Forbes Thinks KC is Dangerous Because it Drives Too Much?

Forbes comes out with a lot of lists as a way of bringing attention to its publication in the wake of sagging revenues. Their most recent list is the Most Dangerous Cities in America, and to the ire of the local chamber of commerce, Kansas City ranks high on the list at number three.

Of course, it comes with this caveat.

“There are zones in safe cities that are way off the chart for crime rates, but when you average it across all of the city, it doesn’t look so bad,” says Bruce McIndoe, president of Maryland-Based iJet Intelligent Risk Systems, a risk-assessment firm.

 Which is of course true. If you live in Brookside, I'd say you're probably as safe as if you lived in Plano, Texas (the safest city in America!). In fact, if you lived in the great majority of Kansas City, you're generally safe. Crime, particularly violent crime, is very concentrated in this area. Six percent of the population in the zip code 64130 make up 20 percent of the murders and voluntary manslaughters in the city.

Another interesting point raised by a professor of mine relates to the factors they used.

We used FBI data on the number of violent crimes per 100,000 residents in 2009, and Department of Transportation data on the number of traffic fatalities per 100,000 residents in 2008 (the most recent available).

Notice anything about the list? They all tend to be car-centric metro areas. Sure Atlanta, St. Louis and Miami have light rail systems, but they are all still heavily dependent on automobiles. 

It is interesting that Forbes is telling us that what makes a city dangerous is not only the criminals that inhabit a city, but the careless drivers that populate a city, and I applaud them for including that as a criteria. Being a safer city is not just about reducing crime, its about reducing traffic fatalities as well.

Any new light rail campaign should make this part of the campaign - Make Kansas City Safer. Take these careless drivers off the road. Get fewer people driving.