This is the second article in a series on transportation issues.
Rural communities face different pedestrian, bicycle, and transit safety issues than more urbanized areas. While infrastructure remains a problem in rural areas, distance is often a more important factor in determining transportation choices. However, many people in rural communities still walk or bike to nearby destinations (including transit stops). In fact, many rural residents -- youth, elderly, disabled, low income, or those without access to an automobile -- are dependent on walking, bicycling, or taking transit to access desired goods, services, activities, and destinations such as medical services, education, and employment.
Without amenities like sidewalks and bike lanes, bicyclists and pedestrians are more at risk to be involved in an accident.
California's pedestrian and bicyclist fatality rates are higher than the national average. In 2006, the SACOG region's rural areas experienced 18 fatal or severe injury pedestrian collisions and 13 fatal or severe injury bicycle collisions.
For rural transit safety, the biggest concern is that rural routes often do not have regular fixed stops. Those wishing to board a bus must flag it down while waiting on the side of the road. Bus pullouts or waiting areas are rare, so passengers are subjected to high-speed traffic while they wait. Some rural operators do deviate from the fixed route to drop passengers at or nearer to their final destination.
For more information contact Matt Carpenter at mcarpenter@sacog.org.