Southeast Michigan Goes Full Circle Around Pedestrian Deaths

Too many pedestrians were killed by cars in southeast Michigan last year, so a regional coalition of governments wants to build more car-centric infrastructure about it.

So dumb.

WHAT TO KNOW: The Southeast Michigan Council of Governments (SEMCOG), a regional group consisting of officials of seven southeast Michigan counties from St. Clair to Monroe, analyzed state police data and found that 100 pedestrians were killed by cars in 2025 in southeast Michigan. That’s a new high and an increase in carnage of 28 percent from 2024. It’s one fewer death than the all-time record set in 2016.

The organization correctly identifies this as a serious, unacceptable problem. And to their credit, they want to act quickly.

But in the most bassackwards thinking possible, SEMCOG’s solution is replacing more road intersections with roundabouts, instead of deploying any number of proven, simpler and more elegant, solutions focused on the people who are dying trying to cross the street. Just roundabouts.

WHY? Jenya Abramovich, a transportation planner with SEMCOG, told WXYZ-TV news that roundabouts could help by forcing traffic to slow down at intersections, allowing drivers to also watch for crossing pedestrians.

“Our goal in the transportation field is to make sure that people get home safely at the end of their trip, and so our focus is really to reduce those fatalities and serious injuries," she said.

She’s probably sincere about wanting to save lives. But the solution is reflexively backwards. When presented with a problem of people dying trying to cross roads, the solution should begin with those people in mind first, car movement second. SEMCOG’s solution puts cars first.

KEEP IT SIMPLE, STUPID: For instance, a solution could be just as simple as a raised crosswalk, at least at some situations. A raised crosswalk is essentially a speed bump with a flat surface that people can walk across. This meets both criteria of slowing car traffic AND forcing drivers to watch for pedestrians. If the threat of losing your entire undercarriage isn’t going to slow you down and make you look for some biped traversing in front of you, I don’t know what will. It’s simple, works within the existing infrastructure and its cost effective. Importantly, it puts pedestrians first. Remember, they’re the ones dying, after all.

For reference, the Federal Highway Administration estimates that installing a raised pedestrian crossing typically costs $4,000-$8,000. New Jersey's Department of Transportation uses a planning estimate of $10,000. By comparison, a federal survey of state transportation agencies found that single-lane roundabouts cost an average of nearly $1.3 million, with multilane versions averaging more than $2 million.

Notice also that there’s no talk about signalization timing, allowing more time for pedestrians to cross intersections, another inexpensive measure. There’s also no discussion about a pedestrian island between traffic directions, another far less expensive solution in some situations. There’s also lighting, and highly visible painting of pedestrian crossings, something a whole lot of roads lack. Last I priced it, paint’s a little cheaper than tearing up an intersection.

This has doesn’t even touch the most obvious, but admittedly more expensive, road diet or complete street solutions that reduce lanes but provide more access for other types of transportation. Each has shown to reduce both auto congestion and pedestrian deaths.

NOT A SOLUTION: Last, the Michigan Department of Transportation already knows that digging up intersections and plopping in roundabouts will not necessarily save pedestrian lives. The agency funded a 2023 Michigan State University Study showing that nearly half of drivers failed to yield to pedestrians on roundabouts at interchanges.

“Yielding rates towards pedestrians at crossings were significantly lower on roundabouts located at interchanges, where less than 45 percent of drivers yielded,” the report says.

To be fair, the report also says if there are lights warning drivers to yield, the rate increases dramatically. But that’s really further evidence that the same measures could be implemented separately at an intersection already lacking those precautions.

There are better ways. SEMCOG needs to put pedestrians first.