Florida Cities Most Dangerous for Pedestrians

Four of the top 10 most dangerous metropolitan areas for pedestrians are in Florida, according to a new report by a transportation and environmental group.

The top four are Orlando, Miami, Jacksonville and Tampa. Other dangerous cities in the top 10 include: San Bernardino, California; Las Vegas, Nevada; Memphis, Tennessee; Phoenix, Arizona; Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston, Texas.

More than 47,700 pedestrians were killed in the U.S. between 2000 and 2009, and the majority of those deaths were preventable, according to Transportation for America. The group blames roadway designs backed by federal dollars for the unsafe conditions.

The group’s report, “Dangerous by Design 2011: Solving the Epidemic of Preventable Pedestrian Deaths,” shows that more than 688,000 pedestrians were injured over the decade, a number equivalent to a pedestrian being struck by a car or truck every seven minutes. The report says that 12 percent of all nationwide fatalities are pedestrians. Of these fatalities, nearly 4,000 are children.

The majority of deaths occur on roadways that encourage speeding but do not provide sidewalks, crosswalks, signals and other protections for people who are walking. Most of these roads were built using federal transportation funds.

“Some in Congress have questioned the federal interest in keeping pedestrians safe, believing it to be a strictly local issue,” said James Corless, director of Transportation for America. “But two-thirds of all pedestrian fatalities in the last 10 years occurred on federal-aid roadways.”

Topics Florida