These Routes Aren’t Made for Walking

Hoofers and hikers, take heed.

Mile per mile, walking is by far the deadliest way to travel in Southern California and the rest of the nation. Southland pedestrians also represent a disproportionately high share -- about 21% -- of the region’s traffic fatalities even though less than 3% of residents walk frequently, according to a new study.

There is one glimmer of good news: Over the last decade, the Greater Los Angeles metropolitan area -- which includes Riverside, San Bernardino, Ventura and Orange counties -- is among the top five areas in the nation that have “improved markedly” in becoming a safer place to walk, according to the report released Thursday by the nonprofit Surface Transportation Policy Project.

By counting the percentage of pedestrians among traffic deaths, the Los Angeles region ranks as the fifth most dangerous in the country, trailing New York-New Jersey, Miami-Fort Lauderdale, San Diego and San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose.

The report also adjusted for the amount of walking, however, and produced another scale in which the Los Angeles region was the 20th most dangerous in the nation, Sacramento-Yolo 16th, San Diego 28th and the San Francisco area 37th. The worst four were all in Florida: Orlando, Tampa-St. Petersburg, West Palm Beach-Boca Raton and Miami-Fort Lauderdale.

Pedestrian advocates praised the study and said they hoped it would stir government to make walking safer.

“It is simply too dangerous to walk in America’s cities,” said Andy Hamilton, president of America Walks, a coalition of pedestrian advocates. “Since we’re such a large percentage of accidents and fatalities, why aren’t we spending a larger percentage on pedestrian safety?”

According to the study, less than 1% of federal transportation spending is aimed at pedestrians. It does not say how much state and local funding is devoted to walkers.

“We’ve designed ... too many of our roads for cars, and only cars,” said Anne Canby, president of the Washington-based Surface Transportation Policy Project, which advocates transportation alternatives. “We don’t treat walking as a legitimate form of transportation.”

The study does not examine why some areas are safer than others or why the Los Angeles area showed an 18.6% improvement between 1994 and 2003 on the fatality scale that adjusts for the amount of walking. But officials and experts say demographics, planning and safety programs can all play a role.

Compared to the population average, the pedestrian death rates for seniors, minorities and children are all disproportionately high. That might explain why Florida cities, home to a large senior citizen and minority communities, ranked so badly, researchers said.

The study credited Salt Lake City as the metropolitan area with the greatest strides in improving safety. The city has made crosswalk signs more visible, created mid-block crosswalks and increased fines for motorists who violate pedestrian safety laws, said Mayor Rocky Anderson, who joined Canby in a telephone news conference Thursday. Digital timers displays were added to “Walk/Don’t Walk” crossing lights to let pedestrians see how many seconds they have before traffic signals change.

Some Salt Lake City crosswalks also now have bouquets of orange flags at each end -- so pedestrians can pick them up to wave at cars as they cross.

Some Southland communities have introduced similar measures: Glendale has installed illuminated crosswalks. Santa Monica has equipped some crossings with timer displays and added medians to reduce the time pedestrians spend in traffic.

The city of Los Angeles has installed flashing lights over crosswalks, built mid-block crossings, adjusted traffic signals near schools and senior centers to give pedestrians more time and hired more crossing guards.

“We have a cadre of things we’re doing to calm down traffic,” said Wayne Tanda, general manager of the city’s Department of Transportation.

Still, more remains to be done, residents and officials say.

“Unfortunately, our design, our transportation system, our housing is not friendly to pedestrians for the most part,” said Hasan Ikhrata, director of transportation policy planning for the Southern California Assn. of Governments. “You don’t have a lot of walkable places.”

On the sidewalks of downtown Los Angeles on Thursday, many walkers agreed with that assessment.

Jennifer Banos, a 42-year-old mother of three in Arcadia, enjoys strolling with her children through their upscale neighborhood. But many large homes there have lawns that end at the curb without sidewalks.

“We just walk on the street,” Banos said while strolling with a co-worker on Broadway in Los Angeles during a lunch break. “I would like to see more sidewalks. It would be nicer, safer.”

Peter Sanchez, 50, said the sidewalks near his home are broken and damaged, and that drive-by shootings make people fearful of walking.

“This is Beverly Hills compared to Watts,” said Sanchez, as he stamped his feet on a downtown Los Angeles sidewalk.Pedestrian deaths nationwide declined by 13% over the last decade, according to the study, but estimates of frequent walking declined by 25%. Pedestrians suffer 20.1 deaths per 100 million miles walked. In contrast, the fatality rate is 7.3 for commercial airline passengers, 1.3 for vehicle drivers and passengers and 0.75 for public transit riders.

“Our streets should accommodate all users, not just those driving motor vehicles,” said Dave Siegel, president-elect of the American Planning Assn., who also participated in the news conference.

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Pedestrian deaths Walking is the riskiest form of travel, accounting for a disproportionately high share of all traffic fatalities, according to a new study. Pedestrians as a percentage of all traffic fatalities: (Top 10 metropolitan areas) New York: 28.3% Miami: 22,8% San Diego: 22.5% San Francisco Bay Area: 21.7% Los Angeles*: 21.3% Tampa/St. Petersburg: 21.3% Detroit: 20.2% Buffalo: 19.9% Chicago: 19.1% Seattle: 16.5% * Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and Ventura counties

Source: Surface Transportation Policy Project