INDIANAPOLIS— A new studyis ranking Indianapolis as the sixth most dangerous city for pedestrians.
The study was done by Kuru Footwear. They took into account Indy's walk scoreand the number of pedestrian traffic fatalities across the state in 2021. Each city was assigned a score based on those numbers and were added together to create a final safety score out of 100.
According to the Governor's Highway Safety Association, there were 125 pedestrian fatalities across Indiana in 2021. Data from IMPD shows there were 27 fatalities in the city of Indianapolis.
"Those numbers reflect what we’ve been seeing over the last 15 months tracking this data. It's not great and in some instances continue to get worse," said Eric Holt who runs the Indy Pedestrian/Bicyclist Safety Crisisgroup.
Holt says this weekend was especially bad for pedestrians.
"We saw six people hit on Saturday, another two on Sunday and then five yesterday on Monday. You’re looking at 13 people over the course of three days alone. That’s not great," said Holt.
Holt and other advocates say they want the issue to be taken more seriously.
"Infrastructure changes to make it possible for someone to not go 90 MPH down a road, more crosswalks, raised crosswalks, daylight intersections," said Connie Szabo Schmucker with Bicycle Garage Indy.
DPW says there's been an increase in reckless driving across the country since the start of the pandemic and Indianapolis is no exception. The city has been working to keep pedestrians safe.
On Tuesday, a ribbon cutting was held for phase 2 of the Fall Creek Trail, a multi-modal trail that helps connect Downtown with Fort Benjamin Harrison State Park. DPW says providing connectivity on trailswill help with improving safety.
DPW outlined other ways they are improving pedestrian safety. Since 2016, Indy DPW has constructed 103 miles of sidewalks, 8,000 new ADA ramps, 32 miles of bike lanes, 35 miles of new trails and 4,000 crosswalks.
Over the summer, intersections downtown were designated as "No Turn on Red." DPW also says the $1.2 billion Capital Plan will help with safety as well with $100 million going towards new and upgraded trails and 50 miles of protected, multi-modal travel. To find out more about there initiatives you can visit their website.
