ORLANDO, Fla. — Smart Growth America, a non-profit organization, released a study dubbed “Dangerous by Design” recently which showed that Orlando has the sixth-highest per capita pedestrian fatality rate from 2008 to 2017 in the country. Moreover, using Smart Growth America’s “Pedestrian Danger Index” metrics, The Orlando metropolitan area, which includes Kissimmee and Sanford, is the deadliest metro area in the country for pedestrians, according to Orlando Weekly. Overall, a total of seven Florida areas landed in the top ten deadliest metropolitan areas for pedestrians as the country itself became deadlier over ten years. The number of pedestrians who died in the U.S. increased by 35% over that timeframe.
The results of the study might not surprise many Orlando residents. Some say that the city is notoriously bad for people who must walk. The city of Orlando has an utter lack of infrastructure that helps keep pedestrians safe. The lack of safe areas for people to walk most heavily impacts lower-income neighborhoods. To be sure, the study conducted by Growth Smart America indicated that people who live in lower-income neighborhoods have an elevated chance of dying in a collision with a motor vehicle while walking. Additionally, African-Americans or other “people of color” were over-represented in the number of pedestrians killed. The elderly, no matter in what neighborhoods they reside, were also in danger.
In the Orlando metropolitan area, 656 pedestrians died in collisions with motor vehicles from 2008 to 2017. That amount is the sixth highest in the country per capita for an area with a population of over 100,000 people. Also, the Pedestrian Danger Index developed by Growth Smart America shows that Orlando has a rating of 313.3. This number tries to quantify how deadly an area is based on the number of people killed, taking into account the number of people who live in the area. Creating a metric like the PDI helps compare geographic areas despite the different population sizes.
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