THE 5 PLACES IN HOUSTON WHERE YOU’RE MOST LIKELY TO RUN INTO PEDESTRIANS The intersections of Milam and Dallas, Milam and Prairie, and San Jacinto and Congress St. Downtown; Westheimer and McCue near the Galleria; and Bellaire and Corporate Dr. just inside Beltway 8 in Asiatown rank as the top locations for auto-pedestrian accidents, according to a Chronicle review of city records. A grand total of 2,204 collisions involving cars and people traveling on foot have taken place in Houston since 2008, resulting in a total of 174 pedestrian deaths. The deaths were concentrated differently, “along the U.S. Highway 59 corridor near West Park and along Interstate 45 North and I-10 East,” with 43 percent of them taking place on freeways or major highways. [Houston Chronicle]
Sign up for the Newsletter
I’d like to know more statistics.
.
Do any of these involve the train, the double-whammy of pedestrian danger?
.
These intersections have low speed-limits, (with the possible exception of Corporate Drive,) so it’s hard for me to imagine how one can hit a pedestrian with a car! DUI?
I’m not sure how the train is the “double whammy of pedestrian danger,” but if you can’t imagine how these accidents could occur at low speeds then you must not be familiar with Houston’s automotive culture. Drivers here posess a level of self-importance and indifference to human life that never ceases to amaze me. People tend to look for traffic before turn or exiting one of our infinite parking lots, but they rarely check to see if anyone might be using a sidewalk.
What about anywhere along Hwy 6 between 90A and I-10?
In the Midtown/Downtown area, the pedestrians for the most part have total disregard or disdain for the walky-man / hand crosswalk signs… and the crosswalks, too, for that matter. People jump out in front of cars, in the middle of the block, or in a crosswalk but against a red light, or (my pet peeve) in the crosswalk with a DON’T WALK hand while I have a green arrow that intersects with their path.
Most people run over in Houston traffic probably aren’t paying too good attention.
Except cops, they pay attention and jump right in front of cars. For some reason they think they’re invincible…
I beg to disagree with Googlemaster, particularly about the Prairie/Milam intersection. The businesses in that area have security cameras up and review of the footage shows that in those car/pedestrian accidents, the cars are running down walkers who had the crosswalk “walk” signal.
This is not about walkers “jumping” into traffic. It’s about motorists who don’t understand that a pedestrian in a crosswalk is not a free hit. Hard as it may seem to understand in a hermetically sealed V-8-powered SUV, there is no civil right to treat traffic signals as “suggestions.”
And, FYI, movocelot, that’s two blocks from the train.
You can also add a special designation to the Zombie Kroger on 20th for the higher likelihood of running over someone on a Rascal. They swarm like Purple Martins!
I am speaking for the downtown area. Most of the time it is drivers who have a green light and are trying to make a right hand turn. I have come close to being hit many times while walking and having the walk sign to walk and a car is going above the speed limit and turning really fast… people need to slow down. BUSES are really bad too; they will run a red light even though pedestrians have already entered the walkway on the street to walk.
Rice Village: be prepared for a stroller to pop out from between parked cars at any moment.
Let’s face it, in Houston pedestrians are second class citizens and are treated as such. Soon there will be separate toilets and restaurants which will say “Pedestrians Only”.
Soon there will be separate toilets and restaurants which will say “Pedestrians Onlyâ€.
Will the city require such restaurants to provide parking?
I’ve driven a lot of places; I walk AND drive frequently downtown as well as in the Heights.
Houston drivers are by far the most inattentive I’ve ever seen.
Drivers are certainly more aggressive in other places I’ve lived, but they also pay a lot more attention. Houstonians are just terrible, awful drivers who mainly should be taking the bus for everybody’s safety.
THAT will keep people off the streets and where they belong – in their cars.
As an ex-courier driver I worked all over metro Houston 10/12 hr days, downtown being one destination I drove quite often. It would be great when these stats that are ” put out there” could include who’s at fault. I was amazed at the “I’m turning right and not looking left” zombie effect of drivers. As a pedestrian mostly now, all I can say is….. Best not write that here! I just relearned look both ways, to look all ways thrice. Cars will always win and I hate hospitals! Lol Side note: what area (its a highway) has the slowest, inattentive drivers?? I,ll tell you my thoughts after yours.