JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Jacksonville has been ranked the 6th worst US city for high pedestrian fatality rates.
Pedestrian safety in Jacksonville is a growing problem, according to leaders with the city’s Bicycle-Pedestrian Advisory Committee.
“Jacksonville has had a long-standing pedestrian challenge," Christopher Burns the Chair of Jacksonville Bicycle Pedestrian Advisory Committee said. "It has shown to be very dangerous for pedestrians, both in terms of injuries and deaths over many years."
There were 264 pedestrian deaths in Jacksonville between 2016-2022. According to a report by Smart Growth America and the National Complete Streets Coalition.
The report says the number of people struck and killed while walking reached a high in 2020. People of color, particularly Black and Native American, are more likely to die while walking than any other race or ethnic group
Beach Boulevard had one of the highest numbers of incidents.
“One of the most basic things we need to do is reduce speeds," Burns said. "Our roads are designed to move cars fast. They're not designed for safety. We have very wide roads. We have fast speed roads."
To improve safety, the report calls for more visual cues along the roadway to remind drivers to slow down, more crosswalks and higher sidewalk curbs.
These are some of the improvements that leaders are trying to bring here to Jacksonville.
“Jacksonville doesn't have an inventory of the pedestrian sidewalks and crosswalks that we have." Burns said.
Number two, we would like to connect the areas that are lacking. Many roads in Jacksonville don't have sidewalks on both sides of the road, or there are gaps where there are no sidewalks at all... We need to improve the number of sidewalks and crosswalks we have here in Jacksonville."