Streets collect grim toll

In the past 14 months, 14 people, pedestrians or bicyclists, have been killed in the Spokane area in collisions with vehicles, including several killed in downtown Spokane, in crosswalks in which they had the right of way.

Each death is pronounced a “tragedy” and indeed they are. They are also characterized as “accidents” and on that account the reality is – no, not really.

Each incident has “circumstances” that “explain” causal factors. The bigger picture, though, is that with the road design, attributes of drivers operating vehicles (coffee in one hand, cell phone in the other … distracted) and society’s unquestioned acceptance of automobiles as having supreme cultural importance around which we organize our lives, there will continue to be fatalities.

The unlucky few killed are much less the victim of an accident than they are collateral damage to car culture, not terribly unlike civilians killed by drone missile strikes in Afghanistan – sacrifices to a larger purpose.

The deaths that accrue to pedestrians and bicyclists do not provoke public outrage, suggesting they occur at acceptable rates. Is access to cars and convenience to users thereof really the highest ideal of our society? Is it really more important than life itself?

Steve McConnell

Spokane