Murders vs. Traffic deaths

I was reminded of a blog entry I wrote a couple years ago, Urban Health, Nasty Cities, Broken Windows, and Community Efficacy, which was written in a spirit of outrage in response to a column in the LA Times which stated that:

"Today's cities are plagued with traffic, violence and overcrowding."

Yes we have violence. And traffic, but so do the suburbs. And most center cities aren't that crowded, not Manhattan, but because of constant outmigration to the suburbs, despite a renewed interest in urban living, a place like Washington or Baltimore can be a pretty nice place to be.

Sure center cities are more dense than area suburbs, but that kind of lifestyle appeals to many. And in both of these cities, it is possible to "consume" different kinds of housing and neighborhood types. If you want detached housing there are plenty of neighborhoods within the city where it is available. Same with attached housing, and more nightlife...

Anyway, thinking about this piece yesterday, I decided to look up murder statistics vs. traffic death statistics.

There are slightly more than 16,000 murders per year. And yes, many occur in cities.

There are more than 42,000 traffic deaths per year. And most don't occur in center cities.

Which place is safer?