Orlando Pedestrians Make the NYT

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on the front page of the New York area edition. The oft heard blame the tourist argument is always a nice, ironic touch. To them, it sounds like, “If you are dumb enough to come here, we are dumb enough to run over you.”

On Wide Florida Roads, Running for Dear Life

By
Published: August 15, 2011

ORLANDO, Fla. — As any pedestrian in Florida knows, walking in this car-obsessed state can be as tranquil as golfing in a lightning storm. Sidewalks are viewed as perks, not necessities. Crosswalks are disliked and dishonored. And many drivers maniacally speed up when they see someone crossing the street.

Then there are the long, ever widening arterial roads — those major thoroughfares lined with strip malls built to move cars in and out of sprawling suburbs.

It is no wonder that four Florida metropolitan areas, led by the Orlando region, ranked as the most dangerous places to walk in the country, according to a recent survey by Transportation for America, a nonprofit safety advocacy organization. –MORE–

 

4 replies
    • Keri
      Keri says:

      Divers here have a very narrow cone of surveillance. People on the edge are irrelevant to them. The problems pedestrians have in crosswalks here are amplified for bicyclists in crosswalks or on sidewalks crossing driveways (because of increased speed and decreased maneuverability). But many of the ped fatalities are mid-block crossings on huge roads with infrequent intersections. Some people will do that on bikes, but it’s not as daunting to ride a bike an extra half mile to an intersection to cross.

      For a bicyclist, intersection crossings are virtually conflict-free if they cross as they would in a car or on a motorcycle — in the lane. So, unlike peds, bicyclists have the ability to escape the issues that plague pedestrians.

  2. Shannon
    Shannon says:

    A lot of Floridians are plain rude though, so this doesn’t surprise me. If you are somehow inconveniencing them or cause them delay by crossing the street, they automatically dislike you. It’s such a bad attitude. Don’t get me wrong, there are a lot of great people here, but this article clearly shows that there are just as many rude ones.

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