After releasing “Dangerous by Design,” a study that ranked Atlanta as the 29th most dangerous city for pedestrians, Smart Growth America is breaking down the details of the annual report and looking at possible solutions to a growing safety issue.
The nonprofit dedicated to climate change resilience, racial equity and healthy communities hosted a June 6 online seminar to discuss the ranking. At the follow-up to the May 30 announcement, nonprofit leaders broke down what exactly it means for our country to be “Dangerous by Design.”
Steve Davis, Assistant Vice President of Transportation Strategies at Smart Growth America, said road designs often impact drivers on a subconscious level more than speed limits and markers, with wide lanes and sparse landscaping nudging them to drive faster.
“It’s something that is invisible for most people, but it has a huge impact on how we drive,” Davis said. “People just don’t think about how much the built environment shapes how we behave on the street.”
Since 2010, pedestrian deaths have increased by 75 percent. Smart Growth America credits it to car-centric development aimed at getting vehicles around faster. Strides in vehicle safety and road development have come at the expense of multimodal travelers, organization leaders said.
For the past decade, pedestrian fatalities have been on the rise – deaths have increased 75 percent since 2010. Smart Growth America says car-centric development and safety improvements have come at the expense of safety for people outside vehicles.
“We have an approach to street design that does not truly prioritize the safety of everybody that uses our transportation network, especially those people who are the most vulnerable to be struck and injured or killed by a vehicle,” Davis said.
While Atlanta didn’t top the 20 most dangerous metro areas, its position at 29 out of 101 metro areas points to ongoing safety issues. On average, 2.7 pedestrians out of every 100,000 people are killed in Atlanta. The Atlanta-Sandy Springs Alpharetta area is also trending downwards in safety.
Davis warned cities against keeping their attention on any numerical rank, though.
“Usually what is happening is rankings are shuffling, while all the top 20 are getting more deadly, more dangerous over the course of each report,” Davis said.
Metro areas across the country are continually getting more dangerous, according to fatality data. In the past ten years, more than 61,000 people have been killed by moving vehicles.
Davis urged people to look at more than just the number, though. He pointed to survivors of the deceased – friends, family and community as part of a “ripple effect” that gets lost in the conversation around fatalities.
He also pointed to two other underlooked areas: injuries and trips never taken. Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that 45 out of every 100,000 ER visits are for a pedestrian injury. But that number increases when looking at every group of persons of color, which rises far above that 45 out of 100,000 statistic.
The disproportionate injuries point to a broader disparity in pedestrian safety across racial and financial lines. White people had a proportion of 32 out of 100,000 visits, while Black people had a proportion of 62 out of 100,000. Black pedestrians are also killed at more than twice the rate of white people, while Native pedestrians are killed at four times the rate.
Poorer areas are at higher risk, too. Thirty percent of all pedestrian deaths happen in areas with average incomes below $50,000.
“The lower your income is, if you’re a person of color, you are significantly more likely to be struck and killed while walking in the United States,” Davis said.
While Smart Growth America can’t count the number of trips not taken, the organization wants to highlight the potential lost when it comes to pedestrians. Davis said many people choose not to walk on roads that are hostile to pedestrians for safety reasons.
But the online seminar also looked at preliminary solutions that might make streets safer. Smart Growth America Director of Thriving Communities Heidi Simon said the biggest shift needs to happen in design.
“One of the most critical factors of determining whether or not someone will survive a crash, whether or not someone will be able to control their vehicle to make a sudden decision or a sudden change in movement is speed,” Simon said.
The director said speed and safety can’t be prioritized at the same time. But markers like speed limit signs can only do so much to slow cars down. The rest comes down to a driver’s surroundings.
“We are constantly being given cues by our built environment, how to act, how to move, how to travel through these spaces, and our streets need to be telling a story of safety,” Simon said.
She advocated for an increase in crosswalks so pedestrians don’t have to choose between jaywalking or adding time to their commutes. She also pushed for visual cues that can keep drivers from getting “tunnel vision” and losing focus on the road.
In Atlanta, some projects have pointed at more pedestrian-friendly design. On June 9 the heavily trafficked intersection of 10th Street and Monroe Drive in Midtown will kick off an overhaul that includes raised crosswalks, bollards and a pedestrian scramble that halts all traffic.
The Atlanta City Council also voted on an ordinance banning right turns on red lights in certain areas earlier this year, a law that will take effect at the start of 2026. The ordinance gained support from pedestrian and cycling groups like Propel ATL for its potential reduction of accidents. It will ban cars from making right turns on red lights in Downtown Atlanta, Midtown Atlanta and Castleberry Hill.
“You could do a major redesign of this intersection to improve safety; you could completely turn it on its head and make improvements,” Simon said. “But even doing something like improving the lighting, visibility, marked crosswalks, cross signal timing and things like that would make an improvement for the people walking and biking.”
Even with small changes, though, Simon said pedestrian safety will be an “all hands on deck” problem that requires a shift in thinking.
“It’s an ask of leadership to say, what we’re doing now is not working, and we need to do something differently,” Simon said. “We need people who are willing to stand up and say ‘okay, it’s time to do something different.'”
Smart Growth America will host another online seminar in July to dive further into solutions. The full “Dangerous by Design” report is available here.
Great story…