Do any of your employees walk to work? The group, Transportation for America, has released its ranking of the most dangerous large metropolitan areas for pedestrians.
The group calculates a Pedestrian Danger Index (PDI) for each area based on number of deaths per 100,000 residents and the percent of employees walking to work.
Here are the top 10 most dangerous areas along with their corresponding PDIs:
- Orlando-Kissimmee, FL: 221.5
- Tampa, St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL: 205.5
- Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach, FL: 181.2
- Jacksonville, FL: 157.4
- Memphis, TN: 137.7
- Raleigh-Cary, NC: 128.6
- Louisville/Jefferson County, KY-IN: 114.8
- Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown, TX: 112.4
- Birmingham-Hoover, AL: 110.0, and
- Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta, GA: 108.3.
The three safest areas are the New York City metropolitan area, Boston and Minneapolis.
Overall, nine of the ten most dangerous metros are in the South, including the top four in Florida. Transportation for America says these areas are dominated by lower population density and vehicle-oriented development patterns.
On the other hand, metros in older northeastern and northern states did much better because they have compact development patterns.
Transportation for America is calling for more spending to cut down on pedestrian deaths, noting that walking and bicycling is becoming more popular as gas prices go up and workers turn to alternative forms of transportation.