Safe Places to Walk Growing Scarce in Car-Oriented Society
EarthVision Environmental News
06/29/00
WASHINGTON, June 29, 2000 - A new report that ranks the most dangerous large metro areas for walking in the US says if you're walking in Tampa-St. Petersburg Florida, make sure you look both ways before crossing the street, because the areas offers the highest risk of getting killed by a car. According to the Surface Transportation Policy Project (STPP), the nonprofit group that released the report Mean Streets 2000, the results show the trend toward designing communities for the car and not the pedestrian is causing a danger to the general public.
The report takes a look at federal safety and spending databases and finds that per mile traveled, walking is 36 times more dangerous than driving. It also finds that in 59 percent of cases for which information is available, pedestrians died in places where they could not find a crosswalk.
"Building our communities only for cars has deadly consequences," said Roy Kienitz, Executive Director of STPP. "The riskiest places are characterized by spread-out growth and wide, high-speed streets that often lack sidewalks and crosswalks."
According to the report, the most hazardous places to walk are, in order:
Tampa
Atlanta
Miami
Orlando
Jacksonville
Phoenix
West Palm Beach
Memphis
Dallas
New Orleans
The report notes that states aren't using their federal transportation funds to make safe walking areas but instead spend far more on highways. In fact, the report finds that on average, states allocate just 55 cents per person from federal funds on pedestrian projects, while giving highway projects $72 per person.
Furthermore, the report makes a link between the lack of safe walking areas and serious health problems in US citizens. The amount of walking has dropped 42 percent in the last twenty years, while the percentage of overweight Americans has grown by 40 percent the group says. In addition, in those areas where there is less pedestrian room, the people living there are more likely to be overweight. The report compared health and transportation statistics and found that for every ten percent decrease in the amount of walking in a community, there is an almost one percent (0.7%) increase in the portion of people who are overweight.
The Surface Transportation Policy Project is a nationwide network of more than 250 organizations, including planners, community development organizations, and advocacy groups, devoted to improving the nation's transportation system.
For more information, call STPP at (202) 466-2636. The full report, along with state fact sheets, can be found at STPP's website below.