Peace and Planning

Perhaps one of the most depressing types of vehicular violence that exists is a phenomenon known as a “hit-and-run.” In these situations, a driver who is in a collision leaves the scene of the crash before potentially life-saving medical services can be dispatched, before police can document the circumstances, and before passersby can get any information about the crash.

Unfortunately, these are not infrequent occurrences. In 2015, for example, it is estimated that there were more than 737,000 hit-and-run crashes on US roads (Benson et al., 2017). More distressingly, nearly 2,900 people perished in hit-and-run crashes in 2021 (an 11% increase over 2020 figures) and 24% of pedestrians and 22% of cyclers killed in crashes were hit-and-runs (Stewart, 2023). Kea Wilson from Streetsblog USA does the math to put it differently: “a whopping 68 percent of all hit-and-run deaths claim the life of a pedestrian or a cyclist, rather than a person in an automobile — even though vulnerable road user fatalities constitute just 19 percent of all crash fatalities” (her entire article on the matter is worth a read so instead of quoting the whole thing, I’ll just leave it for you to check out here).

Beyond cyclers and pedestrians being more likely to be victims of hit-and-runs, what else increases the chances of a hit-and-run? This is just a sampling of findings from the literature:

• Driving under the influence or with a record of impaired driving violations (MacLeod et al., 2012; Roshandeh et al. 2016; Liu et al., 2018)
• Driving at night, early morning, or on the weekend – which also coincides with when people are more likely to consume mind-altering substances (Tay et al., 2008; MacLeod et al., 2012; Roshandeh et al., 2016; Liu et al., 2018)
• Roads without adequate lighting infrastructure (MacLeod et al., 2012; Liu et al., 2018)
• Being male (Tay et al., 2008; MacLeod et al., 2012; Zhu, 2020)
• Driving distracted (Roshandeh et al. 2016; Zhou et al., 2016)
• Increased crash severity (Zhang et al., 2014; Roshandeh et al. 2016)

Several of these characteristics are mirrored in studies outside of the US. For example, a team of researchers found that hit-and-runs in China’s Guangdong Province are more likely at night and when the driver is male (Zhang et al., 2014), while researchers in Ghana found night conditions and more severe crashes were more likely to prompt hit-and-runs (Aidoo et al., 2013). Some factors that researchers haven’t agreed on are age – some implicate younger drivers (MacLeod et al., 2012) whereas others point to middle-aged (Zhang et al., 2014) or older drivers (Tay et al., 2008). Interestingly, one study that tested dozens of variables found that the only scenario where a driver was less likely to leave the scene of a crash was when a stationary, lifeless object such as a light pole was hit…said another way, when another human wasn’t involved (Roshandeh et al. 2016).

As Kea Wilson notes in the article I linked above, another reason people might be prompted to flee is due to our carceral society. While the fears people have about interacting with law enforcement and the legal justice system are often warranted, she is careful to highlight that our courts are actually quite lenient where vehicular violence is concerned. She also emphasizes that increasing penalties may not be a panacea, but what’s clear is that we need representatives from a wide range of institutions to engage this issue more seriously and holistically, especially given the equity implications of the victims most likely to die due to hit-and-run crashes.

To put a finer point on some of the arguments Kea makes: unfortunately, we live in a society where (rightly or wrongly) taking away someone’s ability to drive in most places condemns them to a situation in which they are isolated from their neighbors, community institutions, job opportunities, and other aspects of society because they don’t have other means to get around. The fact that living without a car – because it’s been impounded, for example, and people don’t have access to affordable and high-quality public transit or safe walking and biking infrastructure – is a “sentence” that in some cases might be more debilitating that other penalties imposed by the legal justice system serves as yet another reminder that our status quo is failing us on many fronts.

Outside of academia, we see how these crashes are often ignored by the entities ostensibly meant to address their prevalence – or even intentionally carried out by particularly bad actors. In the former case we have municipalities like Bibb County, Georgia where there has not only been an increase in hit-and-runs, but a local government that is mysteriously silent on the issue. In the latter case, we have instances like that which was recently reported in California where it is believed a driver purposefully targeted cyclers, sadly one of whom died from their injuries.

It’s hard to know how many of these fatalities could have been prevented if victims weren’t left to die. What is easy to know, however, is that fleeing the scene of a crash without notifying paramedics and thus by denying victims quick medical care constitutes one of the most disturbing acts of vehicular violence exhibited in our transportation system.

If you are as enraged by these trends as I am, there are a few things you can do in your community to reduce the likelihood of these horrific circumstances. Advocate for more density – the more eyes on the street there are, the more likely there will be bystanders who can either identify a hit-and-run driver or else cause them to think twice about fleeing. Request better lighting – drivers are less likely to leave the scene of a crash when they aren’t cloaked in the darkness of night. Remove driving distractions and encourage others to have not just a hands-free approach, but a distraction-free approach to their driving.

Until next time, I invite you to get curious – what comes to mind when you envision more peaceful streets? ✌️🚸

—

For research articles on this topic, see:

Aidoo, E. N., Amoh-Gyimah, R., & Ackaah, W. (2013). The effect of road and environmental characteristics on pedestrian hit-and-run accidents in Ghana. Accident Analysis & Prevention, 53, 23–27. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aap.2012.12.021

Benson, A.J., Arnold, L.S., Tefft, B.C., & Horrey, W.J. (2017). Hit-and-Run Crashes: Prevalence, Contributing Factors, and Countermeasures (Research Brief). Washington, D.C.: AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety.

Liu, J., Khattak, A. J., Chen, C., Wan, D., Ma, J., & Hu, J. (2018). Revisiting Hit-and-Run Crashes: A Geo-Spatial Modeling Method. Transportation Research Record, 2672(38), 81–92. https://doi.org/10.1177/0361198118773889

MacLeod, K. E., Griswold, J. B., Arnold, L. S., & Ragland, D. R. (2012). Factors associated with hit-and-run pedestrian fatalities and driver identification. Accident Analysis & Prevention, 45, 366–372. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aap.2011.08.001

Pedestrians and bicyclists. (n.d.). IIHS-HLDI Crash Testing and Highway Safety. Retrieved September 12, 2023, from https://www.iihs.org/topics/pedestrians-and-bicyclists

Roshandeh, A. M., Zhou, B., & Behnood, A. (2016). Comparison of contributing factors in hit-and-run crashes with distracted and non-distracted drivers. Transportation Research Part F: Traffic Psychology and Behaviour, 38, 22–28. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trf.2015.12.016

Tay, R., Rifaat, S. M., & Chin, H. C. (2008). A logistic model of the effects of roadway, environmental, vehicle, crash and driver characteristics on hit-and-run crashes. Accident Analysis & Prevention, 40(4), 1330–1336. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aap.2008.02.003

Wilson, K. (2022, September 8). Three Reasons So Many Drivers Leave Pedestrians and Bicyclists to Die—Streetsblog USA. https://usa.streetsblog.org/2022/09/08/three-reasons-so-many-drivers-leave-pedestrians-and-bicyclists-to-die

Zhang, G., Li, G., Cai, T., Bishai, D. M., Wu, C., & Chan, Z. (2014). Factors contributing to hit-and-run crashes in China. Transportation Research Part F: Traffic Psychology and Behaviour, 23, 113–124. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trf.2013.12.009

Zhou, B., Roshandeh, A. M., Zhang, S., & Ma, Z. (2016). Analysis of Factors Contributing to Hit-and-Run Crashes Involved with Improper Driving Behaviors. Procedia Engineering, 137, 554–562. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.proeng.2016.01.292