Sun Belt Cities Are Dangerous Places to Walk
Pedestrian fatalities are higher in cities that have been built around the automobile.
Look both ways.
Photographer: Joe Raedle/Getty ImagesThe U.S. Department of Transportation has published its most recent data on fatal motor vehicle crashes. In 2018, 36,560 people were killed in crashes, down 2.4% from 2017, which was in turn down 0.9% from 2016. According to the department’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, fatalities fell in every segment except for large trucks and “nonoccupant fatalities” — pedestrians and cyclists. I’ve written about the alarming increase in pedestrian fatalities due to bigger, higher cars and autonomous-vehicle tests. Thanks to more data from NHTSA, there’s another factor worth exploring: geography.
According to another NHTSA analysis, the 29 biggest U.S. metropolitan statistical areas have the highest absolute numbers of pedestrian fatalities. This isn’t much of a finding, really: These cities are also the biggest population centers, and they have both more traffic and more pedestrians. But one metro area sticks out: Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach.