A New Dallas

Facilitating social and economic exchange towards improved quality of life is the primary purpose of the city as a human construct. However, public safety must be the priority of government.

36,200 people died in vehicular collisions across the country in 2012, up from 34,600 the previous year. 3.9 million were injured. The cost in deaths, injuries, and damages added up to $276.6 billion.

In 2010, Texas accounted for 2,998 deaths or nearly 1/10th of the country’s total. Texas Congressional District-30 is the 2nd most dangerous US congressional district in America over a ten-year span from 2001 to 2011. Downtown and the IH345 study area are in this deadly district where 289 people died. The next highest in Texas had 206 deaths over the same period.

Copenhagen has a goal of zero fatalities on its streets, an amount which has dropped from 16 in 2008 to 5 to 2. Chicago has set a similar goal for 2022.

As for pedestrians, the Transportation 4 American report “Dangerous by Design” ranked DFW as the 10th most dangerous metropolitan area for pedestrians in the country. 72 were killed in the city of Dallas over a 12-month span from May ’11 through April ’12. In that same time span, 170 were killed in New York City. However, when factoring for amount of pedestrian and transit commuters (who typically walk from stations to ultimate destinations), a pedestrian has a 51.41 times greater chance of being killed in Dallas. This is a direct product to the way we build our infrastructure.