10 Most Dangerous Cities for Walking

Transportation for America, a coalition of pedestrian advocates and transportation reform groups, has released its Dangerous By Design 2011 report, which names the most dangerous cities for walking in the United States. The report uses 10 years of pedestrian fatality data and U.S. Census statistics on walking to calculate a Pedestrian Danger Index (PDI) that ranks the 52 largest metropolitan areas.

So What Are the Most Dangerous Cities for Walkers?

• Orlando-Kissimmee, FL PDI 255.4
• Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL 212.7
• Jacksonville, FL 177.8
• Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach, FL 167.9
• Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA 139.2
• Las Vegas-Paradise, NV 135.2
• Memphis, TN-MS-AR 132.6
• Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, AZ 132.4
• Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown, TX 128.2
• Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX 119.4

The report states that 67 percent of pedestrian fatalities happened on roadways that are eligible for, or are receiving, federal aid. If the aid was tied to stricter federal standards for construction and maintenance of roadways, that could improve pedestrian safety. Rather than having to change local standards, changes could be implemented from the federal level and tied to federal funding.

How to Make Streets Safer for Walking

Transportation for America makes these recommendations:

1. Retain dedicated federal funding for the safety of people on foot or on bicycle. Dedicated funding is in danger for Transportation Enhancements and the Safe Routes to School program. Without dedicated funding, states facing their own funding shortages are less likely to spend on sidewalks, crosswalks and trails.

2. Adopt a national complete streets policy. Complete streets are designed for safety of not only vehicles, but also pedestrians, bikes, seniors and public transportation. They may include sidewalks, safe crossings, bike lanes, median islands, accessible bus stops and other features for the safety of those on foot or on bike. Streets without sidewalks or shoulders would become a thing of the past.

3. Fill in the gaps: While some areas in a community may have good pedestrian paths, they may not connect to all areas where people want to walk, such as schools, shopping areas and major employers. Make safe pedestrian connections so people can walk or bike safely throughout their communities.

4. Commit a fair share for safety: only two states dedicate highway safety money to improving safety for bikes and pedestrians, who make up 14% of the traffic fatalities. More money should be spent on a safer walking environment for pedestrians if we want to reduce deaths.

5. Hold states accountable for creating communities that are safe for walking. Provide oversight for how federal money is spent after it is granted for pedestrian and bike improvements.

Why Is Florida So Dangerous for Walkers?

The four Florida cities at the top of the most dangerous walking city list, as well as the other cities on the list, had explosive growth in the past ten years. But rather than that growth being in dense urban areas, the growth produced rings of low density suburbs linked by high speed arterial streets unfriendly to walkers and bikers. Pedestrian and bike safety was not a big enough part of the planning or design of those urban areaa.

While some might speculate that Florida has a higher pedestrian death rate due to their larger elderly population, the elderly were not over-represented in fatalities.

Racial and ethnic minorities and people with low incomes were less likely to own a vehicle, and therefore were more at risk in dangerous walking cities. Meanwhile, public health could be boosted by safer walking routes so that people could be encouraged to walk to the store and other destinations instead of taking a car. Walking more would reduce risks of many major diseases and help reduce obesity.

Safest Walking Cities

Not all is gloom and doom for walkers. The 10 least-dangerous cities for walkers had scores 200 points or more lower than the worst on the Pedestrian Danger Index. Low scores on the PDI mean safer walking. These safer cities scored from a low of 21.6 points to 37.3. All had more people out walking than the dangerous cities, with at least twice the percentage of walking commuters. Yet all had half the rate of pedestrian death as the most-dangerous cities.

• Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, MA-NH
• Cleveland-Elyria-Mentor, OH
• New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island, NY-NJ-PA
• Pittsburgh, PA
• Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI
• Rochester, NY
• Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA
• Portland-Vancouver-Beaverton, OR-WA
• Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News, VA-N
• Milwaukee-Waukesha-West Allis, WI

In times of budget cutbacks globally, it can still be a wise investment to put scarce money into infrastructure that allows people to walk, bike and exercise safely.

_Source:

_{Stephen Lee Davis, "Dangerous by Design 2011: Solving the Epidemic of Preventable Pedestrian Deaths," Transporation for America, May, 2011.}