Alarming Racial Gap in American Road Deaths

Research by the UCLA Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies was cited in a New York Times opinion piece regarding the racial gap in American road deaths. The piece brings attention to the higher rates of pedestrian deaths among Black and brown communities compared to white communities. In the city of Los Angeles, Black residents made up 8.6% of the population yet represented more than 18% of all pedestrians killed and around 15% of all cyclists killed, according to the 2020 Lewis Center policy brief authored by Madeline Brozen and Annaleigh Yahata Ekman. “For decades, the United States has prioritized the needs of people driving through cities over the well-being of the people living in them, and largely at the expense of communities with the least political clout,” the article states. It calls on cities to invest in safer road designs and speed limit enforcement to prevent pedestrian deaths.


 

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