Vehicles don’t exist in a vacuum; street design can influence safety as well. We know turns are of special concern for light trucks because their blind zones can obscure a driver’s view of pedestrians. Roadway design changes that slow turns and shorten pedestrian crossing distances can decrease crashes involving larger vehicles. Centerline hardening has proven effective in Washington, D.C., and New York City. Daylighting removes parking and other visual obstructions at crossings. Raised crosswalks can improve pedestrian visibility and slow traffic. Widening sidewalks at intersections can shorten crossing distances for pedestrians and increase visibility.

You may not be familiar with the New Car Assessment Program, or NCAP, but chances are you recognize its star rating for vehicle safety. Progress has been made in ratings reflecting not only risk to people within vehicles but those outside as well, but further changes can be made. A policy could be enacted so no vehicle could earn a five-star rating if it does not meet pedestrian crashworthiness standards. Ratings could consider hood height, as higher hoods correlate with worse outcomes for pedestrians. Advanced driver assistance features must be evaluated on their ability to sense and protect people outside the vehicle and in all weather and lighting conditions.

Federal, state, county and local governments have tremendous purchasing power, buying and leasing thousands of vehicles every year for their operations. They have a chance to lead by example by adopting vehicle purchasing standards that choose models that incorporate bicycle and pedestrian safety technologies and direct vision standards, and that are right-sized (no larger than what is really needed for the job). Because speed and large vehicles can be such a dangerous combination, fleet managers can also incorporate intelligent speed assistance and telematics technologies to reduce excessive speed in publicly-owned fleet vehicles.

Nowhere in the U.S. can you legally drive anywhere near 155 miles per hour. So why are so many vehicles capable of reaching a speed where a collision would essentially be guaranteed fatal? Manufacturers can take the lead by capping vehicle speeds at more sensible levels, such as slightly over 85 mph, the highest U.S. speed limit. Technological innovation has led to an amazing array of lifesaving features in vehicles, but often these are available only as expensive add-ons. If pedestrian and bicyclist crashworthiness design features and avoidance technologies were in all new models, they would come to be expected, widely used and effective.