Florida Ranked as Second Deadliest State in the Country for Pedestrians
As any pedestrian in Florida knows, the Sunshine State is a dangerous place to be a pedestrian. This was recently confirmed in a study by safety organization Smart Growth America which looked at pedestrian deaths across the country. Smart Growth America’s recently completed “Dangerous by Design” study measured the danger to pedestrians of both every state in the country as well as various metropolitan areas based on data from the years 2016-2020. The findings for Florida were grim, with Florida the second deadliest state for pedestrians and with seven of the top 20 metropolitan areas for pedestrian fatalities. Things also are not improving, as fatalities among pedestrians both in Florida and nationwide went up even though many drivers were off the road as a result of the pandemic during part of the period covered by the study.
The Study’s Findings: Second Deadliest State for Pedestrians
The Sunshine State was the second deadliest state in the country for pedestrians according to the study. The most dangerous metropolitan area in the country for pedestrians was Daytona Beach. Florida also had numerous other cities/metro areas in the top 20. Tampa/St. Petersburg ranked 4th in the nation, Jacksonville was 6th, Orlando 8th, Melbourne/Palm Bay 12th, and Sarasota/Bradenton was 19th. The Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach metropolitan area also ranked as the 14th most dangerous in the country for pedestrians, with 954 pedestrian fatalities from 2016-2020. Importantly, none of these Florida metro areas had improved when compared with the previous study that looked at 2011-2015 statistics. Indeed, like all the other top 20 most dangerous cities/metro areas, all of them actually became more dangerous for pedestrians.
The study also found the number of people struck and killed while walking in the United States reached a new high in 2020. More than 6,500 people were struck and killed while walking in 2020, an average of nearly 18 per day and a 4.5 percent increase over 2019 and a 62 percent increase since 2009. This is particularly concerning given that many people were out on the roads less in 2020, the last year in the study, due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Contact Schwed, Adams & McGinley
At Schwed, Adams & McGinley, our experienced personal injury attorneys have decades of legal experience representing pedestrians who have been injured by motor vehicles or the families of those who have had a loved one killed in a pedestrian accident or types of motor vehicle accidents and all variety of personal injury scenarios. As a pedestrian in Florida, you are in the unfortunate position of being a pedestrian in a state that simply lacks many of the protections for pedestrians that may be commonplace in other states or countries. Motorists are still required to operate their vehicles with reasonable care around pedestrians in Florida and a motorist who fails to do so and injures or even kills a pedestrian can be held responsible for those injuries or that death under Florida law. Thus, if you were a pedestrian who was injured or you have a loved one who was killed while walking in the Sunshine State, contact our experienced personal injury attorneys today at contact@schwedlaw.com or (877) 694-6079 today.