A group that tracks motor vehicle, pedestrian accidents gives San Antonio low marks for pedestrian safety, saying the 16 high risk intersections resulted in 204 injuries and fatalities in the city this year, far more than any other city in Texas, News Radio 1200 WOAI reports.
Justin Hill, a partner at the Hill Law Firm, which put together the study, says the single most dangerous intersection in San Antonio is on the Riverwalk downtown, at Commerce and Navarro.
"From our perspective it matters if we have an area with a high number of accidents, what the city should do or what the cab companies should do, or people who are around a lot," he said.
The second most dangerous intersection for pedestrians is Thousand Oaks and Nacogdoches, on the north side. It is followed by Commerce and Bowie, near Rivercenter Mall downtown.
"Pedestrian safety has always been a large cause for concern in San Antonio, with intersections lacking crosswalks and roads generally not friendly for commuting by foot," Hill said. "In some parts of the city, pedestrian safety has diminished so much that activist groups are taking matters into their own hands."
Hill says he isn't surprised that two of the three most dangerous intersections for pedestrians are downtown.
"We're a tourist city, that's what we expected to see," he said.San Antonio is implementing a program called 'Vision Zero' which attempts to reduce motor vehicle pedestrian accidents
.Officials stress that cars are not to blame for many accidents. San Antonio has recently seen an upswing in the number of pedestrians who have been hurt or killed because they have walked in front of traffic, many of them were looking at their phones at the time.
Also not surprisingly, the single most dangerous intersection in Texas is Trinity and East 7th in Austin, which is in the heart of the city's bar and attraction zome southeast of the Capitol.