Get There or Die Trying
Decatur Metro | August 31, 2010 | 3:17 pmAtlantans, why walk when you might die? (Kudos to anyone who gets the subtle Mary Chapin Carpenter play-on-words)
From New York City’s Pedestrian Safety Study Action Plan (pdf)
More fun facts from the New York City study:
- HOW do these pedestrian accidents occur? 36% driver inattention, 27% drivers fail to yield, 27% pedestrians crossing with signal, 20% pedestrians crossing against signal
- WHO is involved? Seniors make up 38% of pedestrian fatalities. 80% of pedestrian crashes involve male drivers.
- WHEN are pedestrian/driver collisions most deadly? From 3a-6a.
h/t: GOOD
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I believe that the graph you are highlighting from the report is about all traffic fatalities–drivers, passengers, and pedestrians, whereas the bullets refer to pedestrian fatalities only.
I originally thought that too, but the actual report states on the next page that “The city’s pedestrian fatality rate was also many times lower than such peer cities as Atlanta (11.0), Detroit (10.3) and Los Angeles (7.6).” so I deduced that these were pedestrian fatality rates in a poorly titled graphic.
The graph does show rates for ALL traffic fatalities. The text (stating “The city’s pedestrian fatality rate was also…”) is wrong. City of Atlanta’s overall fatality rate is 11.0 per 100,000. City of Atlanta’s pedestrian fatality rate is 3.3 per 100,000. This is still higher than NYC’s pedestrian fatality rate of 1.8 per 100,000. Data are from US Department of Transportation:
Thanks Laurie. That’s some serious sloppiness on the part of the study! Do you have a link for the pedestrian fatality rates?
See Table 124 in this annual report from US DOT.
http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/Pubs/811170.pdf
You can calculate pedestrian fatality rates from the number of pedestrian deaths and population count, both provided in this table. (Note that the rate that’s presented in the last column of this table is the total traffic fatality rate.)
I think you’re correct, but also looking in the actual report, they list Atlanta’s “pedestrian fatality rate” is 11.0 per 100,000 (whereas NYC’s is 1.8 per 100,000).
It seems like there has been a big uptick in the number of fatalities involving pedestrians walking on interstates in the Metro area. I’m wondering if this is just a matter of local news being online so more stuff gets reported now, or if there really is an increase. If it’s an increase, I’d have to think it reflects a growing homeless population.
Buford Highway has among the highest pedestrian fatality rates of any thoroughfare in the country.
But it’s not in the City of Atlanta. It’s not clear what area the study covers.
I’m guessing that they are looking at the 5 core Atlanta metro counties – Fulton, DeKalb, Gwinnett, Cobb and Clayton. Just looking at City of Atlanta proper would not give you such high fatality results.
An argument the other way could be made – the City of Atlanta’s smaller proportion of population could skew the numbers to the high side, since it’s per 100,000 population, not absolute numbers.
Wait; how can the homeless population be growing if they keep getting hit by cars?
Is that a joke? Pretty bad taste I’d say. What I meant was that it might reflect an increase in the number of homeless who often “camp” under overpasses.
I can’t believe they dissed Orlando like that.
http://t4america.org/resources/dangerousbydesign/
Rank Metropolitan Area 2007-08 Pedestrian
Danger Index
1 Orlando-Kissimmee, FL 221.5
2 Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL 205.5
3 Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach, FL 181.2
4 Jacksonville, FL 157.4
5 Memphis, TN-MS-AR 137.7
6 Raleigh-Cary, NC 128.6
7 Louisville/Jefferson County, KY-IN 114.8
8 Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown, TX 112.4
8 Birmingham-Hoover, AL 110.0
10 Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta, GA 108.3
Danger Index
Best index name ever.
It ranked the highest in Index Name Index which is comprised on major MSAs, minor PMSAs, subminor out-in-the-sticks-SAs and of child-bearing non-married households between the ages of 6 and 72 excluding the under employed and/or sterile males.
These “bad” lists, no matter what type, are always dominated by southern states aren’t they?
I was taught growing up that northern states led the way in bad manners. (I’m KIDDING, although feebly perhaps. Chalk it up to loopiness from obsessing on a single thread for too many days.)
. . . likely because of our temperate climate, walking is viable mode of transportation year round, while more northerly climes have significant falloffs in pedestrian activity once snow begins to accumulate.
Sadly, statistics on fatalities tell only part of the story. My sister suffered a near-miss about ten years ago that permanently disabled her. She was crossing the street a few yards from an entering side street on the other side. She and her companion thought they made eye contact with the driver and got his go-ahead to cross, but he suddenly wheeled out into a left turn (while looking over his right shoulder). They both leaped out of the way and neither was hit, but her fall smashed her the head of her femur to smithereens. She’s had nearly a dozen surgeries and is a lot better now than five years ago but will never be 100%. The driver didn’t even get a ticket because technically, he wasn’t in the wrong, but this is an excellent example of the type of accident that occurs in our culture that favors motorists over pedestrians. (It’s made me militant toward drivers who treat pedestrians aggressively; and also unforgiving toward pedestrians who don’t honor their own ROW responsibilities and thereby contribute to motorists’ impatience and aggression.)
Look at me, I’m thinking about something besides DG! [how do you make a cross-eyed emoticon?]