This person just missed the agency that _actually does this already_. It's not the NTSB, it's NHTSA. There's a database of every fatility that happens in a vehicle on American roadways. You can download it. It's amazing.

https://www.nhtsa.gov/research-data/fatality-analysis-report...

Every fatal accident is documented. Often in incredible detail. I'm annoyed that this is often overlooked. Particularly in this case.

And yes, drivers get blamed a lot, because drivers are most often at fault. Drugs or alcohol and/or speeding are factors in the majority of fatal accidents. This is already known.

For an article that's attempting to so strenuously walk the high road, the omission of these facts is bizarre to me. How serious can they be?

that assumes that city planners and civil engineers have a goal of battling these distributed deaths.

it's obviously a biased source, but "the war on cars" podcast has an interesting episode with Jessie Singer where she recounts her interviews with traffic engineers. A municipal traffic engineer's only goal is to shield the jurisdiction they work from from liability. as long as the industry standard best practices are implemented faithfully, you probably can't be sued. any attempt to do something different from the status quo opens you up to liability.

This is addressed at length by StrongTowns in this book: https://www.confessions.engineer/

Those people are generally more focused on making sure that cars can go fast than on preventing deaths.