You’ve been there before.
You’re getting ready to Walk across the street, so, you look both ways, make sure you have the light, and then out of nowhere, a car rushes past you. You nearly became a human pancake and it wasn’t your fault.
This all too common scenario is apparently standard for most Cities in America. But according to a recent NPR article, it’s most rampant in Florida.
So, how frequent are car-on-pedestrian accidents in the sunshine state? A study conducted by Smart Growth America found that eight of the ten most Dangerous places to walk are in Florida. The most dangerous Florida cities include Fort Myers, Orlando, and Jacksonville.
The bigger issue
Although Florida takes the cake when it comes to “dangerous to walk” streets, the study listed a host of other shocking pedestrian statistics showing this issue disproportionately affects minority populations.
More than 46,000 people were struck and killed by cars while walking between 2005 and 2014—that’s a whopping average of 13 people a day—an overwhelming number of those victims were non-white (46.1 percent of pedestrian deaths), 65 and older (50 percent more likely to die while walking), and many were near or at poverty level.
“Danger to pedestrians is strongly correlated with median household income and the rate of people without health insurance,” NPR reports.
“Meaning that those who can least afford to be injured often live in what appear to be the most dangerous places to walk.”
But why?
Cars run the show… basically.
According to NPR, American street design has greatly favored automobile traffic and the priority to keep care moving quickly rather than ensuring the safety of pedestrians.
Luckily, though, many large cities are taking action.
Cities, such as New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Boston, Washington, and Austin, have launched Vision Zero Initiatives. These initiatives’ goal is to “reduce pedestrian deaths to none,” NPR reports.
Vision Zero
Vision Zero was created in 1997 in Sweden. “When Vision Zero first launched, Sweden recorded seven traffic fatalities per 100,000 people; today, despite a significant increase in traffic volume, that number is fewer than three,” CityLab reports.
“To compare, the number of road fatalities in the United States is 11.6 per 100,000.”
We can only hope that more cities will adopt this type of initiative in the future. Because when the pedestrian is prioritized, everyone stays safer, cities become more walkable, and pollution goes down.
Sounds like a win, win-win to us.
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