Thank you for finding this. I blogged about this almost five years ago [link].
2012-05-27 14:05:29
13
The Cities are Safer than the Suburbs!
I know many on this Board love data.
I saw on the "Hit and Run Overnight" thread that someone stated "200 to 300 automobile related deaths in Pittsburgh area each year." And so, like a good skeptic, I googled it.
The search yielded an academic study called "Traffic Fatalities and Homicides by Strangers: Danger of Leaving Home in Cities, Inner Suburbs, and Outer Suburbs." The authors come to this conclusion: Leaving home to go to work and other activities is more dangerous for residents of outer suburban areas than for many central city residents and for nearly all inner suburban residents. From Baltimore to Minneapolis to Houston, some sparsely settled outer suburban counties are the most dangerous parts of their metropolitan areas. These findings are contrary to the conventional wisdom, which claims that cities are dangerous and outer suburbs are safe."
Pittsburgh and Allegheny County are among the city/counties they studied: "The Pittsburgh area
averaged 243 traffic fatalities per year, of which only 24 were in Pittsburgh itself. The metropolitan area had 88 homicides per year, with an annual homicide by stranger average of only 16.2."
So the number checks out. I was fascinated, however by the supporting data for the overall claim: that the central cities and near suburbs are safer than the far suburbs.
Enjoy!
http://urban.arch.virginia.edu/exurbia/death-in-exurbia.pdf
(EDIT: Please forgive if this is OT as there does not appear to be bicycle-specific data. However, I felt it painted a good picture of the relative risk posed by the "normal run" of automobile traffic.)
2012-05-27 12:20:05
I wish I were happier about finding out there's proof my suspicions are backed by numbers, but I'm not 
I'm also not surprised by Fayette and Butler county stats. Wonder why they didn't include Indiana co.
2012-05-28 20:31:22
outer suburb --> higher speed
higher speed --> higher fatality rate
I'd like to see these numbers for bicycles, though...
2012-05-28 21:17:25
I remember hearing at the end of last century that attending inner city schools, with gang killings and such, were still safer than attending the most affluent suburban school.
It takes a lot of murder to compete with teenage car deaths.
2012-05-28 21:21:30
There is also this story that I first posted back in Nov 2011.
2012-05-28 21:40:34
"attending inner city schools, with gang killings and such, were still safer than attending the most affluent suburban school".
True.
I remember being asked by a suburbanite "aren't you afraid of the drive-by shootings?" I live in Squirrel Hill.
Personally, I'm more afraid of the suburbs. I hear they're full of meth-crazed teenagers, cruising around looking for thrill-kill victims. I think.
2012-05-28 23:00:38
isn't there a rich suburban school around here that they call "heroin high"? yeah i am not much of a fan of suburbs.
2012-05-29 03:29:14
Don't know about that, but there certainly is a Hempfield Area High School. The senior high's initials would be HASH.
2012-05-29 10:13:48
Heroin High was Butler Senior High School. Jay Leno called it that in 2000 or 2001 on his show.
ETA: I have a hard time believing it is the speed that directly relates to the deaths. The numbers aren't 100% jiving with the idea that the suburbs are more dangerous. For us in the city the danger rate is 1.0, the rest of the county is 0.6. The surrounding counties are much higher but knowing what we know of the area I think it is not fair to say that everything is a result of those leaving the city from work. The homicide rate in the city is 6 times greater than the county.
We do know that most homicides are between friends and family, uncontested data provided by the FBI. Many of their stats are quite realistic and useful.
Traffic fatalities though, interesting. It is a shame we do not have more info as to how each fatality occurred. The blindingly obvious point is speed, but is that always the issue? I wonder what the rate is for motorcycles? Highway vs rural road, alcohol involved, etc. Too much not known to draw reasonable conclusions, surely enough information to want to look more into it.
That said I hardly believe the city is less safe. None of the major supporting arguments really apply here.
2012-05-29 11:26:25
I think the suburbs might be safer than the city for most people.
For high school students? There are more minimally supervised teen drivers in prosperous 'burbs, and hence, excess mortality in teenagers. I've heard (and I'm guessing it's true) that added mortality is greater than the extra mortality from murders in a ghetto school.
There might be some other considerations comparing the two. Important ones.
A tiny increase in mortality from murder usually means an atmosphere thick with assault, intimidation, and outright terror. One teen murdering another usually means two wrecked lives.
High murder rates probably go along with peripherally related phenomena like poor schools, hard drug abuse, recruiting for prostitution, and pretty much anything parents dread having their kids involved in.
2012-05-29 13:47:17
I think it's hilarious ... when I was house hunting, I looked in Edgewood, Swissvale, Blackridge, Wilkinsburg, places near there. The first question my coworkers asked - how much land did a given house have (I never knew, because anything I consider "mowable" is less than an acre and they don't understand numbers that small). The second question was always what school district is the house in. (edited to clarify: my coworkers all knew I was neither married nor had children at the time, but somehow school district was important) I was urged to move further out to a "better" school district like Murrysville or Monroeville. Monroeville, I'll concede seems to be a decent district, but Murrysville is where my husband went. He is running out of fingers to count the number of now-convicted felons who taught him or were otherwise responsible at his schools. Some of child related crimes that I'm glad I don't know the details of.
Typically my coworkers are all shocked that I survived a 'scary inner city school' like TA. Then I tell them it was a Blue Ribbon school when I was there, and I can tell they simply can't process the idea.
But Mick, one teen murdering another always means way more than two wrecked lives. It's at least two sets of families, friends, teachers, neighbors, who will be scarred by it.
2012-05-29 14:11:56
@ejwme
I think what I mean by "wrecked" is "dead or as good as dead," and you mean something less profound.
A teen dying in a accident hurts a lot of people too, but usually not the same "just-shoot-me-in-the-head" level of wreckage as a few decades in stir.
2012-05-29 15:14:29