Study: Pittsburgh one of safest metro areas for pedestrians
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Pittsburgh is one of America's safer metropolitan areas for pedestrians, according to a national study released yesterday.
But the authors, saying the numbers of Americans killed while walking in the last 15 years is roughly equal to a jumbo jet crashing every month, called for increased federal spending on pedestrian safety.
The study, "Dangerous by Design: Solving the Epidemic of Preventable Pedestrian Deaths (and Making Great Neighborhoods)," was prepared by Transportation for America, a coalition of interest groups that favors progressive transportation policies.
The report's steering committee included AARP, the American Public Health Association and groups that advocate walking, biking and safety improvements on routes to schools.
Pittsburgh was 49th of 52 metro areas in degree of danger to pedestrians, according to the report, which examined data on pedestrian deaths from 2007 and 2008.
Minneapolis-St. Paul was rated the safest place for walking. The four most dangerous metro areas were in Florida -- Orlando, Tampa, Miami and Jacksonville -- and nine of the top 10 were in the South.
Compared with older northeastern cities, those areas have lower development density and are more automobile-oriented, with wider, high-speed urban routes that are especially hazardous for pedestrians, the authors said.
They said most pedestrian deaths are preventable, occurring on streets designed to encourage speeding traffic and lacking safe sidewalks, crosswalks, pedestrian signals and other protections.
More than 76,000 people have been killed while walking over the last 15 years, the authors said. "This is the equivalent of a jumbo jet going down roughly every month, yet it receives nothing like the kind of attention that would surely follow such a disaster."
Less than 1.5 percent of funds authorized under the old federal transportation law, called SAFETEA-LU, have been allocated for pedestrian or bike safety projects, even though pedestrians account for 11.8 percent of all traffic deaths, the report said.
"As Congress prepares to rewrite the nation's transportation law, this report is yet another wake-up call showing why it is so urgent to update our policies and spending priorities," said James Corless, director of Transportation for America.
The group favors a concept called Complete Streets, which are designed not only to accommodate vehicle traffic but pedestrians, bicyclists and users of wheelchairs.
First Published November 10, 2009 12:00 am
