By Jeff Ristine
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

December 3, 2004

WalkSanDiego held a news conference downtown in which president Jamie Moody pointed out the dismal pedestrian safety record in San Diego.

Streets around the United States are becoming less safe for pedestrians, including in San Diego, despite the fact that the fatality rate has come down in recent years, a transportation advocacy group says.

San Diego County ranked 28th in pedestrian danger on the study's list of the 50 largest metropolitan areas - the same spot it occupied in a similar report issued two years ago. The list was released yesterday.

For pedestrians in large cities, the streets "are already too mean and, in fact, they are growing meaner," said Anne Canby, president of the Surface Transportation Policy Project, a national lobbying coalition.

Better attention to pedestrian safety would promote more exercise and better health and help encourage "smart growth," which makes cities more inviting places to live in by promoting better connections between transportation and land use, Canby and other pedestrian advocates said in a teleconference with reporters.

Among the nation's 50 largest metropolitan areas, the group gave its worst mark to Orlando, Fla., and its best rating to Boston.

In San Diego County, the group found a slight dip in the pedestrian accident rate between 1994-95 and 2002-03.

But the region fared slightly worse in a "pedestrian danger index" the organization derived from accident statistics and census figures on the number of people who walk to and from work.

Jamie Moody, president of Walk San Diego, said examples of good and bad traffic design can be found within a few blocks of each other.

Curb extensions called bulbouts, such as one at Sixth and Island avenues, extend a curb slightly into the street and allow pedestrians to cross streets in less time. But arteries such as Market Street, El Cajon Boulevard and University Avenue still mix large numbers of pedestrians with high-speed vehicles.

Voter approval last month of Proposition A, a renewal of a half-percent San Diego County sales tax for 40 years for transportation, promises funding opportunities for pedestrian projects, Moody said.

The San Diego Association of Governments, which drafted the measure, earmarked 2 percent of the proceeds - an estimated $280 million - for pedestrian, bicycle and neighborhood safety projects.

Nationally, pedestrian fatalities were down more than 12 percent during the 10-year period documented in the Surface Transportation Policy Project report.

But in areas where walking is declining faster than the fatality rate, the inherent risk of being a pedestrian can go up, even if accident and fatality rates are coming down.

By this measure, more than half of the 50 largest metropolitan areas got more dangerous between 1994 and 2003, the organization reported, with Orlando more than doubling its pedestrian death rate.

The national danger index went up about 5 percent; in San Diego it increased about 9 percent.

Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson, whose region scored the greatest improvement over the past 10 years, said his city took several inexpensive but effective steps to promote safety for walkers.

The city placed orange flags on dowels at crosswalks for walkers to carry, making them more visible to motorists. It also put countdown timers on crosswalk signals, lengthened the signals and imposed higher fines for motorist violations affecting pedestrians.

"The buck stops with public-policy makers and those charged with implementing public policy," said Anderson, who was personally moved on the issue after coming across a hit-and-run victim in a downtown crosswalk.

Wide arterials without sufficient crosswalks make for particularly hazardous crossings, the organization said.

"Overall, the nation's transportation networks have been largely designed to facilitate high-speed automobile traffic, treating our communities and pedestrian safety particularly as an afterthought," said the report.

Four regions of Florida - Orlando, Tampa/St. Petersburg, West Palm Beach/Boca Raton and Miami/Fort Lauderdale - topped the list of the most dangerous places to walk.

They were followed by Memphis, Tenn.; Atlanta; Greensboro/Winston-Salem/High Point, N.C.; Houston/Galveston/Brazoria, Texas; Jacksonville, Fla.; and Phoenix/Mesa.

In California, the Sacramento/Yolo region ranked 16th nationally and the combined megaregion of Los Angeles, Orange and Riverside counties was 20th.

After Boston, the safest regions for walking were Pittsburgh and Cleveland/Akron.

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