And therein lies the problem. There is a subset of American pedestrians who, because the law says they have the right of way, believe that the laws of physics also do not apply to them either. I have personally witnessed, too many times to count, a pedestrian approaching a crosswalk across a busy, four lane road, who continues, fast paced, without slowing the slightest, towards, into, and across, the crosswalk, without so much as even a glance left or right to check where the oncoming traffic happens to be. I.e., they just step out in front of cars (4 lanes worth) moving 35MPH, with no regard for how much distance there is between a cars hood and their spot in the crosswalk.
The only thing that saves them from getting killed is the random positioning of cars such that they don't actually step in front of a car with only 20 feet left before impact, and the fact that the drivers with 100 feet of space left nearly skid to a stop because of the fool that forget what his/her mother taught them: "Always look both ways before crossing the street".
Sadly, this total lack of common sense seems to infest about 20% of the pedestrian population, and is a major factor contributing to the accident rate. Because quite simply, if you are not in front of a moving car, you can't possibly be hit.