# Dangerous by design

By [Brandon Donnelly](https://brandondonnelly.com) · 2024-05-31

car-oriented-design, dangerous-by-design, mobility, pedestrian-deaths, planning, smart-growth-america, traffic-fatalities, traffic-fatality-rate, urbanism

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[This is a shocking report](https://smartgrowthamerica.org/dangerous-by-design/) from Smart Growth America on traffic fatalities in the US. Since 2010, the number of pedestrians struck and killed has increased by almost 75%. As of 2022, this number sat at just over 7,500 fatalities per year:

![](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/a104c6c42a20f6ead0094e42c85be8a4.png)

Here are also the top 20 most deadly metro areas:

![](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/8751e73f43bfc4dc621bb8bafbf872da.png)

![](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/e07d96669168fdb9093cd7c9742a8a78.png)

Not surprisingly, these hot spots tend to be in the south, as opposed to in older northern cities. And that's because these tend to be car-oriented places. As the name of the report suggests, they are "dangerous by design." If you optimize for cars, it means you're making trade-offs in other places.

_Charts:_ [_Smart Growth America_](https://smartgrowthamerica.org/dangerous-by-design/)

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*Originally published on [Brandon Donnelly](https://brandondonnelly.com/dangerous-by-design)*