We Top the Charts Again!

[brendan]

Hmm, would be somewhat less confusing if it was titled “Bottom 10 and Top 10″…

[cyclingfool]

The only one of the bottom tens (cities or states) I’d even remotely consider living in is Detroit. That makes me feel better about both:

1. The place I live now; and
2. The places I move to in my daydreams/future.

PotomacCyclist, did you click dislike on the OP by accident, or are you secretly an anti-pedestrian troll from Jacksonville?

[PotomacCyclist]

Oops. For some reason, I was reading that low number as bad, and I interpreted the thread title as sarcastic. Completely misread everything. Maybe it’s because I haven’t ridden a bike in almost two days now.

Or… I may really be an anti-pedestrian troll from Jacksonville. No one will ever know the entire truth…

[PotomacCyclist]

It may also be because of all the near misses I experience as a pedestrian. I’ve had far more near misses as a pedestrian than as a cyclist, even though I walk in crosswalks and wait for WALK signals (95% of the time). All the near misses occur when I am walking in the crosswalk with the WALK signal.

[Greenbelt]

@rcannon100 82673 wrote:

Not what I would have thought. Cool.

Do you have a source to the full report? I’d like to see where MD and VA fit in. -Jeff

[cvcalhoun]

The top and bottom 10 chart appear to have been taken from the full charts available at this document:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/wrazoxy55lnr4hr/2014AllianceBenchmarkingReport_Web2.pdf

@Greenbelt 82702 wrote:

Do you have a source to the full report? I’d like to see where MD and VA fit in. -Jeff

[DismalScientist]

Note that these rates are per number of walking commuters, not miles walked.

[Emm]

I’m surprised by DC’s low fatality rate, although maybe it’s because all the bad drivers stay in Arlington? While walking, I’ve been knocked by cars twice on the west side of Lynn street crossing Wilson in Arlington, and last year had to jump out of the way of a vehicle, losing my shoes and falling over in the process, who was about to hit me speeding through the turn from N. Fairfax onto Lynn street in Arlington (I was crossing Lynn at the time). Had I not jumped in time I would have been seriously injured if not killed–he was going FAST. In all of these instances, I was in the crosswalk, and had the walk signal. I’ve known 2 other people who’ve been hit by cars in Rosslyn and been hospitalized as a result, all of them were in the crosswalk while they had the walk signal.

These experiences are one of the reasons it took me 5 years to buy a bike after moving to Arlington, even though I had wanted one since I moved here. I was literally too scared to ride on the streets after getting knocked and almost hit by cars while in crosswalks. It also influenced me to buy a “tank bike” as my boyfriend calls it (hybrid). I figure if someone is going to hit me, they at least deserve to get their car damaged in the process.

[lordofthemark]

@DismalScientist 82708 wrote:

Note that these rates are per number of walking commuters, not miles walked.

Precisely. I used to live in Jax. Hardly anyone walked to work there (even poor folks, as even their neighborhoods were poorly located from employment centers). But I guess some poor folks walked within their neighborhoods, sometimes. And occasionally had fatals.

DC, OTOH has lots folks who walk to work. Probably pretty high relative to total walking miles, compared with many other cities.

[cvcalhoun]

I also wonder how they define “walking commuter.” If I take Metro most of the way, and then walk the last two blocks, do I qualify? If so, you may have a lot of people who are walking very short distances.

@lordofthemark 82773 wrote:

Precisely. I used to live in Jax. Hardly anyone walked to work there (even poor folks, as even their neighborhoods were poorly located from employment centers). But I guess some poor folks walked within their neighborhoods, sometimes. And occasionally had fatals.

DC, OTOH has lots folks who walk to work. Probably pretty high relative to total walking miles, compared with many other cities.

[PotomacCyclist]

I’ve nearly been run over by car drivers multiple times while walking in crosswalks, with the WALK signal, in DC. At L, 22nd and New Hampshire, NW, I was nearly hit in the crosswalk three times in one week. Part of it is the construction there. Part of it is the very poor design and terrible signal timing. And part of it is that a lot of car drivers don’t look for pedestrians, or maybe some just don’t care. One time I was waving my hands at the driver. She was looking straight at me, or through me and kept going until she almost took my knees out. I waited for the WALK signal, looked for the turning car drivers (because I knew that intersection is a problem), but I still almost got hit.

Bethesda was another area, where some drivers use Woodmont Ave. as a high-speed detour around Wisconsin Ave. traffic. There is no signal at one intersection, but I looked in all directions before entering the crosswalk. Still didn’t help. The driver came racing down the street at very high speed. This was at dusk or late evening. He turned right into me and almost caved in my knee. Clearly he saw me at the last moment because he swerved slightly. But instead of stopping and making sure that no accident would occur, he simply swerved about a foot to his right and kept on going at the same speed!

I’ve seen many drivers in Arlington do similar things, but for some reason, I don’t remember having any close calls there as a pedestrian.

[Author]

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