Gamio, Evan Grothjan, Marco Hernandez, Taylor Johnston, Eleanor Lutz, Yuliya Parshina-Kottas and Amy Schoenfeld Walker for the New York Times, available at nytimes.com/interactive/2022/04/12/nyregion/brooklyn-train-station-shooting-maps.html
NTD data: transit.dot.gov/ntd
NHTSA Crash Data Systems: nhtsa.gov/data/crash-data-systems
NHTSA Overview of Motor Vehicle Crashes in 2020: crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov/Api/Public/ViewPublication/813266
CDC National Vital Statistics Report 2019: cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr70/nvsr70-08-508.pdf
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_traffic-related_death_rate
NHTSA Traffic Safety Facts 2019: crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov/Api/Public/ViewPublication/813141
Chicago Vision Zero High Crash Corridors Plan 2018: secureservercdn.net/198.71.233.109/8gq.ef1.myftpupload.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/VZ_HCC_FrameworkPlan_2018-06-15.pdf
NHTSA Fatality Analysis Reporting System: nhtsa.gov/research-data/fatality-analysis-reporting-system-fars
Image Credits:
- Causes of death in the US vs media coverage By Our World In Data - ourworldindata.org/terrorism#terrorism-is-over-represented-relative-to-its-share-of-deaths-in-media-coverage, CC BY-SA 4.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=106180310
- Jan 6 insurrection photo By Tyler Merbler from USA - DSC09254-2, CC BY 2.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=100214051
- Airbags By Pineapple fez - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=11867784
- Crumple zone By Janne. from Finland - Vagi paalattu Uploaded by Antti Leppänen, CC BY-SA 2.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=8296918
- Traffic Strop by Chris Yarzab on Flickr flickr.com/photos/chrisyarzab/13325091184 creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0
- Traffic Calming By FlugKerl2 - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=15391097
- Tesla dashboard By Ian Maddox - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=67227170
- Crash thumbnail Image By Charles Edward Miller from Chicago, United States - Car Crash 7-1-18 2245, CC BY-SA 2.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=71153145
Music:
CityNerd background: Caipirinha in Hawaii by Carmen María and Edu Espinal (YouTube music library)
Twitter: @nerd4cities
Instagram: @nerd4cities
Contact: nerd4cities@gmail.com
The United States has a road safety problem. Americans die from traffic violence at a far higher rate than people who live in similarly developed countries like the UK, Japan, and Australia.
This video reviews the state of traffic safety in the US, looking at how people die on our transportation system, how trends have changed over time, and how much work is left to be done. While motor vehicles have become heavier and more powerful, auto manufacturers have also dramatically improved features (like airbags and crumple zones) that have led to better overall crash survivability for car drivers and passengers.
At the same time, safety for people walking, biking, and rolling has gotten worse, with few engineering improvements to protect vulnerable road users.
We'll spend lots of time with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's Fatality Analysis Reporting System, looking at how all the data is coded and what it can tell us. And we'll talk about prospects for future transportation safety improvements.
Other CityNerd Videos referenced:
- Top Urbanist Ballparks: youtu.be/aXQx1_Zi1BA
- The Problem With Pickup Trucks: youtu.be/aIy5uv5-VrE
- The Stroad Ecosystem Examined: youtu.be/azYHW1vXZaM
- Cost of Car Dependency 2022: youtu.be/c2rI-5ZFW1E
Resources:
"How the Brooklyn Subway Shooting Unfolded" By Keith Collins, Lazaro Gamio, Evan Grothjan, Marco Hernandez, Taylor Johnston, Eleanor Lutz, Yuliya Parshina-Kottas and Amy Schoenfeld Walker for the New York Times, available at nytimes.com/interactive/2022/04/12/nyregion/brooklyn-train-station-shooting-maps.html
NTD data: transit.dot.gov/ntd
NHTSA Crash Data Systems: nhtsa.gov/data/crash-data-systems
NHTSA Overview of Motor Vehicle Crashes in 2020: crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov/Api/Public/ViewPublication/813266
CDC National Vital Statistics Report 2019: cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr70/nvsr70-08-508.pdf
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_traffic-related_death_rate
NHTSA Traffic Safety Facts 2019: crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov/Api/Public/ViewPublication/813141
Chicago Vision Zero High Crash Corridors Plan 2018: secureservercdn.net/198.71.233.109/8gq.ef1.myftpupload.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/VZ_HCC_FrameworkPlan_2018-06-15.pdf
NHTSA Fatality Analysis Reporting System: nhtsa.gov/research-data/fatality-analysis-reporting-system-fars
Image Credits:
- Causes of death in the US vs media coverage By Our World In Data - ourworldindata.org/terrorism#terrorism-is-over-represented-relative-to-its-share-of-deaths-in-media-coverage, CC BY-SA 4.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=106180310
- Jan 6 insurrection photo By Tyler Merbler from USA - DSC09254-2, CC BY 2.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=100214051
- Airbags By Pineapple fez - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=11867784
- Crumple zone By Janne. from Finland - Vagi paalattu Uploaded by Antti Leppänen, CC BY-SA 2.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=8296918
- Traffic Strop by Chris Yarzab on Flickr flickr.com/photos/chrisyarzab/13325091184 creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0
- Traffic Calming By FlugKerl2 - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=15391097
- Tesla dashboard By Ian Maddox - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=67227170
- Crash thumbnail Image By Charles Edward Miller from Chicago, United States - Car Crash 7-1-18 2245, CC BY-SA 2.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=71153145
Music:
CityNerd background: Caipirinha in Hawaii by Carmen María and Edu Espinal (YouTube music library)
Twitter: @nerd4cities
Instagram: @nerd4cities
Contact: nerd4cities@gmail.com
