Report: American Cities Dangerous for Pedestrians and Cyclists

SAVANNAH, Ga. -- More than 76,000 pedestrians have been killed over the last 15 years. A new report released Monday shows what cities are dangerous for pedestrians and bike riders.

Transportation for America says Orlando is the most dangerous city for pedestrians and cyclists.

Brunswick ranks second worst among 15 Georgia metro areas for pedestrian safety. Savannah is seventh, while Hinesville-Fort Stewart ranks as the safest Georgia metro area for pedestrians.

The report said many of our roads are designed to encourage speeding traffic rather than protect people on foot or bicycle.

Savannah neighbors say more safety improvements are needed, but some says pedestrians also need to protect themselves.

Getting from point A to point B is pretty easy if you have a car, but if you don't then walking or riding a bike can present many dangers.

"This is too busy a highway not to have something in place," said Beverlie Thomas. Thomas lives on Ogeechee Road near Buckhalter Road, where separate accidents have killed a pedestrian and a bicyclist this year alone.

She said many people brave the traffic to get to businesses on the other side.

"Of an evening, they speed a lot more. There's no lighting on this road. There again, that's a safety issue," said Thomas.

She said she is concerned about the lack of sidewalks and crosswalks in the area and believes adding a traffic light nearby would help keep pedestrians safe.

"The only way they have to get somewhere is walk, and you're not going to walk an extra three miles just to get to a crosswalk," said Thomas.

Transportation for America said speed is the biggest factor in pedestrian crashes. The group noted that the chance of a pedestrian surviving a crash at 20 mph is 95 percent, but at 40 mph it drops to just 15 percent.

Others said pedestrians themselves need to be smart too.

"Some cars if they see you crossing the street, they will not stop they'll continue to go so you have to make sure you don't go far out in to the street and take the chance of getting hit," said Vera Hunter of Savannah.

Hunter said that means using crosswalks and using common sense.

"People having on dark clothing and then even having on light clothing sometimes drivers still don't pay attention so you just have to just be careful," she said.

Transportation for America uses what they call a Pedestrian Danger Index to rank cities. It's calculated using the average pedestrian fatality rate from 2007-2008 and the per­centage of people who walk to work.

Metro Police spokeswoman Veda Nichols said it's important to note the number of fatalities used in the report also includes bicycle fatalities. Nichols also added the group seems to have included two pedestrian fatalities from 2009 in the figures for Savannah.