First the (relatively) good news. Hillsborough County pedestrian deaths are down 25 percent. The bad news: 39 pedestrians died in 2016, an unacceptably tragic number. Moreover, 12 county bicyclists also died last year. Hillsborough is the deadliest county in the Tampa Bay region.
The bottom line: More signalized crosswalks, improved lighting, lower speed limits and better education initiatives are helpful– but band aid measures in an area still geared to driving everywhere. And while bike lanes help, only 6 percent of Tampa roads have them. Progress is frustratingly incremental.
It’s all a graphic reminder that absent a major mass transit investment–from rail to ferry–we won’t make the sort of inroads that are needed to reverse the our-way-is-the-highway mentality. Perhaps unincorporated county voters should finally reconsider the ongoing implications of mess transit around here. Those pushing a sales-tax referendum are not just rail junkies and the chamber of commerce. They are those who are deadly serious about quality of life.