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National
Study Finds Pedestrians At Risk on Nation's Streets
Pedestrians are 15 times more likely to become victims of traffic accidents than motorists, according to the newest ''Mean Streets'' report by the Surface Transportation Policy Project (STPP), which found the 2001 pedestrian fatality rate per 100 million miles reaching 20.1 deaths, in contrast to 1.3 among car and truck travelers -- a disproportionate risk mostly due to multi-lane streets, scarcity of crosswalks and sidewalks, and general lack of focus on pedestrians.
''Everybody forgot about walkers,'' said Washington-area Coalition for Smarter Growth assistant director Laura Olsen. ''Rapid growth and wider and wider streets make it harder and harder for people to walk.''
Although pedestrian fatalities have decreased by 12.8 percent since the first ''Mean Street'' report in 1994, notes Washington Post writer Steven Ginsberg, STPP president Anne Canby stresses that the decrease is deceptive, because the number of people who walk to work dropped by almost 25 percent between 1990 and 2000, which makes it clear that the pedestrian risk is higher than ever before.
With the number of pedestrians killed on Washington-Baltimore metro area streets having increased from 130 in 2002 to 150 in 2003, Maryland Democratic Delegate William A. Bronrott sounded ''a wake-up call'' for officials nationwide, saying, ''I believe this is our biggest transportation safety challenge of the 21st century.'' -- Washington Post
12/3/2004
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