Louisville, KY, the outrageously high number of pedestrian deaths, and what's to blame

From the blog called Broken Sidewalk is this article about the tremendously high number of pedestrian fatalities in Louisville. Here are two excerpts:

     Louisville is in the midst of a pedestrian safety campaign called Look Alive Louisville. And for good reason. The city’s pedestrian death rate is above the national average—last year alone, 18 pedestrians died on Louisville streets and another 483 were struck by motorists. [emphasis added] The numbers speak for themselves.
     But unsafe streets don’t just affect pedestrians—they’re dangerous for all of us whether we’re in a car, on a bicycle, or walking.

[and. . .]

     It’s not a pretty picture. Louisville ranks worse than sprawling Atlanta in traffic fatality rate. Nearly twice as many are killed in Louisville per 100,000 residents than in Chicago, three times more than New York City, and quadruple the number as in Washington, D.C.
     Internationally, Louisville’s safety numbers fall in line with cities like Montevideo, Uruguay; Accra, Ghana; and Kolkata or Delhi, India. We’re significantly more dangerous than places like Jakarta, Indonesia; Beijing or Shanghai, China; and Mumbai, India. World leaders in traffic safety—places like Stockholm, Sweden; Tokyo, Japan; and Berlin, Germany—experience a mere fraction of the death and injury on their streets as we do at home.

Why is this happening? Vehicle speeds, road design, and development sprawl are just a few reasons. West Palm Beach has taken major strides to make their streets safer ever since Jeff Speck's presentation to the City in May of 2014. I'll have more on what's happening on South Dixie Hwy soon.