Pedestrian murders are "increasingly likely to involve SUVs and high-horsepower vehicles, which tend to be driven faster and above the speed limit."

Insurance Institute for Highway Safety

We've been lucky so far, but outside those daily morning and afternoon drive times filled with pass-through commuters, when congestion slows speeds downtown, it's obvious that "friction" on reverted two-way streets hasn't been sufficient to appreciably slow traffic.

Suggesting otherwise? That's just delusional.

Moreover, the "enhanced" pedestrian crossings with tiny credit-card-sized yellow lights? They're the single biggest bait 'n' switch joke Gahan, Rosenbarger, Summers and company has ever foisted on us -- and that's saying something.

Just remember: HWC Engineering's contract to achieve this lack of success was alchemized into a $5,000 campaign contribution to Jeff Gahan from the firm's president.

But of course none of them ever actually walk, do they?

How the hell would they know?

Nearly 6,000 pedestrians were killed in 2016, reaching the highest level of fatal crashes since 1990, the Washington Post reports. After hitting a low in 2009, pedestrian deaths have jumped up 46 percent, outpacing the overall increase in traffic fatalities, which are up just 11 percent.

The chart above, from the study by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, a nonprofit funded by auto insurers, pinpoints where these fatal crashes increased the most—in urban-suburban areas, on arterial roads, as well as at night and away from intersections. Another key factor not shown: vehicle type. The report says that crashes were increasingly likely to involve SUVs and high-horsepower vehicles, which tend to be driven faster and above the speed limit. CityLab context: Pedestrian deaths climb, while safety laws lag.