For walkers, Florida's the worst

TAMPA - A new study shows Florida cities are among the most dangerous for pedestrians. When it comes to walking, the study says the Tampa-St. Pete area is second on the list of most dangerous cities.
And many say we've earned it.

According to a report by the Transportation For America (T4) , Florida has four out of the five most dangerous metropolitan areas for walking. Orlando, Tampa, Miami and Jacksonville and their surrounding areas are all considered the highest risk.

Dana Franklin has experienced the danger first hand. She and her daughter were trying to cross Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard last Thursday morning when they were hit.

The car slammed into them, and then kept on going.

Franklin said she was knocked unconscious, and her daughter was badly hurt.

"She has a lot of swelling in her face. She has a broken fracture in her head, right here." Dana Franklin, Jalaya's Mother says. "I woke up like, like a gasp. I didn't know what was going on. My first thing was, where's my child?"

Jalaya was thrown from her mother's arms. Her skull was fractured, and her eyes were black and blue.

Dana was hurt too, with a fractured leg and pelvis.

"I was super hideous. I had fluid coming in from this side. Then I had the two black eyes," said Dana Franklin, Jalaya's Mother.

The T4 study says accidents like these are a result of too many roads that are poorly designed, and too few dollars are spent making them safer for pedestrians.

And drivers, like the one who hit Dana and her daughter, only add to the danger.

"Just come forward and say they did it. They're sorry, anything like that. Don't just leave her out in the street like they did." says Annie Valdez, Dana's Grandmother.

Police are still looking for the driver of that Dodge Caravan.

Dana and her family hope someone will have the courage to come forward.

"I could've been dead. I could've been paralyzed. I could've had brain damage. So many things could've happened to me and to her. But we're coming back strong," Franklin said.