The Real Age Discrimination

From the Tri-State Transportation Campaign’s report, “Older Pedestrians at Risk,” comes this startling information about seniors and pedestrian safety:

People aged 60 years and older comprise 46% of Brooklyn’s 150 pedestrians killed in the three years from 2007 through 2009, though they make up only 16.3% of the population. Those 75 years and older account for only 5.6% of the total population, but 18% of pedestrian fatalities.

At 5.52, the pedestrian fatality rate for Brooklyn residents aged 60 and older was 4.48 times that of residents younger than 60. For those aged 75 years plus, the fatality rate (6.25) was 5.07 times that of their younger neighbors.

I anxiously await the joint statement from the Gray Panthers and Seniors for Safety on the inherent age discrimination designed into Brooklyn streets.