Last year, the Orlando metro area took over the top spot as the most dangerous metro area for pedestrians in the United States.

A new study released last week, however, has dropped Orlando to No. 3.

Jenna, from Palm Bay, writes in this week:

With Orlando no longer being the worst area in America for pedestrian safety, I was wondering how the Brevard County area factored into these rankings — if at all.

When the 2016 Dangerous by Design study was released last week, it made huge waves for Orlando community leaders. After being ranked as the most dangerous metro area in the country for pedestrians last year, the Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford area was able to see a decrease in the ranking, going from first to third, after extensive efforts to make the area safer for pedestrians.

While it's good news, one of the areas that jumped Orlando is in the Central Florida area. The Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville area is now ranked No. 2.

Why is that the case, though?

Bob Kamm, director of the Space Coast Transportation Planning Organization, said many of the roadways in Brevard County — and Central Florida — were built in the 1960s and 1970s during the heyday of the space program.

"(It was) a very fast-growing area," Kamm said. "And the design of the roadways at that time did not place emphasis on accommodating pedestrians."

Although the information might be shocking to some, it came as no surprise to the TPO.

"This has been an issue that we have been aware of for a long time," Kamm said. "And we have delivered considerable resources to doing what we can."

The planning organization said changing the safety dangers begins with education.

"We find that we look at the crash reports and, many times, the crash is caused by the behavior on the part of the pedestrian, which is unsafe," Kamm said.

The TPO hopes the public will take the new information to heart.

"I do hope this is a wakeup call to the general public who may not be aware that there is an issue with pedestrian safety in Brevard and the state of Florida," Kamm said. "And that this is a very important public health issue."

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News 13 has partnered with the Florida Department of Transportation on its “Alert Today, Alive Tomorrow” campaign. The idea is to make sure we’re all sharing the road with people who walk or ride their bikes, and everyone makes it where they need to be safely. FDOT has all kinds of resources for you on alerttodayflorida.com.