Transportation for America produced a study in 2011 entitled “Dangerous by Design.” The report introduced the following statement, “In the last 15 years, more than 76,000 Americans have been killed while crossing or walking along a street in their community. Children, the elderly, and ethnic minorities are disproportionately represented in this figure, but people of all ages and all walks of like have been struck down in the simple act of walking. These deaths typically are labeled accidents and attributed to error on the part of motorist or pedestrian. In fact, however, an overwhelming proportion share a similar factor: They occurred along roadways there dangerous by design, streets tha were engineered for speeding cars and made little or no provision for people on foot, in wheelchairs, or on a bicycle.”
The report goes on to provide a metro area pedestrian saftey ranking by State. It ransk the largest metro areas in Florida, ranking the Port St. Lucie area within the top 20.
In its FY 2010/2011 – 2011/2012 Unified Planning Work Program (UPWP), the St. Lucie Transportation Planning Organization (TPO) established the need to review, update, and implement the St. Lucie Greenways and Trails Master Plan, build upon previous bicycle/pedestrian/greenway planning efforts, and continue the ongoing planning and coordinating efforts which support the provision of bicycle, pedestrian, and greenway facilities.
