Bingo--this argument (like many others) is one that doesn't require us to speculate or to invent new ways of building cities. We just need to look around the world to cities that have dealt with this problem successfully, and learn from their examples.
The American mindset is not. I swear that a huge portion of people in the US have been propagandized to believe that the car is king and that any idea to the contrary is heresy punishable by death under the front bumper of a Ford F-250 jacked up 3 feet higher.
Cars can go “quickly” between cities and towns but around pedestrians they really do need to slow down.
I wouldn’t want to live anywhere where the car is king and everyone else must cede to its ultimate priority.
People need to give themselves more time to get places, rather than thinking they are far more important than the greatly decreased safety of others.