A new study by Transportation for America ranks the Raleigh-Cary area as the sixth most dangerous for pedestrians in the U.S. According to the organization:
Researchers at the Surface Transportation Policy Partnership in the 1990s developed the Pedestrian Danger Index (PDI) in order to establish a level playing field for comparing metropolitan areas based on the danger to pedestrians. The PDI corrects for the fact that the cities where more people walk on a daily basis are likely to have a greater number of pedestrian fatalities, by computing the rate of pedestrian deaths relative to the amount of walking residents do on average.
The PDI shows that the most dangerous places to walk are those that fail to make smart infrastructure investments that make roads safer for everyone.
NOT SAFE TO WALK
The chart shows where we rank in percentage of pedestrian fatalities.
Source: Transportation for America
T4America is a non-partisan coalition of cities, government officials and interest groups across all 50 states. Here’s a frightening stat from their website:
With more than 76,000 Americans dying in the last 15 years, it’s the equivalent of a jumbo jet going down roughly every month, yet it receives nothing like that kind of attention.
No doubt this Top 10 List is something we’d do well to avoid.
Photos by Hal Goodtree.
I am curious as to why the misleading headline. Your headline makes it seem that Cary by itself is the 6th most dangerous place for pedestrians, however the STORY refers to Raleigh/Cary. Does that also encompass the surrounding towns such as Apex, and Wake Forest?
[...] response to our story on pedestrian safety in Cary, Town Councilman Don Frantz (District B) sent us a fact sheet from the [...]
Both Cary and Raleigh are taking strides to improve pedestrian safety. Cary is hiring a Sustainability Manager, and Raleigh is hiring a Bicycle and Pedestrian Program Coordinator who is responsible for coordinating, planning and monitoring bicycle and pedestrian planning efforts. Many infill projects in Cary are built without adequately planning to meet the needs of pedestrians and bicyclists. New shopping centers and mixed use developments are not required to expand the sidewalk network to connect to nearby apartment units or neighborhoods. Adopting a complete streets policy would be a good first step! http://www.completestreets.org/