Move It!

[ricco67]

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/m...politan/2933164

Dec. 6, 2004, 12:54AM

MOVE IT!

Pedestrian deaths down, but risk isn't

By LUCAS WALL

Copyright 2004 Houston Chronicle

There's good news and bad news for Houston-area pedestrians in a report examining how safe it is to walk in urban areas.

The number of pedestrian fatalities per 100,000 people in the Houston metropolitan region has dropped 18 percent in the past decade, according to the "Mean Streets" report released last week by the Surface Transportation Policy Project, a Washington-based coalition advocating for nonautomobile means of travel.

Sounds great. But the number of people walking in our area, and in most major metro regions nationwide, has dropped significantly in the past 10 years as urban sprawl pushes more people into distant neighborhoods where getting around by foot is nearly impossible.

To account for this, the STPP developed a "pedestrian danger index" that tries to measure the overall risk using the fatality rate and the number of walkers. The report uses U.S. Census Bureau commuting data, an imprecise yardstick because it covers only residents who report walking to work.

The pedestrian danger index, while not perfect, gives us one way of comparing our safety record.

While the pedestrian fatality rate in the Houston area has dropped from 2.39 in 1994-95 to 1.97 in 2002-03, our pedestrian danger index went up because the decrease in people who have reported walking to work was even steeper.

Houston is the 10th most dangerous U.S. metropolitan area to walk in out of the top 50 regions studied by STPP. We're the worst in Texas, ahead of Dallas-Forth Worth (15th), San Antonio (21st) and Austin (30th).

Sprawl creates dangers

It's no surprise that most of the cities ranked as the most dangerous for pedestrians are those in the South and West that boomed after the automobile age. These sprawling communities built themselves to serve the needs of those traveling on four wheels and mostly neglected infrastructure critical for pedestrian mobility and safety.

In Texas, we lost 387 pedestrians last year, 11 percent of the total state traffic fatalities, with 97 of those deaths in the Houston area.

Houston deserves credit for taking numerous steps to enhance the pedestrian environment, though most of those projects have been concentrated downtown. Local STPP member organizations want to ensure that future street projects across the region don't make the situation worse.

"The rush to build faster and wider roads will introduce new threats to pedestrian safety," said Christine Sagstetter, Houston representative of the Sierra Club. "There is a growing concern about the high number of new transportation projects that focus mainly on building roads without addressing real accommodations for those who walk and bike."

Dodging bullets

As a Houstonian who lives in Midtown and works downtown, I'm keenly aware of the jeopardy. I use my feet to reach numerous destinations every week.

But while a pedestrian-friendly urban environment is slowly developing in our city center, we still need to examine our mentality. Three times in the past month I've almost been struck while crossing the street to the grocery store or MetroRail station. Some motorists seem to think they're on the Southwest Freeway, oblivious to the fact that Midtown is now an urban neighborhood with a greater number of people on foot.

Metro rebuilt my street two years ago but didn't mark a crosswalk next to the then-new store. When I asked why not, the project engineer responded that the city wouldn't allow it.

Now I'm inspired to see if the city will change its mind.

Please e-mail comments and questions to traffic@chron.com, call 713-362-6832, fax to 713-354-3061, or mail to Lucas Wall, Houston Chronicle, 801 Texas Ave., Houston, TX 77002. Include your name, city or county of residence, and daytime phone number.

[squatterkid]

As a pedestrian in many cities and communities both large and small I personally vote Houston as the number one scariest place to walk or ride a bike. Period. They're called sidewalks folks, put some in, and keep people from driving on them.

[dbigtex56]

Absolutely agree, squatterkid. Houston is beyond indifference to pedestrians - it's outright hostility. Where else do people park with impugnity across sidewalks, knowing they'll never get a ticket? Where else can you walk several blocks on a sidewalk, only to discover that it abruptly ends in the middle of nowhere?

The existing sidewalks are often a joke, too. Utility companies put poles and equipment in the middle of them. They're the first thing to flood when it rains, and the last to dry out. Trees and other overhanging vegetation sometimes make them impassible. Crosswalks and sidewalks are sometimes 10' out of alignment at intersections, and observing the "Walk" lights is purely suicidal, as they're often not coordinated with the traffic lights.

On the flip side, Houston has some truly idiotic pedestrians, too. People walk in the street even when sidewalks are available, cross the street in the middle of the block, and ignore traffic signals.

If some common sense was used when constructing sidewalks, some maintenance performed, and with more rigorous enforcement of existing laws, many of these problems could be alleviated, at minimal cost.