Making Florida streets safer for pedestrians will take time- and money.
That's according to a Florida Department of Transportation spokesman after a new report which ranks the Orlando-Kissimmee metro area the most dangerous place to walk in the United States.The Dangerous By Design report, commissioned by the National Complete Streets Coalition, compiled pedestrian fatality data from 2003 to 2012. It also highlights Tampa- St Petersburg-Clearwater; Jacksonville and Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach as dangerous metro areas for pedestrians.
Billy Hattaway was appointed by Florida Department of Transportation secretary Ananth Prasad to lead the state DOT's pedestrian and bicycle safety initiative after the last Dangerous by Design report in 2011.
"I look at in terms of our initiatives and just like with bike walk central Florida and our Best Foot Forward initiative", Hattaway said. "We didn't launch that until we were pretty well into 2012 and so it takes time, it takes time to see results."
Best Foot Forward is working with law enforcement, schools and local governments in Central Florida to encourage drivers to yield to pedestrians in marked crosswalks.
Hattaway says FDOT is identifying pedestrian danger areas around the state and working to allocate the engineering and law enforcement resources needed to make those roads safer.