For most of us, walking is part of daily life in Elizabethtown, Kentucky. We walk to work, to school, to the store, and to visit friends and neighbors. But how easy and safe is it to walk here? A tool called SafeStreets gives Elizabethtown a moderate walkability score.
What Is a Walkability Score?
A walkability score tells you how easy and safe it is to get around on foot. There are many ways to measure this, and several tools try to do it. One tool is called SafeStreets, created by Streets and Commons.
SafeStreets assigns a score from 0 to 10 to almost any town, city, or address. A higher score means it’s easier and safer to walk there. The score comes from four parts:
- Daily reach, worth 40%, which looks at how many stores, schools, and other places you can reach on a 15-minute walk
- Street safety, worth 30%, considers vehicle speeds, how often you find a place to cross the street, and how well people walking are kept separate from cars
- Transit reach, worth 15%, looks at access to buses and trains
- Walking comfort, worth 15%, looks at shade, heat, hills, and air quality
Other tools may use other data and/or weigh them differently to come up with a score.
What Is Elizabethtown’s Score?
Elizabethtown scores 5.8 out of 10 on the SafeStreets walkability score. Here is what their data shows about the town:
- About 42 miles of streets are within a 15-minute walk of downtown, making this an “extremely dense network.” Tight, well-connected streets mean shorter walks and more route choices
- Elizabethtown has about 81 street junctions, with an average block length of about half a mile. Longer blocks mean fewer places to turn
- Pedestrian crossings appear regularly, at about nine per mile. Main streets have signals, though side streets may only offer informal crossings
- Only 14% of the town’s roads are considered busy arterial roads. This makes it a relatively calm network that is mostly residential or built for foot traffic
- Our posted speeds average about 19 miles per hour, indicating moderate overall speeds. Speeds in the busiest parts of town are usually even lower because of traffic
- Dedicated walking paths are well developed. Much of the time, you can walk without sharing space with cars
SafeStreets, in part, bases its information on satellite imagery of an area. The actual numbers may be different.
What Does That Score Mean?
A score of 5.8 falls into the moderate range on the SafeStreets scale. Some trips around Elizabethtown are considered walkable, but a car still helps for many errands. A score of 7 or higher is judged as walkable, 8.3 or higher is very walkable, and a score below 3.5 is considered hostile, meaning there are no basic safety features for pedestrians.
How Does Elizabethtown Compare to Other Kentucky Towns and Cities?
Here is how Elizabethtown compares to other Kentucky towns of a similar size, and to two of the state’s largest cities:
City/Town Population Score
| Louisville | 631,818 | 5.3 |
| Lexington | 330,863 | 6.4 |
| Georgetown | 39,117 | 3.7 |
| Richmond | 37,111 | 6.1 |
| Florence | 32,803 | 3.5 |
| Elizabethtown | 32,576 | 5.8 |
| Nicholasville | 32,197 | 3.5 |
| Hopkinsville | 30,906 | 3.5 |
Everything, including walkability scores, is relative. Elizabethtown scores better than most similarly sized Kentucky towns, and higher than Louisville, the state’s largest city. Only Richmond and Lexington score higher among this group. For comparison, New York City, the most walkable city in the country, scores 9.6 out of 10.
Walking in Elizabethtown Comes with Real Risks
No matter a walkability score, walking near roads, traffic, driveways, and parking lots carries risk. Pedestrians aren’t surrounded by metal like car occupants, so any crash with a vehicle can cause severe injuries.
Pedestrian accidents can happen anywhere, even in a town with a moderate walkability score like Elizabethtown. Negligent driving is a frequent cause of pedestrian accidents. They may:
- Be distracted
- Turn at an intersection without checking for pedestrians crossing a street
- Drive too fast to prevent striking a pedestrian
- Drive while impaired by alcohol or drugs
A government agency responsible for road, sidewalk, or intersection design, construction, or maintenance may also be at least partially responsible.
If you’re injured as a pedestrian in a vehicle accident, you may be able to recover compensation for what you’re dealing with through an insurance claim or lawsuit, including the following:
- Medical bills, from emergency care through surgery and rehabilitation
- Lost wages if you missed work, and future lost income if your ability to work is reduced
- Pain and suffering for your physical pain
- Mental anguish for the psychological toll of the crash
Your chances of a successful claim depend on the evidence in your case, which can be easier to obtain if you retain us as quickly as possible after your accident. This allows us to start an investigation before witnesses’ memories fade, security video is erased, and other evidence is lost.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What is Elizabethtown’s walkability score?
A: Elizabethtown scores 5.8 out of 10 on the SafeStreets walkability score, placing it in the moderate range.
Q: Is Elizabethtown more walkable than Louisville or Lexington?
A: Elizabethtown scores higher than Louisville, 5.8 compared to 5.3, but lower than Lexington, which scores 6.4.
Q: What counts as a good walkability score?
A: On the SafeStreets scale, scores of 7.0 or higher are considered walkable, and scores of 8.3 or higher are considered very walkable.
Q: Can I get compensation if I am hit by a car while walking?
A: Yes. If a negligent driver caused the crash, you may be able to recover money for medical bills, lost wages, and pain and suffering.
What Comes Next?
If you’re injured as a pedestrian in a vehicle accident, get help from an experienced attorney. Call The Fleck Firm at (270) 446-7000 today to schedule a free consultation.
We can discuss your accident, your injuries, Kentucky law, and how it may apply in your case. We will fully inform you of your rights, the challenges ahead, and the strengths of your case. Insurance companies have lawyers. You should have one, too.
