Most Dangerous Cities for Pedestrians

By Cathryn Conroy, Netscape News Editor
Look out, Mickey and Donald! If you're walking in Orlando, Florida, you're taking your life into your hands. The home of Walt Disney World has the dubious distinction as the nation's most dangerous large metropolitan area for pedestrians, USA Today reports of new research from the Surface Transportation Policy Project. It seems as if every health expert in the world tells us to walk more. But in some parts of the country, walking is very dangerous since roads are engineered for automobile speed--not pedestrian safety. Think this isn't much of a problem? Think again. For the first time since 1995, pedestrian deaths increased in 2001 to 4,882 even though overall traffic fatalities were almost unchanged. Why? Blame it on sprawl--new, low-density developments with wide, high-speed streets and few sidewalks and crosswalks.

Based on the "pedestrian danger index," which measures a region's pedestrian fatalities relative to the number of people who walk to work, here are...
The top 10 most dangerous cities for pedestrians:
1. Orlando, Florida
2. Tampa-St. Petersburg, Florida
3. West Palm Beach-Boca Raton, Florida
4. Memphis, Tennessee
5. Jacksonville, Florida
6. Miami-Fort Lauderdale, Florida
7. Houston, Texas
8. Phoenix, Arizona
9. Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas
10. Nashville, Tennessee

The top 10 safest cities for pedestrians:
1. Cincinnati, Ohio
2. Boston-Worcester, Massachusetts
3. New York-Northern New Jersey
4. Milwaukee-Racine, Wisconsin
5. Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota
6. Cleveland, Ohio
7. Seattle-Tacoma, Washington
8. Rochester, New York
9. Norfolk, Virginia
10. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

I can't believe Chicago didn't make the dangerous list! I couldn't believe how many people I saw walking everywhere, and how crazy the traffic was (speed, the way they changed lanes etc). I saw a man get hit by a van while trying to cross the street. It was scary enough to make me not want to cross the street the rest of the time I was up there.

Can I chuck Sydney Australia on the list. I was in Sydney last weekend and was running late to grab my flight home. I nicely asked the taxi driver to put the pedal to the metal. Well, this lunatic driver just nodded. No speaka english, well, he didn't say that but he understood. Three seconds later were on the footpath dodging bins, post boxes and least of all pedestrians. Through the red light we proceeed - this guy had a mission, a purpose. A few more foothpaths and many near misses later we got to the airport. I still missed my flight. No one is safe from the Sydney cabi...

Well the original post was for US cities but by far the worst city I have ever been in for this was Bangkok. It is not too bad for the rush (several) hours as everything grinds to a stop with gridlock. Outside that time it pays to be nimble, fast and have an eye in the back of your head. If you do avoid the cars they get a second chance to get you with the exhaust polution.

To be fair I have to say I love the place and all the Thai people I have met were very nice. Shame about the traffic.

Regards,

Tielhard

Hmm, I'm thinking, Bangkok would be very high on my list too. Those little motorscooter taxis, and when I spent about ten days in Thailand, Bangkok was the city that we pretty much gave up on. We tried to walk around, and the noise was deafening, never stopped, twenty four hours a day, and at one point I remember yelling loud, "I think if I have one more minute of this, I'll lay down and die." It was ghastly.
Though, as you say, Tielhard, the Thais are such joyful people that it's never really...I don't know, malicious like some countries you can visit.
When visiting other cities there, it was totally different.
We were on bikes in one or two places...or hired a little scooter ride.

Didn't visit India, did you? Hmm, in the chaos dept. that has to be high on the list. And the taxis go into the oncoming traffic to pass. Very exhilirating.

In my area here, though not everyone drives in Europe and particularly in the mediterranean area, the traffic is terrible, and the roads aren't kept up, and the region is hilly and steep, therefore many places have no sidewalks and you take your life into your hands walking on the road I live on.
Therefore public transport is inaccessible for safety reasons. The cars coming down the road sideswipe you.
The motorcycles in particular are terrible.
In the cities, one of the major problems, is slipping on dog excrement as the dogs are uncontrolled...I've documented it for my little book on France, it's a really bad problem.
you'll see the most chic city in France, Paris, and yet this horrible problem. In the best neighborhoods though, it's mainly little yappy dogs like Yorkies, so not as bad as others!

Athens is pretty risky for pedestrians too and the traffic is nightmarish.
I remember getting to the entrance to the Acropolis, then my sandals just broke...and I was hobbling up the trail...with nothing on my mind but getting into a fountain and cooling off...the taxis are once again, crazy.

May I say how civilized the UK is once again? Don't laugh, but when you've traveled all over the world, you see that really, the Brits are very civilized for some things, and the respect for the crossings and the roads in general, is obvious even in the European traffic stats.
I'm sorry to say, that I find them more civic minded towards pedestrians on the whole than the overall view of Americans in general. There are still some cities in America where walking isn't prudent.
My home town only has a few places where you can really walk without getting mowed down.

Although I have not been there, I have clients who come from there and a good friend of mine spent the better part of a year there trying to negotiate oil deals. The place is legendary for many reasons, but its traffic, the haphazard nature of the traffic controls, and the high speeds at which vehicles are operated there (when they can be) leads me to only one answer.
Lagos, Nigeria.