There are two significant aspects that contribute to Orlando’s reputation as a place that pedestrians should avoid at all costs.
We have a pedestrian death rate that is extremely high, per capita, and it is simple to calculate.
Over the course of the last twenty years, the Orlando region has been placed as high as second worst in the year 2010, and it has not been ranked higher than 27th in the year 2020, when it is compared to the 100 largest metropolitan areas in the United States.
In this wide metropolitan area, there are significantly fewer individuals walking from one location to another than there are in a dense urban setting such as Manhattan or the Chicago Loop.
This is a strong argument, despite the fact that it is more difficult to quantify. Therefore, the risk is far higher for every individual pedestrian in Central Florida than the death rate implies it should be.
For a number of years, analysts who estimate pedestrian danger adjusted their per capita rankings in order to account for variations in walking patterns.
They based those modifications on data from the United States Census Bureau regarding the number of people in a certain location who walked to work.
As a result, New York City’s ranking was lowered since walking was a prevalent mode of transportation, whereas Orlando’s rating was raised because the majority of people in this city drive to their places of employment.
On the basis of these modifications, the Orlando metropolitan area was regarded as the most dangerous place for pedestrians for the better part of a decade.
This distinction was made famous by a series that was published in the Orlando Sentinel in 2013 that investigated the issue in great detail.
However, the modifications that had pushed Orlando to the top of the list were less accurate as a result of changes in travel patterns that were caused by the outbreak.
Smart Growth America, the most well-known group that provides ratings for pedestrian safety, abandoned its proprietary methodology in 2023, which resulted in a reorganization of its ranks, both in the present and in the past.
For the purpose of this analysis, the Orlando Sentinel derived its own rankings of pedestrian safety by utilizing population numbers from the United States Census Bureau and drawing fatality rates from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
Both The Sentinel’s methodology and Smart Growth America’s current approach evaluate and analyze the number of pedestrian deaths that occur per 100,000 residents in the top 100 Metropolitan Statistical Areas in the United States. However, there are some minor changes between the two approaches.
The Sentinel also conducted an analysis of statistics provided by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) regarding accident variables like as speed, location, and alcohol.
Increases in traffic, risky driving practices, and the increase in the size and weight of the average car have all contributed to an increase in the number of pedestrian deaths that have occurred across the country over the past several years.
Orlando is not immune to this pattern; but, during the course of the past five years, the city’s rate of immigration has increased at a rate that is approximately half that of the typical big metropolitan area.
The study conducted by the Sentinel found that as a consequence of this, the pedestrian death rate in the Orlando metropolitan area dropped from the sixth highest in 2013-2017 to the seventeenth highest in 2018-2022.
Taking into account the total number of pedestrian injuries, the news is more favorable. Despite the fact that the population has expanded, if only little, from 135 in 2018 to 133 in 2023, the overall number of injuries has actually decreased in recent years.
This is due to the fact that the rate of increase in fatalities has slowed down. The data in question are from MetroPlan Orlando, which is a consortium of various transportation agencies.
Any person who walks down Colonial Avenue or Silver Star Road, which are both places where walkways are adjacent to lanes of rapid traffic, is aware that the numbers that are somewhat encouraging do not tell the whole story about the risk that pedestrians face in Central Florida.
However, the distinction of being the “worst place to walk” is one that this region is happy to shed.