If you're driving fast enough on a local street that you can hit and kill someone, you're incredibly negligent (see: all NYC taxi drivers).
https://www.google.com/maps/@39.5080693,-84.689404,3a,75y,28...
Engineers assumed people wouldn't run into the middle of the street without looking.
If you slow down to non-lethal speeds for every parallel parked vehicle or obstacle in anticipation of some kid sprinting out from behind it, you might as well walk (not ride a bike, because that problem still exists).