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A comment on US Pedestrian Death Rate Increased 9x Faster Than Population 2019 to 2022. Parent comment

Re:US Pedestrian Death Rate Increased 9x Faster Than Populat... by strken on Wednesday March 01, 2023 @06:09AM (#34981044)
The ratio is meaningless, though. If the US population increased by 0.001% and the pedestrian fatality rate went up 9%, the fatalities would have increased 9000x times faster than US population growth.
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Re:US Pedestrian Death Rate Increased 9x Faster Than Populat... by p0pcult on Wednesday March 01, 2023 @08:21AM (#34982077)
Thats correct.
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Re:US Pedestrian Death Rate Increased 9x Faster Than Populat... by mrpopo on Wednesday March 01, 2023 @03:26PM (#34987821)
A high ratio between the two means that population growth doesn't explain the increased pedestrian facilities and therefore this is something to worry about.
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Re:US Pedestrian Death Rate Increased 9x Faster Than Populat... by strken on Wednesday March 01, 2023 @05:09PM (#34989036)
The ratio itself does not mean that the rise in pedestrian fatalities is significant. Consider 0.00000000000000001% population growth and a 0.000001% rise in fatalities, or any number of zeroes that you like.

The per capita or per 100,000 rise would be meaningful. You don't get the per capita rise by dividing the rise in fatalities by the rise in population growth.

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Re:US Pedestrian Death Rate Increased 9x Faster Than Populat... by mrpopo on Thursday March 02, 2023 @03:50AM (#34993527)
No, it doesn't mean that the rise in pedestrian fatalities is significant, it means that there is something that is causing a rise in pedestrian fatalities (and that it isn't simply population growth).

I agree the numbers used in the article are not the most explicit, though.

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