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People get hit by cars all the time in Boston. The difference is that these people suffer a broken leg or hip at most. We just do not have the big roads up here in the older cities that you do down in some of the southern metros.
I remember staying in a hotel on Kirkman rd in Orlando at the corner of International Drive when I was a teenager. Neither one of these roads are highways but they are still four lanes and divided so people drive 50 mph on them. Couple this with the fact that they are commercial areas with lots of restaurants and tourist attractions and you have a recipe for disaster.
I can concur; about 15 years ago (my first trip to a Sunbelt city) I was staying by the galleria - I am thinking why would i need a car i am in a city - long story short i tried to walk the half mile from the mall to my hotel. I now understand how froger felt. I think I have never felt so unsafe in in my life and I have had a knife pulled on me at an ATM
this story is questionable, to me. the galleria isn't super-dense, but the immediate mall vicinity is pretty pedestrian friendly. the average person wouldn't feel any less safe walking around this area than they would trying to cross broadway in times square
even still, that was 15 years ago.....1995....2010. i think it's pretty safe to say things have changed since then
I'm not surprised that it is all Southern cities. The South is probably the biggest "car culture" stronghold as people have to drive everywhere. Also, the South, being a leader in the obesity area, has a lower percentage of active people who would more likely drive everywhere. Plus, the "Walmart culture" of nothing but big box meccas has probably increased the car culture there.
What happens is with all the driving, all the walkable areas are reduced to widen streets and build parking lots/spaces. Many Southerners who come to NY City are baffled by how many in and around the city don't even have a car.
I can concur; about 15 years ago (my first trip to a Sunbelt city) I was staying by the galleria - I am thinking why would i need a car i am in a city - long story short i tried to walk the half mile from the mall to my hotel. I now understand how froger felt. I think I have never felt so unsafe in in my life and I have had a knife pulled on me at an ATM
Wow! That's a dangerous place! I think because it's hot and there is a lot of poverty and a wide gap between poor and rich there, a lot of desperate people do a lot of desperate things there. What a shame, you can't even feel safe in that galleria area...
Can't speak for other cities but in Memphis a lot of it is the careless attitude taken by pedestrians.
I don't know if it's stupidity or laziness or some combination of both, but a lot of people in Memphis tend to ignore things like sidewalks and crosswalks and traffic signals.
I've also come close to hitting a few pedestrians myself, idiots standing in the turn lane on a busy road, in the dark, wearing dark clothing. I guess walking to the traffic light a block away was too much of an effort.
For years now there has been a huge problem with students at the university who ignore crosswalks and lights and dart across a busy street at will. Not surprisingly some students end up as statistics in these types of reports. It's so bad, the city is talking about lowering the street, at great expense, in order to protect the students from themselves. Walking the Line | Viewpoint | Memphis Flyer
this story is questionable, to me. the galleria isn't super-dense, but the immediate mall vicinity is pretty pedestrian friendly. the average person wouldn't feel any less safe walking around this area than they would trying to cross broadway in times square
even still, that was 15 years ago.....1995....2010. i think it's pretty safe to say things have changed since then
Yes 15 years ago and have seen some changes there since - the 55 mph just at the fringe of the parking lots was a surprise. I think the cars just didn't expect to see someone walking. Times Square probably has a different safety issue but crossing the streets is not one of them. the speed and volume of pedestrians make crossing feel safer. And BTW the comparison to the knife (that was in DC well really on King St in Alexandria) was not in Houston
But also to be fair, crossing the street here in KOP would have the same issues. I am just glad we stopped building those enclosed malls for the most part in the US
this story is questionable, to me. the galleria isn't super-dense, but the immediate mall vicinity is pretty pedestrian friendly. the average person wouldn't feel any less safe walking around this area than they would trying to cross broadway in times square
even still, that was 15 years ago.....1995....2010. i think it's pretty safe to say things have changed since then
The Galleria area is not pedestrian friendly regardless of who you see walking. I wouldn't recommend anyone staying in the area without a car. The area is built very suburban with wide streets, large parking lots, and small sidewalks.
Yes 15 years ago and have seen some changes there since - the 55 mph just at the fringe of the parking lots was a surprise. I think the cars just didn't expect to see someone walking. Times Square probably has a different safety issue but crossing the streets is not one of them. the speed and volume of pedestrians make crossing feel safer. And BTW the comparison to the knife (that was in DC well really on King St in Alexandria) was not in Houston
But also to be fair, crossing the street here in KOP would have the same issues. I am just glad we stopped building those enclosed malls for the most part in the US
yeah okay
all i can say is that i've been around the galleria several times in my life, and the traffic around that area combined with the all the lights makes it very hard to believe anyone was 55 mph. and everytime i've been there i've seen countless numbers of crowds and people walking around
getting around the galleria on foot requires the basic pedestrian skills you assume someone in dense, bustling cities like new york would have acquired
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In the interest of transparency, here's the link to all the data on this subject that the OP referenced:
Transportation For America » Dangerous By Design (http://t4america.org/resources/dangerousbydesign/ - broken link)
The more interesting bit of data for me were the cities with the highest share of pedestrian fatalities. The first list just showed the cities with the highest percentage per 100,000 residents, which obviously would be more pronounced in cities with populations of 500,000 or less (Houston is the exception here and oh my! ):
Table 2: 10 Metro areas (over 1 million residents) with highest share of pedestrian fatalities
there were 679 non-fatal pedestrian collisions in SF in 2006, 796 non-fatal pedestrian collisions in 2007, and a total of 3,598 non-fatal pedestrian collisions from 2004-2008.
Apparently, in most cities pedestrian deaths make up 15-20% of traffic fatalities, whereas in 2007 for example, they made up over 50% of SF's traffic fatalities. A 2003 report found SF to be the most dangerous city in CA for pedestrians.
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