Milwaukee's worst areas for drivers, bikers & walkers have lowest car ownership

MILWAUKEE — A new report found some of the worst of the worst areas for injuries to drivers, pedestrians, and bicyclists are the areas that often have the lowest car ownership.

A Milwaukee non-profit weighed in on what they think it means for the community in that area.

Spencer Harris is a regular bus user. He doesn't have a car and he often needs to get up and down Fond Du Lac Avenue, which he says can be dangerous.

"You don't want to mess around on Fond Du Lac. You don't. There are so many car accidents,” says Harris.

The latest Milwaukee Crash Analysis lists Fond Du Lac Avenue, from 17th Street to Hampton Avenue, as one of the High Injury Networks, meaning there is a high number of drivers, bicyclists, and pedestrians hurt on the street.

Milwaukee Walks, the non-profit that promotes pedestrian safety, did its own analysis of the report, and program manager Marybeth McGinnis says they are concerned to see where these high injury networks are located.

"That is also part of the city that has some of the lowest car ownership rates. The highest number of families that have no access to cars or vehicles,” said McGinnis.

According to thisdata from Health Compass Milwaukee, in this area of Fond Du Lac from 24th Street to 18th Street and North Avenue to Walnut Street, on the city’s north side, 46 percent of households do not own a car.

This is why Milwaukee Walks is in support of the city’s efforts that focus on pedestrian safety.

"I think that what it tells me is our roads are not actually designed for the people who actually live there. They are designed to get people through neighborhoods very, very quickly,” said McGinnis.

On top of that, McGinnis says race was only added as a data collection point in 2021. So in the past, they had to use other data to see how disproportionately people of color were impacted. Smart Growth for America found Black pedestrians are twice as likely to be hit and killed while walking compared to a white person.

"We know, however, quite frankly, that Black Milwaukee is dealing with this crisis even more than other areas and other demographics of the city,” said McGinnis.

But McGinnis says she is glad the city is taking equity into account when deciding how and when streets are improved moving forward. However, Harris wishes something would change sooner, so he could feel safer getting to and from the bus stop.

“They got these signs that say yield to pedestrians. There is one right there. You walk out there, you get smacked,” said Harris.

Milwaukee Walks says now that they have the report on the highest problem areas in the city they plan to target those to educate drivers and pedestrians about the dangers. While the city works on its strategy of making road improvements such as adding bollards, raised crosswalks, or protected bike lanes in these High Injury Networks.

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