Why? For Safety
If you can't support this tax for anything else you must support it for safety. The following resources and statistics provide an unbiased reality of what we live in. Why do we pretend to be blind to so much danger? The truth is we all know how dangerous the roads are, so we walk as infrequently as possible, and fewer and fewer school children are allowed or even able to walk to school.
Map of Fatalities
Here you can actually visualize the widespread magnitude of the death we ignore. The map shows fatalities of pedestrians and cyclists from 2001-2009. Click the map to find out data related to your neighborhood.
"Dangerous by Design"
This document fully explores what makes our nation's streets so dangerous for all users. Produced by a group called Transportation for America, the document describes what our issues are: speed and too much focus on vehicular road efficiency, among related causes; too little pedestrian funding and design not accommodating to multiple user types.
The research compiled clearly shows Florida is worst in the nation for pedestrian deaths. It also provides recommendations on how to fix it.
-Dedicate funding to crosswalks and intersection improvement
-Reduce actual speed of cars by narrowing lanes
-Provide easier access to dedicated trails (like the Pinellas Trail)
- Have a "complete streets policy" and checks to make sure it is done
- Florida and California are now the only states with dedicated pedestrian funding, but these resources are mostly dedicated to state roads (not county or city roads)
Safe Routes to School
Why is such a basic thing like riding your bike to school such a big deal? Well because most of us don't do it anymore. Firstly, we live farther away from our school than we used to and secondly, the roads we have to take to get to school are too dangerous or at least perceived to be too dangerous.The following quote shares the reality of walking to school.
In 1969, approximately 50% of children walked or bicycled to school, with approximately 87% of children living within one mile of school walking or bicycling. Today, fewer than 15% of schoolchildren walk or bicycle to school. As a result, kids today are less active, less independent, and less healthy. As much as 20 to 30% of morning traffic can be generated by parents driving their children to schools, and traffic-related crashes are the top cause of death and major injury for children in the U.S. ages 1 to 17.
Click Image for Interactive Map
Click Image To View "Dangerous by Design" Document
Click Image for FDOT "See the Blind Spots" Campaign
Click Image for National Safe Routes to School Partnership
Click Text Above to view CNBC Article
Click Image to Read about this Fatal St. Petersburg Crash 2012
In 1969: 50%
In 2009: >15%
Children Who walk & bike to school
4 out of 5
Most Dangerous Cities for Pedestrians are in Florida
