We know that Louisville is one of the most unsafe cities for pedestrians, but what can be done?

Wired digs into the Transportation for America study a bit further and puts forth a few suggestions for making streets safer and offers an explanation for the mortal threats posed on city streets. In some places a plethora of Robert Moses wannabes made it too easy to drive into foot traffic.

The report finds wide disparities in the amount each state spends. For example, Providence, Rhode Island, spends $4.01 per person to increase pedestrian and cyclist safety, while Orlando spends 87 cents.

“Too many transportation agencies have focused their investments on serving vehicles that result in unsafe, unhealthy environments for walking and bicycling,” said Anne Canby, president of the Surface Transportation Policy Partnership. “It’s time recipients of federal taxpayers’ money were held accountable for addressing this epidemic of preventable deaths.”

The report finds minority and low-income communities are disproportionately impacted. African-Americans, for example, have a pedestrian fatality rate of 3.01; the rate is 2.88 for Hispanics. Nationally, the rate for all people is 1.53. People 65 and older are at a higher risk, too, with a pedestrian fatality rate of 2.69.

The authors offer some solutions that parallel a national trend toward reconfiguring streets to make them safer and more appealing to pedestrians without adversely impacting traffic flow.

By using traffic calming techniques like reconfiguring road alignments and installing barriers like roundabouts to slow drivers, streets become more accessible. Expanding the Safe Routes to Schoolprogram, which installs or improves crosswalks, signals and other features, would make walking and biking safer for children. And more cities are adopting so-called complete streets policies that give all modes of transportation, from walking to driving to riding the bus, equal access and the same priority.

If 43,000 pedestrians dying in 10 years seems like too many to you, what do you think should be done to make roads safer for people who aren’t in cars?