Tampa Bay Area Among Most Dangerous for Pedestrians

Tampa, FL (Law Firm Newswire) June 26, 2014 – According to a report released recently, the Tampa Bay area is the second most dangerous metropolitan area in the country for pedestrians.

The National Complete Streets Coalition published the report, which assigned a pedestrian danger index to major metropolitan areas based on pedestrian fatalities and the number of people who commute to work by walking. The Tampa-St.-Petersburg-Clearwater metropolitan area was ranked the second most dangerous in the country, and other parts of the Sunshine State composed the rest of the top tier.

“Far too many auto accidents involving pedestrians occur in Tampa,” said Robert Joyce, a car accident attorney. “We need to do more to make our streets safer.”

All four of the most dangerous cities for pedestrians are in Florida, according to the list: in addition to Tampa Bay’s ranking of second-worst, the Orlando area was first, Jacksonville was third and the Miami-Fort Lauderdale area was fourth.

There were 874 pedestrian deaths in the Tampa Bay metropolitan area between 2003 and 2012. With a rate of 2.97, the Tampa Bay area was actually the worst in the nation in annual pedestrian fatalities per 100,000 people. The rate for the Orlando-Kissimmee area was 2.75. However, after accounting for the percentages of people commuting by foot (1.1 percent in Orlando and 1.6 percent in Tampa), the Orlando area reached a pedestrian danger index of 244.28, while the index for the Tampa area settled at 190.13.

According to the National Complete Streets Coalition, 47,000 people nationwide died while walking along streets from 2003-2012 — 16 times the number who died from natural disasters in the same period.

The coalition argued that to improve safety, streets need to be designed for the needs of all users, considering pedestrians and bicyclists as well as motorists.

Learn more at http://www.joyceandreyespa.com Joyce and Reyes Law Firm, P.A. 307 S Hyde Park Ave Tampa, FL 33606 Call: 813.251.2007