Florida's Efforts to Combat Pedestrian and Bicyclist Fatalities
A 2009 report by Transportation for America (T4A) cites the Tampa, Orlando, Miami and Jacksonville metro areas as the most dangerous cities for walking.


July 17, 2010 /24-7PressRelease/ -- A 2009 report by Transportation for America (T4A) cites the Tampa, Orlando, Miami and Jacksonville metro areas as the most dangerous cities for walking. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Association, the United States has averaged over 4,300 fatal pedestrian accidents per year during the past decade. In Florida alone, pedestrian accidents account for 24 percent of all fatal accidents.

While the elderly and young children are most likely to be injured or killed in pedestrian accidents, people of all ages are at risk. Many of these accidents occur because pedestrians were not crossing in a crosswalk or drivers failed to yield the right of way.

However, the T4A study notes that a city's design is another factor causing accidents. Most of these cities developed with a focus on heavy automobile traffic and not foot traffic. As more and more people use public transportation or alternatives to driving their own vehicles, the streets become more congested with pedestrians, and subsequently more dangerous.

In Pinellas County, the Department of Transportation is partnering with the city of Clearwater in an attempt to educate drivers and pedestrians to the rules of the road and the dangers of not following them. The DOT will fund this initiative and pay for police to monitor areas that have high rates of pedestrian safety law violations. Drivers and pedestrians who violate these laws are subject to a fine, but police will start the project by issuing warnings.

Statewide there has been a steady decline in the number of pedestrian accidents over the last five years, from 576 in 2005 to 482 in 2009, as compiled by the Florida Crash Records Database (FCRD). However, many of the more populated counties, including Pinellas and Hillsborough, currently have pedestrian fatality rates similar to where they were in 2005. Pinellas had 31 deaths in 2005, with 30 in 2009 and Hillsborough had 28 in 2005, with 32 in 2009.

While pedestrians are nearly five times as likely to be killed in an accident as bicyclists, people riding bikes face similar dangers on the road. A common cause of these accidents is the driver of the vehicle simply not seeing the cyclist or paying attention.

In 2009, there were 100 fatal bicycle accidents in Florida according to the FCRD, the lowest total since 2003. An increased use of bike lanes may help keep these numbers lower, but it is important for cyclists and pedestrians to constantly be aware of their surroundings.

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