I live in Sweden but my girlfriend is from Seattle so I have visited there a couple of times. There are a few cultural differences that I think play a major part in why pedestrian deaths have gone up in America but not elsewhere.
As already mentioned in this thread Americans tend to be more relaxed about using their phones when driving. It didn't seem like a big deal to read a text message or anything.
Another thing is reflective clothing. Driving at night in Washington I saw nobody wearing anything reflective at all. Here in Sweden outside of city centers at night more often than not pedestrians will wear something reflective to actually be visible.
Lastly the drunk driving culture was very different. In Sweden people would hesitate to have a drink with lunch if they knew they had to drive later that day. In America we went to a brewery whilst waiting for the ferry.
It’s worth noting that in most other rich countries, pedestrian deaths have been falling. And before anyone says something stupid about how America is uniquely big or new, even Canada has 60% fewer traffic fatalities.
just this morning some idiot didn't want to stop at a crosswalk in a 25mph downtown area....
the car that stopped going the other direction happened to be a cop car (who incidentally almost got rear-ended by some other idiot not paying attention).
as i stepped onto the curb on the other side of the road, i saw red and blue flashing behind me and heard them on their PA ordering the driver to pull over and stop at the next corner.
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