Georgia Injury Law Blog
A new report titled Dangerous by Designby Transportation for America has bad news for Atlanta pedestrians and accident lawyers here. The report places the Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta region at number eleven on the list of the deadliest cities for pedestrians in the United States. In addition to wrongful deaths, pedestrian accidents often result in the most severe injuries of any type of accident.
For Atlanta pedestrian accident lawyers, a look at the list suggests that nothing much has changed since Transportation for America came out with its pedestrian safety report last year.The Atlanta region continues to be fraught with pedestrian accident risks, a situation that is only likely to get worse as more pedestrians choose to walk.
According to the list, the Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta region had a Pedestrian Danger Index of 119.3.The Transportation for America researchers arrived at the Pedestrian Danger Index for each region by calculating the number of pedestrian accident deaths for the region, relative to the amount of actual walking being done in that area.The researchers accounted for the fact that regions that have more pedestrians are likely to see more numbers of pedestrian accidents.The Pedestrian Danger Index allowed the researchers to compare diverse regions with varying pedestrian safety factors.
Based on this Pedestrian Danger Index, Transportation for America has found that the Orlando-Kissimmee region in Florida is the country’s most dangerous area for pedestrians, with a Pedestrian Danger Index of 255.4.In fact, Florida accounts for some of the deadliest cities for pedestrians, with the first four spots on the list going to cities in the sunshine State.
What is concerning to Atlanta pedestrian accident lawyers is that the Atlanta region fares even worse than some other pedestrian accident magnets around the country.For instance, Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta has a much higher Pedestrian Danger Index than the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana region.Los Angeles has a notoriously auto-centric safety culture, but still seems to be a much safer place for pedestrians than the Atlanta area.
There is more bad news for Atlanta pedestrians in the report.According to the statistics, pedestrian accident fatalities in the metro Atlanta region actually increased over a ten-year period.There were seventy-one fatalities in the year 2000, and these increased dramatically to 94 in 2004, and 77 in 2010.However, during this period of time, there was a decline in overall auto traffic accident fatalities.This means that pedestrian safety efforts in the Atlanta region have simply not kept pace with the progress that has been made in reducing auto accident wrongful deaths.
Another interesting finding from the study was that pedestrian fatalities tend to be greater in areas that are ethnically and racially diverse.People from Hispanic and other minority communities, and those from low-income groups are much more likely to be involved in accidents because these people have no other convenient transportation options.Atlanta has a diverse population with a mass transit system that is far too limited for the size and scope of the city and metropolitan area.Perhaps it’s time that transportation safety agencies here target pedestrian safety initiatives to reach a broader range of people.