I lived for a couple of years in an area with insanely high rates of pedestrian fatalities (and quite a few other road incidents as well.) After repeatedly reading news reports of fatal crashes at an intersection that I crossed every day on my way to work, I decided that I should look for a safer route. I'm kind of fascinated by crime maps and things like that, anyway.

Under reporting is certainly a problem: I once had a police officer refuse to locate a guy who hit me with his car, parked, and went into his apartment building. A report and a ticket for this gentleman would have been nice, but without an injury, the police officers suggested I was wasting their time.