SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
Jalopnik has a story about how the Norwegian capital, Oslo, recorded only one death on its roads in 2019.
Speed limit laws and reducing the very presence of cars in the city center and downtown areas have resulted in a very aggressive, downward trend of traffic-related fatalities in the Nordic country's capital city. There was only one traffic-related death in Oslo in all of 2019.
No children were killed in traffic in Norway last year, Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten reported.
There was only one road-related death of a pedestrian, cyclist or child in 2019 in Oslo. No children were killed in traffic in Norway last year, either.
Norway plans to reach "Vision Zero", and eliminate road-related deaths within four years and do more to reduce, and ultimately eliminate, serious injuries.
The only person who died last year, according to Aftenposten, was a man whose car crashed into a fence in June.
This sharp decline is due to the fact that Oslo heavily regulates places where people are allowed to drive and has set strict speed limits. The city is also very friendly towards cycling and walking.
Olso's road fatality rate for 2019 was 0.1 death per 100,000 people. American States vary between 12 and 26 per 100,000 people
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 14 2020, @11:18PM (5 children)
Sadly in just the first 2 weeks of 2020, a 2-year old child was run over while crossing at a crosswalk. Because some junctions can have green lights for both traffic and pedestrians at the same time.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 14 2020, @11:29PM (4 children)
That's not why that happened. 2 year olds are short, lacking in judgment and shouldn't be crossing the street alone. So, there's more to the story than just being allowed to cross the cross street while drivers continue driving. I'm not familiar with this incident, it could have been a kid dashing into the road unexpectedly, or it could be an inattentive driver that turned without looking for small children and animals or it could be something else, but it wasn't because both activities are allowed at the same time. This same thing could have happened with a free turn, unless your area doesn't allow free turns.
I've been crossing streets for decades and not once have I seen or been run over by a right turning car when I had a pedestrian crossing signal. It does happen, but it's not accurate to claim the cause is how the signals are timed rather than people either dashing into the street unexpectedly or cars turning without seeing pedestrians in the roadway. In the vast majority of cases, everything works out fine as both parties are supposed to be looking to see that nobody is run over.
(Score: 1, Informative) by khallow on Wednesday January 15 2020, @03:18AM
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Zinho on Wednesday January 15 2020, @10:56AM (2 children)
Norway does not allow right turn on a red light. If that's what you meant by "free turn", eliminating that traffic hazard is one of the things the Norwegians have done to improve road safety.
"Space Exploration is not endless circles in low earth orbit." -Buzz Aldrin
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Wednesday January 15 2020, @01:28PM (1 child)
New York City does not allow right turns on red lights. Lots of pedestrians get killed anyway.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 16 2020, @12:58AM
By muggers.