Alliance > Media center > People Powered Blog

Entries tagged: Dangerous By Design

Just in time for the long weekend, we’ve uploaded a number of new videos to the Alliance Resource Library this week. But that’s not all…

• Before you press play and kick back with YouTube, make sure you delve into two important reports that came out this week:
  • Dangerous By Design 2011 was released by Transportation for America on Tuesday, casting the spotlight on the epidemic of preventable pedestrian deaths across the U.S.

  • The Advocacy Advance team released a new/updated report on “Getting a Fair Share for Safety from the Highway Safety Improvement Program (HSIP): Bicycle and Pedestrian Advocacy Case Studies,” examining the states that have successfully dedicated federal safety funds to reduce bicycle and pedestrian fatalities and crashes.

• As for the videos…

  • A beautiful two minutes of inspiration from our friends at Planet Bike

  • Four great, new PSAs from the just-launched Safe Streets Save Lives campaign in South Carolina

  • An impressive “Active and Green Transportation” video produced by high school students in Marin County, CA

  • A video from Transportation Alternatives, highlighting the work of Bronx residents — and students — in improving safety at a dangerous intersection

  • A video from the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition featuring three residents talking about their desire for bike lanes on 7th Street — in three different languages

  • A clip from “Beauty and the Bike” — a movie documenting an effort to get more girls riding in Darlington, UK (a resource that came up in our Mutual Aid Call on Bringing More Women into the Movement earlier this week!)

  • And, last but not least, some informative and humorous PSAs from the New York City Department of Transportation telling cyclists “Don’t be a Jerk” and obey traffic laws (don’t miss Commissioner Jannette Sadik-Khan calling John Leguizamo a jerk!)

Enjoy — and have a great long weekend!

From 2000 to 2009, more than 47,700 pedestrians were killed on American roadways. Another 688,000 were injured — the equivalent of a pedestrian being hit by a car or truck every seven minutes. Despite this preventable epidemic, few resources are dedicated and little attention is paid to making our streets safe for vulnerable users.

This disturbing trend is laid out in compelling and action-able fashion in Dangerous by Design 2011, released today by Transportation for America.

The update to a 2009 report by the same name uses a Pedestrian Danger Index (PDI) to rank the country’s largest metropolitan areas according to their relative risk to walkers. Topping the list of most-dangerous communities for pedestrians: Orlando-Kissimmee, FL; Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL; Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach, FL; Jacksonville, FL; Memphis, TN-MS-AR; Raleigh-Cary, NC; Louisville/Jefferson County, KY-IN; Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown, TX; Birmingham-Hoover, AL; Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta, GA.

Click here to find data for your state or community.

Overall, the report finds: “The roads have gotten somewhat safer, but pedestrian fatalities have fallen at only half the rate of motorist fatalities, dropping by just over 14 percent during the period, compared to 27 percent for motor vehicle fatalities. In many places, including 15 of the country’s largest metro areas, pedestrian fatalities have actually increased, even as overall traffic deaths fell.”

Dangerous by Design also highlights the critical role of the federal government in providing the funding and creating the policies to improve pedestrian safety.

According to the report: “[Pedestrian] deaths typically are labeled ‘accidents,’ and attributed to error on the part of motorist or pedestrian. In fact, however, the majority of these deaths share a common thread: they occurred along “arterial” roadways that were dangerous by design, streets engineered for speeding traffic with little or no provision for people on foot, in wheelchairs or on bicycles… 67 percent of all 47,000+ pedestrian fatalities from 2000 to 2009 occurred on federal-aid roadways — major roads eligible to receive federal funding for construction and improvements with federal guidelines or oversight for design.”

“Fortunately,” the report continues, “improving the pedestrian environment requires a relatively small public investment, one greatly outweighed by the cost savings that would result from reducing traffic-related fatalities and improving health. Congress has an opportunity to help communities fix past mistakes and make our streets safer – not just for people on foot, but for everyone who uses them.”

T4America suggests several key ways the next federal transportation bill can start to reverse this tragic trend, including:

• Retain dedicated federal funding for the safety of people on foot or on bicycle.
• Adopt a national complete streets policy. (Click here to learn more about the Safe and Complete Streets Act of 2011 and contact your member of Congress.)
• Commit a fair share for safety. (Click here to read the latest Advocacy Advance report on winning funding for bike/ped projects from the Highway Safety Improvement Program.)

Download the full report, access the interactive map of pedestrian fatalities and see how your state ranks on the T4America website.

In case you weren’t able to make it to the Alliance Federal Policy Call yesterday, here are key topics we discussed with our partners at America Bikes.

Budget Cuts to CDC Programs
The 2012 budget proposed by the President in February zeros out funding for two important programs run by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. These two programs, the Built Environment program and the Healthy Communities program, support communities and non-profits in building and promoting active transportation. The Safe Routes to School National Partnership and the YMCA are circulating a sign-on letter for organizational sign on. Click here to read the letter and here to access background sheets on the two programs. For ease of collecting and collating the signatures, the partnership created a quick SurveyMonkey form that everyone can use to add their organization. It’s available at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/FTQJJZN.

AASHTO letter
UPDATE: Good news: “In response to the concerns expressed by several members of AASHTO’s Board of Directors, President Martinovich has directed AASHTO for the time being to withdraw its request that FHWA rescind its guidance on the meaning of “due consideration” of bicycle and pedestrian needs.” Read more from the League here — and thanks to all who acted on the League’s alert on this issue!...

BACKGROUND: In early March, US Department of Transportation put out a call for comments/suggestions on how to make its regulations run more smoothly. The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) released a letter and supplemental document, which asked the USDOT to weaken its guidance on accommodating bicyclists and pedestrians. America Bikes has written a letter to USDOT outlining why we disagree with AASHTO. The National Center for Bicycling and Walking has also sent a letter to AASHTO, while the League of American Bicyclists and the National Complete Streets Coalition contacted friendly state DOTs to ask them to contact AASHTO and express their disagreement with the letter. America Bikes now has a meeting set up with AASHTO to discuss their stance on bike/ped issues. If you have contacts with your state DOT, ask them to contact AASHTO and express their support for biking and walking, and their concern with AASHTO comments to USDOT. This is another chance to show the strong support that exists for biking and walking. As we enter back into reauthorization discussions, this gives us a platform to show that state DOTs are still too focused on building roads and that we need set asides for bike/ped funding.

2011 Budget and Rescission
The Partnership for Sustainable Communities (HUD / DOT / EPA) and TIGER were not cut. Money in 2011 bill that was set aside for TIGER is still there for the most part, so keep an eye out for the next round of grants. However, the budget did include $3.2 billion in transportation rescissions. A large part of the rescissions ($700 million) will be coming out of old earmarks that, in some cases, stretch back more than a decade. An additional $2.5 billion is being taken from across the board. Even though TE and CMAQ are only 7 percent of the total budget, last year they made up for 44 percent of rescissions. Please contact your state DOT and let them know that we do not want disproportionate cuts for these programs. Safe Routes to School is not part of this rescission, which is why you do not see it in the alert. DOTs will have to make decisions on rescissions in the next two or three weeks. Some states did make proportional cuts last year, but the majority did not. The alert targets governors since they are elected officials and the DOT works for them. Please use the alerts that we have forwarded.

Transportation Authorization Bill
The House of Representatives is looking at the introduction of a new bill between early May and early June. They’re looking at a 35 percent funding cut, which could bring the bill to less than $200 billion over six years. It’s very unlikely that it will include any of our programs (SRTS, TE or Recreational Trails). We have a much better chance of keeping our programs in a committee vote than if we have to go to the full House for a vote. The Senate is also looking to introduce a bill in late May or early June.  That bill is looking to be about $285 billion (about the size of SAFETEA-LU). The Senate’s bill is looking at Obama’s budget plan and trying to consolidate many of our programs into one program — most likey with CMAQ. If both chambers do not include SRTS, TE and Rec Trails in their bills, we risk losing the programs completely. Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) is willing to fight for us, but she is getting a lot of pressure to consolidate programs. We do have many good allies in the Senate who we can work with.

Given where we are and that the bills are supposed to be coming out in the next couples weeks, this is a great time to reach out to your Representative or Senators, especially if they are members of Transportation and Infrastructure Committee in the House or Environmental and Public Works Committee in the Senate. Follow up with people you have had meetings with and see if you can get them out for a Bike-to-Work Event. Use member’s in-district time to meet with them and gather as many allies as you can to show the wide support for biking and walking. It’s even better if you can do a “show me” event, during which you take a Representative or Senator to a bike/ped project that was built with one these programs.

Dangerous by Design
Dangerous By Design, a report by Transportation for America (T4A) highlighting pedestrian fatalities, is due out May 24. This year’s report will include state-level data and maps showing the most dangerous counties and metropolitan areas, and will advocate for funding on biking and walking and complete streets. T4A will be organizing state-level events and in–district meetings, and they’re looking for local groups interested in participating. Please contact Akshai Singh (akshai.singh@t4america.org) if you’re interested in participating or helping to organize the district visit and/or a press event. This report got significant news coverage two years ago, and should again.