Dangerous walking and wheeling for disabled and elderly in Florida

0 views
Skip to first unread message

Michael Brennan

unread,
Nov 16, 2009, 4:18:46 PM11/16/09
to

Dangerous walking and wheeling for disabled and elderly in Florida

 

Once again, Florida is at or near the bottom in national rankings. This time, it directly relates to the elderly and disabled. Orlando is the most dangerous city in the nation for walking and Miami is the third most dangerous city according to a transportation coalition. Florida ranks the seventh most dangerous state in the nation when it comes to fatalities and 32nd in spending per capita. Five of the six most dangerous metro areas are in Florida. The impact is especially hard on the disabled when you factor in missing or dangerously steep curb ramps, curb ramps without visual or tactile warnings for the elderly with visual impairments or for those who are blind. Sidewalks are often perilous with inadequate width including blocked clearances with mailboxes, signposts, bus benches, trash receptacles, cracks, changes in levels from tree roots and general disrepair.  These kind of deadly statistics demand a planning process that currently doesn't exist unless it is being kept a secret.  The time is now for Miami-Dade County, Florida Department of Transportation in major municipalities like Miami and Miami Beach to save the lives of the elderly and disabled. It's about Civil Rights to end these needless deaths.  If St. Petersburg can implement the solution, why can't the State, Counties and other Municipalities?

The report, produced by a coalition of groups led by the Surface Transportation Policy Partnership and Transportation for America, calls for significant investments in projects to make roads safer for walking and wheeling.  According to the report, nine of the ten most dangerous metro areas for walkers are in the South - the top four of them in Florida. The study ascribed the region's high rate of pedestrian deaths primarily to "lower density and automobile-oriented development patterns."

Safety Rank Within State

Metro Area

Pedestrian Danger Index

Total Pedestrian Fatalities (2007-2008)

% of Total Traffic Deaths That Were Pedestrians

Avg.Yr.Fed $ Spent Per Person

% of Workers Walking to Work

2008 Population

11

Miami-Fort Lauderdale- Pompano Beach

181.2

329

22.50%

$0.65

1.70%

5,414,772

Is Florida Particularly Dangerous?

Five of the six most dangerous metro areas for walking are in Florida, known as a haven for retirees. Is there a connection? An analysis of the pedestrian fatality statistics reveals that the portion of elderly people dying as pedestrians in Florida is not out of line with the national average. Seventeen percent of pedestrian deaths in Florida in the years studied were older Americans (70 years and older), the same as the national average of 17 percent. Almost half of the states had rates higher than Florida’s. In fact, over one-quarter of all pedestrian deaths in North Dakota, Hawaii, Vermont, Maine, West Virginia and Massa­chusetts were elderly.

The most dangerous metropolitan areas in the U.S. for walking in 2007-2008 were: Orlando, Tampa, Miami, Jacksonville, Memphis, Raleigh, Louisville, Houston, Birmingham and Atlanta. Orlando tops the list because of its high pedes­trian fatality rate of 2.9 pedestrian deaths per 100,000 residents, despite a very low proportion of residents walking to work, only 1.3 percent. In other words, the few people who do walk in Orlando face a relatively high risk of being killed by a vehicle.

 

 

 

State

Fatalities per 100,000 People 65 And Older (2007-2008)

 

1

Hawaii

6.97

2

California

3.91

3

New York

3.73

4

Rhode Island

3.40

5

New Hampshire

3.28

6

Nevada

3.28

7

Florida

3.21

8

Massachusetts

3.18

9

Idaho

3.08

10

New Jersey

3.06

National Average

2.33

 

State Pedestrian Fatalities and Federal Spending on Walking and Biking

State

Portion of all Traffic Deaths that were Pedestrians (2007- 2008)

Percent of Total Federal Funding Spent on Pedestrian & Bicycle Projects (2005-2008)

Spending per Capita under SAFETEA-LU (2005-2008)

1

Alaska

11.6%

2.2%

$9.47

2

Vermont

3.6%

4.2%

$9.05

3

Rhode Island

19.4%

4.3%

$6.12

4

Wyoming

2.9%

1.5%

$5.32

5

Montana

5.1%

1.8%

$5.26

6

New Hampshire

8.2%

3.7%

$4.01

7

Iowa

4.7%

3.1%

$3.92

8

Delaware

16.0%

3.2%

$3.90

8

North Dakota

5.6%

1.0%

$3.32

10

Hawaii

20.0%

2.8%

$2.96

11

New Mexico

11.7%

2.0%

$2.96

12

Washington

11.6%

3.3%

$2.76

13

Minnesota

6.6%

2.2%

$2.58

14

Tennessee

6.0%

2.4%

$2.37

15

Kentucky

6.7%

2.1%

$2.23

16

Pennsylvania

10.0%

2.1%

$2.22

17

Mississippi

6.5%

1.0%

$2.21

18

Arizona

14.1%

2.6%

$2.16

19

Idaho

5.8%

1.5%

$2.14

20

South Dakota

6.0%

0.8%

$2.09

21

Kansas

4.9%

1.7%

$2.07

22

Alabama

6.6%

1.4%

$1.80

23

Missouri

7.3%

1.4%

$1.78

24

Georgia

9.7%

1.7%

$1.78

25

Indiana

7.0%

1.7%

$1.76

26

Connecticut

12.6%

1.7%

$1.67

27

Maine

6.5%

1.4%

$1.51

28

West Virginia

4.9%

0.7%

$1.46

29

Michigan

12.2%

1.6%

$1.44

30

Wisconsin

8.3%

1.6%

$1.43

31

Utah

11.5%

1.7%

$1.42

32

Florida

16.9%

1.5%

$1.40

33

Oregon

11.6%

1.5%

$1.28

34

Ohio

8.6%

1.3%

$1.23

34

North Carolina

10.9%

1.3%

$1.19

36

Arkansas

7.4%

0.9%

$1.16

37

Colorado

9.7%

1.2%

$1.13

38

Louisiana

11.4%

0.8%

$1.13

39

California

17.7%

1.5%

$1.09

40

Massachusetts

17.7%

1.2%

$1.03

41

Texas

12.2%

1.0%

$0.99

42

Nebraska

2.8%

0.8%

$0.98

43

Nevada

16.2%

1.0%

$0.93

44

New York

22.5%

1.0%

$0.73

45

Oklahoma

7.8%

0.4%

$0.61

46

Illinois

13.6%

0.8%

$0.61

47

South Carolina

10.4%

0.4%

$0.48

48

New Jersey

22.1%

0.5%

$0.47

49

Maryland

19.4%

0.6%

$0.45

50

Virginia

8.9%

0.3%

$0.22

                          United States

 11.8%

1.5%

 $1.46

 

St.Petersburg’s Pedestrian Safety Success

The City of St. Petersburg, Fla., part of the Tampa Bay metro area, has been ranked as one of the worst areas in the nation for pedestrian safety in the Surface Transportation Policy Partnership’s “Mean Streets” report since its inception in 1996.In 1998 and 2002, the Tampa Bay MSA was second in the nation in per capita deaths or injuries to pedestrians, and in 2000 ranked worst in the nation. Responding to this alarming statistic, and to interest from residents in improving the livability and walkability of the community, St. Petersburg completed the “Vision 2020” planning process, and the CityTrails Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan was developed and adopted in 2003. Since adoption, this city has achieved remarkable results:

Trails and Bike Facilities - Developed 83 new miles of bicycle facilities, doubled the number of bicycle parking spaces downtown to more than 200 and added more than 100 spaces at bus stops.

Sidewalks - Added 13 miles of sidewalk on major roadways and reduced the time to repair sidewalks, from 30 months to 30 days.

Crosswalk Safety – The first community in the nation to install the Enhancer, a rapid-flashing rectangular beacon at marked crosswalks, and has installed 32 at un-signalized crosswalks to date. These devices improved driver-yielding compliance, from the current base rate of less than 3 percent, to an average of more than 83 percent.

Education and Enforcement - Distributed more than 2,000 helmets to city cyclists and developed a pedestrian rodeo program, the first in the State of Florida that has been used successfully to educate younger children in safe pedestrian skills. The St. Petersburg Police Department established special enforcement details to target motorists who failed to yield to pedestrians in crosswalks.

As a result of the CityTrails Master Plan improvements and crosswalk safety enhancements, pedestrian crashes have been reduced by more than 50 percent since the high of 143 crashes in 2000, to 70 crashes per year in 2008.The number of severe injuries has also reduced from a high of 60 to 18 the last two years in a row.

 

Michael Brennan, ADA Expert, ADAe...@Gmail.com, ADAexpert.mysite.com

Fourteen judges and seven magistrates in four districts in three States have accepted Mr. Brennan as an ADA expert. Michael Brennan has testified in six Trials in three districts, in over 518 cases in the area of Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), Federal Fair Housing and Florida 553.

 


Brennan Consulting Inc.
Michael Brennan M.A.
ADA Consultant
7955 Biscayne Point Circle
Miami Beach, Florida 33141
Phone (305) 864-7070 Fax (305) 864-4140
Adae...@gmail.com  
Adaexpert.mysite.com
"Before Printing" this email or any attachments, please think about your responsibility and commitment to the ENVIRONMENT.




Dangerous walking and wheeling for disabled and elderly.pdf
Reply all
Reply to author
Forward
0 new messages