Crashes are not accidental - they are entirely predictable.
Local Motion's Mary Catherine penned a post at People, Places, and Transportation, a blog from the Vermont Natural Resources Council (VNRC), to shed light on how we talk about crashes impacts how we make our infrastructure decisions that could make everyone safer on the road.
People walking and biking make up almost 20% of traffic fatalities (pedestrians ~17% and bicyclists ~2.3%) in the United States, even though they make up only 12% of all trips taken. Every year, the fatality and crash rates for people walking and biking have increased. The reasons behind this increase are a complex relationship between increases in average vehicle height and weight, faster speeds on roadways, lack of dedicated walk/bike infrastructure, poverty and wealth, and road design.