No, not the bad boys your mother warned you about, but the streets you may\u00a0(try to) walk along everyday.<\/p>\n
Transportation for America’s <\/a>latest report<\/a>\u00a0has plenty of media-catching data:<\/p>\n But you won’t be surprised to hear that a scant fraction of federal transportation funding distributed to states for local projects is dedicated to pedestrian safety. An attitude shift needs to drive a funding shift. “Taxpayer money…should be used to build streets, roads, and highways that are safe for all users.”<\/p>\n Part of that attitude shift could be encouraged by viewing the transportation bill as a health bill<\/a>–it affects our air quality and our ability to safely get exercise by walking more and driving less.<\/p>\n Of course, the most fun part of these kind of reports is seeing where we stand compared to other metro areas. The most dangerous–Orlando-Kissimmee, Florida–with a pedestrian danger index of 255.4. The D.C. metro area rated a 54.6 danger index. Not bad, but not as good as the safest metro area, Boston, with a pedestrian danger index of 21.6.<\/p>\n If you’re curious about just how walkable your neighborhood is, try this site<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" No, not the bad boys your mother warned you about, but the streets you may\u00a0(try to) walk along everyday.<\/p>\n Transportation for America’s latest report\u00a0has plenty of media-catching data:<\/p>\n between 2000 and 2009 more than 47,700 pedestrians were killed in the United States, the equivalent of a jumbo jet crash every month in that same time period, a pedestrian was struck by a car or truck every 7 minutes while motorist deaths have dropped 27 percent in the past decade, pedestrian fatalities have fallen at only half that rate, by just over 14 percent. <\/p>\n\n