A vehicle hit a mother and a 1-year-old child in a crosswalk on Madison’s north side Thursday afternoon.
While this was not fatal, there have been five pedestrian deaths from similar crashes in the area this year.
Traffic engineers study road structure and pedestrian safety for a living. Designing crosswalks and bike lanes with an extreme amount of caution for those using them.
Although, unfortunately, safety can never be completely guaranteed.
“You just can’t assume the vehicles are going to stop. You can’t assume the bikes [going to] stop you can’t assume the pedestrians is aware of the crosswalks,” said University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Engineering, Transportation Engineering professor David Noyce.