Is Driving Safer Than Walking?

The report by the Surface Transportation Policy Project, says the results show that walking is more dangerous in sprawling communities designed for the automobile. "Mean Streets 2000" analyzes federal safety and spending databases and finds that per mile traveled, walking is 36 times more dangerous than driving. It also finds that in 59% of cases for which information is available, pedestrians died in places where they could not find a crosswalk. The report finds that dangerous streets are discouraging people from walking and may be contributing to serious health problems. The amount of walking has dropped 42 percent in the last twenty years, while the percentage of overweight Americans has grown by 40 percent. In addition, places where people walk less tend to have more people who are overweight. A comparison of health and transportation statistics found that for every ten percent decrease in the amount of walking in a community, there is an almost one percent (0.7%) increase in the portion of people who are overweight.