TUCSON, Ariz (KGUN) — If you walk on Tucson streets, there is a better than average chance you will die on Tucson streets. A new study ranks Tucson number 13 in pedestrian deaths nationwide but that same group says Tucson’s doing a good job trying to make walking here safer.
We just happened to see Carmen do something common in Tucson, but uncommonly dangerous—skipping a protected crosswalk to cross a busy street.
KGUN9 reporter Craig Smith asked: “Why do you do that?”
Carmen: “I know. It’s hot out here and I was going to take a bus.
Craig: The crosswalk’s not that far away….”
Carmen: “I know… Too hot.”
Craig: “If they had it a little closer to the bus stop would that have helped?”
Carmen: Yes.”
The organization Smart Growth America looked at pedestrian deathsfrom 2016 to 2020. 162 pedestrian deaths in that time ranked Tucson number 13 in the nation based on deaths per hundred thousand population. Florida’s Daytona Beach area ranked worst in the nation. The Phoenix Metro area ranked 22nd.
Steve Davis of Smart Growth America says a lot of Sunbelt cities had a road building boom after World War Two with a priority on helping cars move fast with little or no thought to pedestrians.
His group wants to see city streets designed to hold cars to slower speeds like maybe 25 miles per hour.
“It's very easy to look around and find a street that has a speed limit of 25 and is designed for 25 If you go 35 or 40 you feel uncomfortable most people do, there will always be some bad behavior that we need to lean on enforcement to solve, but we can do a lot of changing behavior with design.”
Davis appreciates Tucson’sComplete Streets initiative that works to design streets and neighborhoods that enhance safety for cars, pedestrians and cyclists.
Blake Olofson is a senior engineer with Tucson’s Department of Transportation and Mobility. He says many pedestrians killed in Tucson, cross without crosswalks, at night, and they’re often impaired.
He says the city is working to educate vulnerable groups but also has plenty of engineering improvements in mind, including more crosswalks with signals called HAWKs to stop traffic for walkers. He says it used to be hard to get the money for more than two or three new protected crossings a year.
“And now we're looking at, gosh, how are we going to install all of them? We're looking at 30 funded locations upcoming soon, and we've been very aggressive about getting funds from federal funds from ADOT to the Highway Safety Improvement Program. So the future is looking really bright for Tucson to increase the number of these crossing locations.”
And he says when Tucson voters approved Prop 411 that added more money to design safer streets.
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Craig Smith is a reporter for KGUN 9. With more than 40 years of reporting in cities like Tampa, Houston and Austin, Craig has covered more than 40 Space Shuttle launches and covered historic hurricanes like Katrina, Ivan, Andrew and Hugo. Share your story ideas and important issues with Craig by emailing craig.smith@kgun9.com or by connecting on Facebook and Twitter.
