Orlando experienced one of the largest long-term drops in pedestrian death rates among the country’s largest metros, according to a new report.
Only 18 of the 101 largest metros in the United States are seeing those rates decline, according to the analysis of long-term pedestrian death rates by Smart Growth America, a policy group advocating for diverse transportation and land use options. The Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford metropolitan area is in that group of 18, having experienced a decline of just around 3% in the last 10 years.
The group compared long-term pedestrian death rates for two five-year periods: 2015-19 and 2020-24. For the more recent timeframe, Orlando’s rate is three pedestrian deaths per 100,000 people. That’s higher than the overall, national average of 2.15 deaths.
Still, Orlando’s downward trend sets it apart from most other large metro areas in the country and state. Florida is the fifth-deadliest state for pedestrians. It’s home to six of the top 20 deadliest metro areas in the country: more than any other state.
Orlando used to be on that top 20 list, as recently as the 2024 edition of Smart Growth America’s report. But this year, it dropped down to 25.
“The places lowering their long-term rates are the ones being more intentional with their funding, adopting best practices, and making hard decisions about changing existing roadways,” according to the report. “Their investments continue to pay off with lives saved.”
‘A long time coming’
Orlando’s declining pedestrian death rate didn’t happen by accident, or overnight. The changes have been “a long time coming,” said Vince Dyer of Bike/Walk Central Florida, a nonprofit working to make the region a safer place to walk, bike or use micromobility devices, like electric bikes and scooters.
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Dyer heads up the nonprofit’s “Best Foot Forward” program, which aims to make crosswalks safer by improving the driver yield rate, or how often drivers actually yield to pedestrians trying to cross the street.
“Pedestrians have the right of way at every single intersection, regardless of whether it's marked or not,” Dyer said. “And so, keeping that in mind: that every time you're approaching an intersection, to let off the gas just a little bit.”
The program launched in 2012, Dyer said, back when Smart Growth America ranked Orlando the country’s deadliest metro area for pedestrians. Gradually, since then, the pedestrian death rate has been declining.
It’s the result of deliberate data collection, analysis and targeted safety investments, Dyer said. “Crosswalk by crosswalk: making improvements, and then seeing those improvements over time.”
More drivers are now yielding at crosswalks analyzed by the program over time, Dyer said. Back in 2012, only 17% of drivers in the Orlando metro area were yielding at certain crosswalks. Now, that rate is up to about 50%.
What’s helping?
The Smart Growth America report is called “Dangerous by Design.” According to the group, “streets are dangerous by design, built to prioritize the speed and convenience of cars over the safety of everyone who uses them.”
To make streets less dangerous, infrastructure improvements are key, Dyer said. And it doesn’t have to mean redesigning an entire road from scratch.
“We've seen some improvements in the signage and the markings and those low-cost solutions,” Dyer said. “We've seen a lot more beacons being put up: the pedestrian hybrid beacons and the rapid flashing beacons. Which are very effective, as long as they're pressed.”
One thing pedestrians can do to keep themselves safer, Dyer said, is to make sure to press the buttons on those beacons; sometimes, the auto-detect methods don’t work.
“The roads need to be accommodated, so that way, drivers feel like it's a place that has a lower speed limit,” Dyer said.
That might look like actually narrowing road lanes, or adding flexible delineator posts between lanes to get drivers to slow down. New paint striping for roads, plus curb extensions and S-curves can also help.
Sun Belt problems
On the global scale, the U.S. remains one of the most dangerous countries for people walking. It’s “a dramatic outlier amongst the rest of the developed world,” according to the report.
Florida sits in the country’s southern Sun Belt region, which tends to be more dangerous for pedestrians. Many areas in the region are defined by urban sprawl and roads that weren’t designed to be walkable.
Another issue in the Sun Belt, Dyer said, is the sun itself.
“That's one of the reasons that Florida has been historically high on the list,” Dyer said. “We do have people walking and biking all year long. And so, being part of that Sun Belt, there's going to be a lot more opportunity for pedestrian and car interactions.”
Moving forward, Dyer said the group is focused on working to keep the driver yield rate down. They’ll be out in eleven Florida counties next week, working with law enforcement to monitor how often drivers stop in crosswalks and to raise awareness.
Elsewhere in Central Florida, the report ranks Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville as the country’s 11th-deadliest metro for pedestrians. Deltona-Daytona Beach-Ormond Beach is 14th.
