Posted on 04/17/2021 1:22:29 PM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
The Orlando area continues to lock down its rank as the most dangerous place in the nation for pedestrians.
“Still number one,” said Rayla Bellis, primary author of the 2021 Dangerous By Design report that analyzes the nation’s pedestrian deaths and compares statistics of metro areas and states. Orlando and a few other cities had slightly better numbers in the new report than in one two years ago.
“These places were so dangerous to begin with that even seeing these improvements, they are still rising to the top,” Bellis said.
The report by the pedestrian-safety advocacy groups Smart Growth America and National Complete Streets Coalition draws from a decade of statistics from 2010 through 2019, the last full year of available data.
During the period, motorists hit and killed 53,435 people or more than 14 per day on average, the report states. Also in that period, 49 of 50 states continued to grow more perilous for walking.
The 10 most dangerous states, with Florida topping the list, in order are Alabama, New Mexico, Mississippi, Delaware, Louisiana, Arizona, South Carolina, Georgia and Texas.
The Orlando metro area, spanning Sanford and Kissimmee, had 740 pedestrian deaths from 2010 to 2019.
The report’s experts contend that pedestrians and drivers are set up for tragedy by road departments that favor designs prioritizing the flow of traffic and showing less concern for the risks of walking along or across roads.
The early months of the pandemic underscored a longstanding awareness that speed is the top factor in pedestrians deaths. As communities locked down and volumes of traffic dropped, pedestrian deaths rose.
(Excerpt) Read more at msn.com ...
PING.
PING!
Not surprised. It’s true that Orlando isn’t great for pedestrians in terms of walkways, sidewalks, and such, but Orlando drivers are also pretty bad. They’re not a-holes like Massachusetts, just a bit crazy.
When I was stationed in CA almost thirty years ago, the police would cite drivers who didn’t hit the brakes when a pedestrian stepped out to cross a 45 MPH four lane road.
I suspect the people run over in FL are newbies who think they have the right of way in all situations.
From my experience I’ve noticed that a lot of accidents happened at night and in locations that are 40-50 mph speed limits.
People need to be a bit more aware when crossing.....
We educate way to much along the lines of pedestrian right of way... rather than look both ways before you cross the street.
Who cares who is right if you’re busted up or worse as a walker.
Many of Orlando’s pedestrian deaths are due to aberrant and risky behavior by drug users and the mentally ill. Blaming road design is a way of avoiding that issue and ignoring the area’s large homeless population. For most people, the hot climate deters much in the way of walking, with prioritizing traffic flow being essential to commerce and normal life. People want road improvements, not little used sidewalks and bike lanes.
Pedestrians today are part of problem ....I rarely see the use them use the crosswalks, or the intersections (which are also considered crosswalks) They just cross in the middle of the block
Light said Walk.
In a marked crosswalk.
Looked left -clear. stepped off curb, and looked right - clear.
Looked left again as I proceeded in the crosswalk. Saw the vehicle that had whipped around the corner just before it made impact.
Looking both ways won’t always save you from drivers that don’t care and who are in a hurry.
Got to spend a lot of time on FR instead of working over the next year.
Jaywalking is much safer, in my experience. Just have to watch cars coming at you from both sides, and not ones whipping around a corner.
Years ago, they had the safest arrangement in Phoenix - all traffic stopped in all directions, and folks could cross both streets at the same time, or cross diagonally. I went back a few years ago and I didn't see any of those "scramble corners" around.
Without ID, he was not let back on the bus. Ejected from the bus station, he began walking and taking the local bus system trying to get to his family home in Orlando. On the way, he was killed by a hit and run driver. Due to a combination of official indifference and bumbling, his family desperately searched for him for days while his body was in a hospital morgue. Lawsuits to follow.
Without intending any unkindness toward the dead young man and his grieving family, the kid's actions make such poor sense that one is left to wonder if he was on drugs or otherwise impaired. My cynical side looks forward to any lawsuits or criminal charges against the hit and run driver as providing some reliable answers.
Oh yes. A good friend lives in Orlando —she and her family are charter Disneyworld members. She said the tourists can’t drive worth spit. And the worst of the lot are the Brits. It’s common for them to be in fender benders. She tries to avoid going to stores or restaurants when it’s peak time during the day for the tourists. And the number of folks that get hit in crosswalks....ugh.....
Hey Brits! If you come to America, try to drive on the other side of the road...... Sheesh.....
Two things. The “scramble corners “ 4 way stop lights was called the “Barnes Dance” because it was named after a Baltimore safety expert who designed it, probably in the late 50’s. I lived there and saw it in action. Saved a lot of lives.
In DC, nobody is safe from poorly designed, times, marked lanes and dumb-assed drivers. I just missed possibly getting killed when a bus driver on Penn. Ave. made a left turn and killed two women who he apparently didn’t see as they tried to cross the street. I would have been crossing in that crosswalk if I had been a few minutes earlier.
The corner, 7th & Pa. NW, need a 4 way stop system but never really got it.
Half of the DC/No. Va. drivers, esp. Hispanic young men, fail to full stop at Stop signs and in Right turn only lanes before zooming through them. We just missed getting hit by one young punk who made an illegal crossover instead of going right in a Right Turn Only lane. He tried to run us off the road because we honked at him.
Fortunately I was able to get a photo of his license plate and give the information to our basically useless police. Never heard back from them.
It is very dangerous to drive or walk out there now, esp. in large cities or compact areas of counties. Nobody gives a damn about safe driving and with Soros-paid legal whores being elected as local District Attorneys, most people are not being prosecuted for reckless driving or jaywalking.
DC has the added problem of a load of folks with diplomatic immunity. They can kill you with no repercussions. And the US can’t complain because they are covering for that CIA lady that killed the young man in England and then skipped off to the US without having to take responsibility for her negligence.
Looked it up. The name of the CIA agent was Anne Sacoolas, her victim was Harry Dunn.
We educate way to much along the lines of pedestrian right of way... rather than look both ways before you cross the street.
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In my view pedestrian right-of-ways are no more than an invitation tempting pedestrians to walk out in the road and get killed. They’re just plain stupid in my view.
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