Another pedestrian was critically injured this week on an Austin roadway, highlighting an ongoing problem the city has yet to solve. Transportation engineer Erick Bollick said state data shows a dense concentration of areas where most crashes are happening. Bollick said 70{fbcf2a5c42fe71624047a18c73673849799bd5d53cdb5d8ca16f4833367ca63d} of the crashes are happening on 8{fbcf2a5c42fe71624047a18c73673849799bd5d53cdb5d8ca16f4833367ca63d} of our streets, so given the resources and staff that can be looked at as a good starting point.
Through the end of July, the Austin Transportation Department estimates there have have been a total of 1565 years of life lost among all of the pedestrians who have been killed on Austin streets. Transportation engineer Eric Bollick explains they’ve been tracking a public health metric they call ‘years of life lost’. To mitigate the deaths, anything from citywide reductions in speed limits to many more traffic calming devices are all still on the table for discussion.
Recent data from Austin police shows a 35-percent increase in pedestrian deaths between 2017-2018.
Officials continue to consider the lowering of all speed limits across the city.
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