Report: Orlando Metro Area Still Ranked Most Dangerous for Pedestrians
Tuesday, May 20, 2014
By: Matthew Peddie

May 20th, 2014 | WMFE, Orlando- A report out Tuesday ranks Metro Orlando the worst in the nation for pedestrian safety. According to the Dangerous By Design report commissioned by the National Complete Streets Coalition, more than 47,000 pedestrians died on US roads between 2003 and 2012- and the hmost dangerous streets are in Central Florida.

[A pedestrian crosses East Colonial Drive at Alafaya Trail. Photo: Ernest Duffoo; WMFE]

The report ranks Orlando- Kissimmee the most dangerous place to walk in the United States, according to its Pedestrian Danger Index, or PDI, which is a measure of the likelihood of a pedestrian being struck and killed by a car. 

According to the report, Metro Orlando has a PDI four times higher than the PDI for the rest of the US. 

The three other most dangerous metro areas for pedestrians are Tampa- St Petersburg-Clearwater; Jacksonville; and Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach. 

Billy Hattaway was appointed to lead the Florida Department of Transportation's bicycle and pedestrian focused initiative by FDoT secretary Ananth Prasad after the last Dangerous by Design report came out in 2011.

That report also put metro Orlando at the top of the list for dangerous places to walk.

Hattaway says in the last three years, FDoT has taken steps to tackle the problem, including establishing the state's first Pedestrian and Bicycle Strategic Safety Plan, identifying crash hotspots and carrying out high visibility enforcement for drivers. 

He says the risk for pedestrians is much higher on roads with speed limits over 40 mph.

“The speed reduction is very difficult- I would never say impossible because the secretary has assured me that if we have to do radical things to get the speeds down through intersections, we’re willing to look at those.”

Potential engineering fixes include installing more mid-block pedestrian crossings. 

Hattaway says the next Dangerous by Design report three years from now should show positive results from pedestrian safety campaigns like Central Florida’s Best Foot Forward coalition. 

"I look at in terms of our initiatives and just like with bike walk central Florida and our Best Foot Forward initiative, we didn't launch that until we were pretty well into 2012 and so it takes time, it takes time to see results," he says. 

Best Foot Forward is working with law enforcement, schools and local governments in Central Florida to encourage drivers to yield to pedestrians in marked crosswalks.

Statewide, 5,189 pedestrians were killed in accidents involving cars in the decade to 2012. 

583 of those deaths were in Lake, Orange, Osceola and Seminole counties. 

In a press release Tuesday, Best Foot Forward said some of the recommendations for improving pedestrian safety have already been taken up by Orange County and the City of Orlando. 

The Central Florida transportation planning agency, Metroplan Orlando, has adopted a pedestrian safety action plan for Seminole, Orange and Osceola Counties. 

County authorities are also working with the state department of transportation on engineering fixes to improve safety for walkers- including improving lighting on major corridors and around SunRail stations. 

You can find a link to Dangerous By Design's pedestrian fatality map here