LEE COUNTY, Fla. — A study from Washington D.C. nonprofit, ‘Smart Growth America’, shows that Cape Coral and Fort Myers rank 23rd in their top 100 most dangerous cities for pedestrians.
Beth Osborne, Vice President of Transportation and Thriving Communities, says that it’s attributable to Southwest Florida’s rapid growth.
“If we just did raw fatality numbers, a place like New York City would rank way ahead of Cape Coral. But we factor in the per capita numbers, and that captures not just more activity and more people – it also captures growth,” says Osborne.
The Florida Department of Highway Safety also reports that there’s been 162 pedestrian crashes in Lee County just this year, with 18 pedestrian deaths.
For people like Syndei Kyriacou, who experience the traffic every day, the findings of the study are upsetting but surprising.
“Even now that it’s not season it’s very bad. We can’t do anything about it. I mean, it’s Southwest Florida – everybody wants to move down here,” she says.
“I’ve been here since 1985 and our infrastructure can’t keep up with all these people that are currently here. I don’t know where they would start with infrastructure but they do need to expand our roadways.”
