Katie Vranesich has lived in Salt Lake City for about one and a half months. Her friend Sarah Herold arrived two weeks ago, drawn by the mountains and the hope of something different.
Both came from a suburb of New Jersey.
Without a car, going to the library, getting groceries and arriving on campus for Terra Firma meetings requires either hitchhiking or footwork.
?Out here, you need a car,? Vranesich said.
There is no grocery store next door, so the girls traverse the blocks home with a borrowed cart.
Hills are a problem and so is construction.
Vranesich and Herold use not only the most time-consuming mode of transportation, but one of the most dangerous, according to a recent report issued by the Surface Transportation Policy Project.
The report, called Mean Streets 2000, ranked the Salt Lake-Ogden area as the 12th most dangerous metro area for pedestrians in the nation. Utah also had one of the highest death rates for child pedestrians.
Wayne Cottrell, an assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering at the University of Utah, is trying to figure out ways to make walking on Utah roads safer. After looking at data collected from pedestrian/vehicle accidents, Cottrell has begun formulating recommendations.
Data from 2,471 crashes between 1997 and 1999 helped Cottrell isolate ?hotspots? and trends.
The title of the most dangerous intersection went to Redwood Road and 4100 South. It?s no coincidence that this intersection is located near a Salt Lake Community College campus.
Roads around high schools and colleges are always particularly hazardous because many pedestrians choose to create their own crossings, he said.
According to the U?s Department of Public Safety, vehicle/pedestrian accidents on campus have resulted in nine injuries and one death since 1995.
Because none of the roads surrounding the U are federal aid roads, they did not have the data for use in the study.
Cottrell plans to recommend follow-up studies that include a broader range of roads.
One of the most dangerous roads in the state turned out to be Main Street in Kaysville. The road is wide without much traffic, Cottrell said. But it runs past several schools. He attributes the high accident rate to inattentive pedestrians.
For Vranesich and Herold, crossing the street doesn?t always mean using a crosswalk?despite the risks.
?Jaywalking here is pretty bad,? Herold said. ?In Jersey and New York City, you cross wherever you want.?
The intersection of 400 South and 700 East is one of Vranesich?s least favorite?right turners just come barreling around the corner, even if someone is on the crosswalk, she said.
Herold dismisses this as the cost of living.
In general, according to Cottrell, both pedestrians and aggressive drivers share the fault for crashes?but not the repercussions.
According to the U?s CODES project, which analyzes crash data and health outcomes, virtually all pedestrians involved in a crash are injured. Meanwhile, motor vehicle crashes injure about 22 percent of the participants.
Risks to pedestrians increase as does speed limit and car size. More vans and SUVs on the road mean increased pedestrian fatalities.
Cottrell?s research found that about 10 percent of pedestrian crashes are fatal. On the freeway, however, that number increased nearly four fold.
I-15 construction, which was underway at the time, may have been partially responsible?diverting more traffic to city streets and I 215, which also had work done.
Utah cities present unique challenges to traffic engineers with their wide streets. Sometimes signals do not last long enough to allow pedestrians to cross.
Getting across a street in time can be especially difficult for the elderly, who may move more slowly than a signal allows for.
Children, like the elderly, pay less attention and also have a narrower range of vision than adults. And they travel more by foot.
?We see a higher pedestrian injury rate among children and a higher pedestrian fatality rate among the elderly,? Cottrell said.
Traffic engineers and planners need to take the presence of schools or housing for the elderly into account when setting up roads and their signals, crosswalks and other accommodations.
Cottrell recommends education programs for the elderly and for children and their parents
Salt Lake City has already begun making changes to protect pedestrians.
Orange flags, signals with countdowns, beefed-up enforcement and new ?look? signs painted on the pavement are among the ways Salt Lake City is trying to make walking safer and more feasible.
Walking is not only good for health and the environment, it?s good for business, said Josh Ewing, the city?s communication director.
?In Salt Lake City, we have not had a pedestrian fatality since we began implementing [the measures],? he said.
The city received national recognition for its initiative, which began February 2000.
Nationwide, both automobile and pedestrian deaths resulting from crashes have declined. But these numbers tell different stories, according to the Mean Streets report.
Driving is getting safer, more safety programs are in place, and vehicles are sturdier, according to Cottrell.
Meanwhile, pedestrian deaths are decreasing because fewer people walk?not a good sign for American?s health, according to the report.