ATLANTA — People are dying on Georgia roads at an alarmingly high rate. In 2018, according to the Governor’s Highway Safety Association’s annual report, over 130 people were killed by vehicles, an increase of 32 percent from 2017.
Nationally, however, the deaths are up 3 percent. And other major cities found ways to decrease the number of pedestrian deaths.
The report names factors such as population growth, weather, the number of people walking around and distracted driving.
But, Bruce Hagen, an attorney with Hagen Rosskopf LLC, said the biggest factor of all is the speed.
“The cars are going too fast. And our roads are designed for people to go to fast," he said. "We’re doing it wrong when it comes to road design and we are only interested in moving cars as fast as possible from one road to the next.”
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Hagen represents people injured by cars or people with family who were killed in pedestrian accidents. He said the spike in deaths didn’t surprise him because of the factors he mentioned - and the value placed on people’s lives.
“We need to demand that our politicians favor human life over getting a car as fast as it can to one place or the other,” Hagen said. “Studies show when you slow cars down, people don’t get killed. Not at the same rate.”
Its understandable that some might think slowing down speeds in Atlanta could lead to more traffic jams. But it’s possible in big cities with lots of traffic
New York City implemented a program called Vision Zero, a strategy to eliminate pedestrians’ deaths. Instead of focusing on the idea that traffic and pedestrian deaths are inevitable, the strategy aims to shift the focus to the idea that traffic deaths are preventable.
By focusing on streets where the most fatalities occurred, the city started changing traffic signals and gave pedestrians exclusive crossing at 800 extra intersections
New bike lanes were added, speed limits were reduced, and the city even made it a crime which could result in prison time if a driver doesn’t yield to a pedestrians.
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Under Vision Zero, 2018 was the safest year since 1910 and traffic deaths are down 22 percent since 2013.
Since then, 18 cities across the U.S. committed to Vision Zero.
Hagen believes Atlanta could be just as successful if speed limits are reduced and a plan is put into place to better support pedestrians and bicyclists.
“Having a sensible traffic plan, transportation options and having complete streets where people can safely use the streets that are out there,” he said.
The attorney added that better supporting the distracted driving and no texting law that was passed in 2018 could help.
“Let’s get the police the resources they need to enforce it,” Hagen said.
“You can’t be a major city and not have foot traffic,” he added.