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Despite two fatalities this year resulting from vehicles striking people, a report released Tuesday by Washington D.C.-based Surface Transportation Policy Project says Berkeley is the second safest pedestrian city in California. 

The report surveyed the state’s 58 largest cities with populations greater than 100,000 and found that only Irvine presents less of a vehicle threat than Berkeley. Nearby Richmond, Vallejo and San Jose ranked among California’s ten most dangerous for pedestrians. 

“Berkeley has a fairly high [pedestrian-vehicle] incident rate per capita, but only because there are so many people walking,” explained Kristi Kimabll, northern California Campaign Director of STPP. “People walking are less likely to get hit in Berkeley than in other cities.” 

Nearly 15 percent of Berkeley commuters walk to work, more than any other California city with at least 100,000 residents, according to 2000 census data.  

San Francisco was second to Berkeley with 9.4 percent of its commuters traveling by foot. 

Tuesday’s safety report comes just weeks after Berkeley leaders wrote a pedestrian safety tax measure for the November ballot. The proposed measure would raise property tax by 1.3 cents per square foot to fund the development of lighted crosswalks, pedestrian-activated traffic signals, traffic circles and other safety features. 

Supporters of the pedestrian tax measure say Tuesday’s report does not lessen the need for more pedestrian safety features in Berkeley. Some even questioned the report’s findings. 

“What this report tells us is that we do need to pursue safety measures,” said Wendy Alfsen, coordinator of pedestrian group Walk and Roll Berkeley. 

Alfsen said that the STPP report inappropriately factored the number of people who walk into the safety ratings, whereas the quantity of incidents should have been weighed more heavily. 

“In terms of absolute numbers, we’re very high,” said Alfsen. 

The report indicates that Berkeley is second only to San Francisco in the number of pedestrian-vehicle incidents per capita. 

The report calculations are based on 2001 data from the California Highway Patrol. 

Councilmember Kriss Worthington, an advocate of the pedestrian safety tax, agreed that the report needs to be reviewed more carefully before conclusions can be drawn. 

“Numbers can be shifted into different verdicts,” he said. 

Opponents of the city’s proposed safety tax are certain to use the report to bolster their argument against the measure. 

“I don’t know that we need this tax because I don’t think it will help,” said Berkeley Resident Art Goldberg, who signed ballot arguments against the proposed tax. “And if Berkeley is really the second safest city, that would prove we don’t need it.”