X-Message-Number: 10194
Date: Fri Aug 07 01:34:33 1998  PST
Subject: Fwd: Walking Unsafe!
From:  (Edgar W Swank)

09:36 AM ET 08/06/98

U.S. study says walking most dangerous way to travel


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Walking is more dangerous per mile traveled than
any other form of transportation, said a group Thursday that advocates
making public areas more friendly for pedestrians.

The Surface Transportation Policy Project said the approximately 5,000
pedestrians killed in 1996 out of 42,000 traffic deaths were often not
even seen as legitimate road users.

``Instead of blaming pedestrians for being hit by cars, planners and
engineers must design communities and roads that are safe for walking,''
the group said in its ``Mean Streets'' report.

It also listed the ten most dangerous metropolitan areas for
pedestrians, led by Orlando, Florida, followed by the
Tampa-St.Petersburg-Clearwater area in Florida and Miami-Fort
Lauderdale, again in Florida.

The Providence-Pawtucket-Fall River area spanning Rhode Island and
Massachusetts was fourth placed, followed by Phoenix in Arizona,
Houston-Galveston-Brazoria in Texas, and Atlanta.

The Los Angeles-Anaheim-Riverside area was eighth ranked for danger to
pedestrians, with the Buffalo-Niagara Falls region in New York and the
Charlotte-Gastonia-Rock Hill area in the Carolinas making up the ten.

The advocacy group calculated the relative danger between metropolitan
areas by looking at 1996 government data on the number of pedestrian
incidents per 100,000 people and adjusting it by the percentage of
people walking to work.

The fatality rate per billion miles traveled is lowest for transit buses
(0.1), followed by air carriers (0.2), Amtrak (0.5), cars (10.5) and
then walking (147 to 316 depending on different estimates of miles
walked).

The group called for measures that include the use of ''traffic
calming'' techniques to slow down neighborhood traffic and flexible
design of business and residential areas that are unhindered by
car-oriented requirements of most zoning codes.

The Surface Transportation Polciy Project said the issue  was not
trivial.

It noted that the 837 child pedestrians killed by cars in 1996 was far
greater than the 23 young lives taken by air bags that sparked numerous
Congressional hearings and eventual action by government and
manufacturers.

Posted by

Edgar W. Swank   <>
President - American Cryonics Society
http://www.jps.net/cryonics/

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