From the article:
Allen places the onus for pedestrian safety on walkers.
“Pedestrians think you have the right of way all the time,” he said. “But that doesn’t matter if you’re not paying attention. You assume that responsibility when you’re walking out on that kind of roadway.”
Tennessee’s plan probably won’t make Union Avenue safer, Smart Growth America’s Simon said. The crosswalks on Union Avenue are still a half-mile apart; if crosswalks are too far away, she said, pedestrians won’t use them.
I often wish that traffic safety was treated in a similar fashion as aviation/rail/workplace safety. After a fatal incident, the scene should be closed off (to motorised traffic) and thoroughly investigated and not re-opened until it can be made safe. The excuse of "too expensive to change" will disappear when suddenly a stroad is closed.
Now, I'm in the UK and we don't have as much of a problem with stroads, but we do still get a lot of fatalities at junctions when lorries are turning left. The problem is partly that cyclists are treated as "must overtake" and so they can end up with a commercial vehicle right next to them as they wait at the junction. Also, the same vehicles are often described as having very poor visibility which raises the question as to why they are allowed to share public spaces if they are not designed with safety in mind.