


While other developed countries have made strides in reducing pedestrian deaths over the last several years, the pandemic has intensified several trends that have pushed the United States in the other direction. “There’s the feeling that the rules are suspended and all bets are off.” “If they do, they don’t care about it that much,” Dr. Spiegel said, and people are not paying as much attention to driving safely. Combine that loss with overloading our capacity to gauge risks, Dr. Spiegel said another factor was “social disengagement,” which deprives people of social contact, a major source of pleasure, support and comfort. “People feel that they get a pass on other threats.”ĭr. “We’re so saturated with fears about the virus and what it’s going to do,” Dr.
