PEDESTRIAN SAFETY IN
METHODLOGY
Pedestrian fatalities and pedestrian injuries 2001:
All pedestrian injury and fatality data are from
the Statewide Integrated Traffic Records System (SWITRS) managed by the California
Department of Highway Patrol. Numbers for 2001 are provisional.
Population 2001:
Population estimates are from the California
Department of Finance and have been updated to reflect the most recent
revisions to county population totals.
Pedestrian Incident Rate:
Pedestrian incident rates are calculated by
dividing all pedestrian injuries and fatalities by population and then
multiplying by 100,000.
Pedestrian Exposure Index:
The Pedestrian Exposure Index is taken from the
2000 U.S. Census Journey To Work statistics and
reflects the approximate percentage of people over 16 years old walking to work
multiplied by 100. This is widely seen as the best available surrogate for
overall levels of pedestrian activity. The Journey to Work data provide an indication of basic exposure for pedestrians. It
is most important in establishing a measure of relative exposure of pedestrians between
counties, and for this purpose it is likely a conservative estimate.
The California Pedestrian Danger Index is
calculated by dividing the pedestrian incident rate by the pedestrian exposure
rate and then adjusting the number to a 0-100 scale where the highest ranking
county scores 100 and all other counties are adjusted accordingly to the same
scale.
Historical Rankings,
Rankings prior to 2000 used Journey to Work data
from the 1990 Census.