Much more tragic on average per occurrence, of course. But, I’d be willing to bet that the chance of falling down that slope is way higher than being hit, and thus the “average damage over time” is far greater for falls than collisions. People are really bad at comprehending risk. (See: dying from a shark attack or lightning strike being more common fears than dying from falling down the stairs.)
It feels wrong to reduce human lives to a numbers game, but that’s what traffic engineering is. If there’s a budget, it has to be a numbers game at some level.
Much more tragic on average per occurrence, of course. But, I’d be willing to bet that the chance of falling down that slope is way higher than being hit, and thus the “average damage over time” is far greater for falls than collisions. People are really bad at comprehending risk. (See: dying from a shark attack or lightning strike being more common fears than dying from falling down the stairs.)
It feels wrong to reduce human lives to a numbers game, but that’s what traffic engineering is. If there’s a budget, it has to be a numbers game at some level.