A new University of Michigan study that looked at traffic fatalities in New York City and Los Angeles, and compared them with rates nationwide, found that drivers in LA kill pedestrians and bicyclists at a significantly higher rate than nationally. Drivers in NYC kill even more, but the rates of walking and biking are also significantly higher.

The University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute found that in Los Angeles pedestrians accounted for about a third of all traffic fatalities, nearly triple the national average of 11.4 percent. About 3 percent of the fatalities were bicyclists, compared to 1.7 percent nationally. In New York, 49.6 percent of traffic fatalities were pedestrians and 6.1 percent were bicyclists.

The study used data on 449,498 crashes within Los Angeles city limits during an eight year period from 2002 to 2009. During this time 2,086 of these crashes involved at least one death.

LA County Bicycle Coalition Planning and Policy Director Eric Bruins told the LA Times that while 20 percent of all trips in the county are on foot or by bike, less than 1 percent of county transportation funding goes to improvements for pedestrians and bicyclists.

Read more in the LA Times.