Walking to their deaths? Study ranks regions in pedestrian safety

Florida's Orlando is no magic kingdom for walkers, concludes a study that ranks Minneapolis-St. Paul as the king of pedestrian-friendly regions and the Chicago area as relatively benign.

The "Dangerous by Design" report released Monday by transportation advocacy groups assesses pedestrian security in 52 large, metropolitan areas. It concludes that thousands are dying in accidents yearly that could be prevented if streets were better designed.

The top four hazardous regions are all in Florida starting with Orlando followed by Tampa, Miami and Jacksonville. The safest metropolis is Minneapolis trailed by Boston, New York and Pittsburgh.

The report grades the Chicago-Naperville-Joliet area as 12th best out of 52 regions, giving it a pedestrian danger index of 39.3 compared to 221.5 for Orlando. The index looks at the rate of pedestrian deaths, factoring in population and the amount of walking in various communities.

Transportation for America and the Surface Transportation Policy Partnership, two national coalitions, prepared "Dangerous by Design."

During a media briefing, Surface Transportation Policy Partnership President Anne Canby noted nearly 5,000 pedestrians die a year in accidents, but the statistic falls under the radar.

"If you compare that to a jumbo jet, that would be the equivalent of one jumbo jet going down a month. If that happened there would be total outrage," Canby said.

The report found that 56 percent of pedestrian fatalities occur on high-speed, multilane arterial roads, common in the suburbs.

Asked to put Chicago's score in context, officials said there's room for improvement. The region has the second highest percentage of traffic deaths involving pedestrians in Illinois - 18.4 percent. "Is that acceptable for people to be walking to their deaths?" Canby asked.

The study is a wake-up call for the federal government to provide more funding for walkable communities in the new transportation bill under consideration, researchers said. Solutions include sidewalks, medians, traffic signals that alert walkers to changes, bike paths, bus shelters and crosswalks.

Older Americans are two-thirds more likely to be killed while walking than someone under 65, AARP officials at the briefing said. "It really is the pedestrian infrastructure that is not geared to older adults that contributes to their deaths," AARP spokeswoman Elinor Ginzler said.

The Active Transportation Alliance, formerly the Chicagoland Bicycle Federation, reports 172 Illinois pedestrians died in crashes in 2007. Recently, a pedestrian and bicyclist were killed in Chicago the third week of October in separate accidents.

Better infrastructure is important but so is changing driver behavior, Alliance spokeswoman Margo O'Hara said. "What's unique in the suburbs is the speed cars are traveling," she said, adding there's a huge difference between hitting someone while going 25 miles per hour compared to 45 miles per hour.

For study information, visit the Web site t4america.org.