(WXIN/WTTV) — A new study finds an increasing number of pedestrians across the county and in Central Indiana are being killed in crashes with automobiles.
The non-profit organization Smart Growth America (SGA) issues a report every two years called Dangerous by Design. It looks at data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and calculates the rate of pedestrians killed by vehicles.
The area of Indianapolis-Carmel-Anderson finished in the middle of the pack of the 101 largest urban areas in the country, ranking 51st. But its rate of pedestrian deaths of 1.73 per 100,000 residents is larger than much more populated cities like Washington (1.70), San Francisco (1.64), New York (1.51), and Chicago (1.51).
The national picture is no better. SGA finds that in 2022 there were 7,522 pedestrian deaths in the US. That is a 75% increase since 2010.
The chief culprit is how streets, particularly urban streets are designed says CEO Calvin Gladney, “If you are Black, Native, or Latine you’re more likely to be hit and killed while walking. Most places are getting deadlier for pedestrians, and bad street design has a lot to do with it.”
Last year when FOX59 looked into the troubling numbers of pedestrians killed in Indianapolis, SGA pointed to East Washington Street as a particularly poorly designed roadway.
“Everything about this road says you should go as fast as possible,” said Steve David, VP at SGA.
Long sections of East Washington include wide lanes, and long, straight stretches between traffic lights. When FOX59 brought a radar gun to measure speed, we quickly found drivers going 60 miles per hour and higher in area posted to have a 35-mph limit.
SGA also strongly recommends so-called traffic calming street design measures including fewer and narrower lanes, medians, and heightened safety features for both pedestrians and cyclists.
“Being among the most dangerous cities for pedestrians in America is not a title Indy can be proud of. And it does not have to be this way. We must do more, and we must do better. Pedestrian fatalities and car crashes are preventable and avoidable,” said State Senator Andrea Hunley (D – Indianapolis).
The city of Indianapolis is in the middle of a contested experiment to reduce pedestrian death and injury. The city’s Department of Public Works last fall put up more than 90 ‘No Turn On Red’ signs within the Mile Square.
The GOP super-majority threatened to outlaw the signs in the last legislative session, but instead struck a compromise with the city to leave the signs up pending further examination of their effectiveness.