It was with a heavy heart that I saw the announcement a pedestrian had been killed in front of Park City High School on Dec. 19. I wish we could chalk it up to a mere accident, but unfortunately the results of this disaster were all too predictable, with the culprit being the proliferation of pickup trucks and SUVs.
Since 1990, pickups like the one involved in this incident have grown in size by 32%. At the same time, pedestrian deaths have increased 75% due to in no small measure the lethality of these machines as they travel at speed.
According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, a pedestrian struck by a large truck or SUV traveling 27 mph stands an 83% chance of suffering a moderate injury and a 62% chance of a serious injury.
This incident occurred in front of a school where speed is moderated at different times of the day to prevent tragedies such as this, so we can only guess how fast the motorist was traveling. Additionally, it was noted that the victim was not in the crosswalk at the time of the crash, but what was not mentioned is that there are no crosswalks on this section of Kearns.
The only safe way to cross the street in front of the high school is via the tunnel — no other safe route exists — so we are putting the burden on our children to seek out the tunnel, so adult drivers can be dangerous.
On average there are about 100 fatal car crashes per day in the United States, causing the deaths of 40,000 Americans, 7,000 of whom are pedestrians.
It’s a sad day for all of us here, but Parkites are not immune from the spate of vehicular violence and terminal car-brain that plagues our country.
Until our society decides that pedestrian lives are worth the same as those behind the wheel, this trend will unfortunately continue.
Micah Kagan
Kamas