Pedestrians Should Avoid Walking in Florida, Report Shows

Those of you who enjoy taking long walks, should avoid doing so in the state of Florida, as a new report from Transportation For America (T4) shows. Apparently, the Orlando, Tampa, Miami and Jacksonville metro areas are the top four most dangerous cities for walking.

Based on federal statistics, the report says that in the last 15 years, more than 76,000 Americans have been killed while crossing or walking along a street in their community. More than 43,000 Americans, including 3,906 children under 16, have been killed this decade alone, consumeraffairs.com reported.

"This is the equivalent of a jumbo jet going down roughly every month, yet it receives nothing like the kind of attention that would surely follow such a disaster," the aforementioned source quoted the report authors.

It appears the most dangerous cities are in the south, and they developed following World War II, and their street and highway design facilitated the use of automobiles, not foot traffic. This makes these dangerous by design, which could be considered as the main factor of such incidents.

"They occurred along roadways that were dangerous by design, streets that were engineered for speeding cars and made little or no provision for people on foot, in wheelchairs or on a bicycle," the report said.

This however is a problem either way you look at it. Even though it’s dangerous for pedestrians to walk, it’s just as well dangerous for them not to do it. Health experts consider walking and bicycling as critical to increasing levels of healthy exercise and reducing obesity and heart disease.