We write lots about pedestrian security right here, and it’s not as a result of we hate automobiles. It’s as a result of we usually consider that killing folks is unhealthy, and it doesn’t one way or the other develop into much less unhealthy should you kill somebody together with your automotive as an alternative of a gun. Additionally, we need to stay in a world the place you may cross the road with out having to fret that you simply’re going to die.
Sadly, we stay within the U.S., a rustic that doesn’t care how many individuals drivers kill yearly, and any time somebody will get hit, the blame is inevitably shifted away from the motive force as a result of how dare somebody be outdoors of a automotive in a spot the place a driver may be capable of hit them. Add in our love of massive vans and SUVs, and it’s no marvel that street deaths on this nation proceed to worsen yearly.
And sure, the kind of automobiles on the street completely issues. It’s going to harm should you get hit by a Corvette doing 35 mph, nevertheless it’s going to harm a complete lot extra should you get hit by a Ram TRX going the identical velocity. Moreover, there’s little or no probability that you simply’ll be thrown underneath the Corvette when it hits you, whereas, with the TRX, there’s an excellent probability you’ll get thrown to the grown and run over.
However how can we realistically begin turning issues round? It might be nice to have the ability to magically remodel each U.S. city and metropolis right into a extremely walkable space with nice bike infrastructure and no have to drive, however very similar to the second-generation Tesla Roadster, magic isn’t actual. Are we simply caught with an increasing number of folks dying within the streets yearly? Not essentially.
Lately, Ars Technica printed an article by Kevin J. Krizek, a professor of sustainable planning and concrete design on the College of Colorado, centered on answering precisely that query. One vital level is that pedestrian-friendly, well-designed cities akin to Amsterdam and Copenhagen haven’t all the time been that method simply because they’re previous. They responded to grassroots actions that pressured metropolis officers to make adjustments for the higher. At present, many areas of these cities look nothing like they did within the Seventies.
Massive-scale change is troublesome and takes time, however there are additionally quite a lot of issues that native governments can do to discourage the usage of large automobiles and promote pedestrian security:
- Creating prioritized parking areas nearer to shops for all types of mobility which might be slender or lower than 8 toes (2.5 meters) lengthy.
- Utilizing posts or bollards, which might be detachable, to restrict car entry to industrial areas and neighborhoods the place pedestrians, bikes, and smaller automobiles get precedence.
- Radically narrowing journey lanes on streets to drive visitors to decelerate and unlock house for wider sidewalks and bike lanes.
- Limiting or ending car entry to streets close to colleges and economically vibrant industrial districts, both completely or at high-use instances of day.
Would such adjustments make issues much less handy for drivers? Positive. However you understand what’s much more inconvenient? Getting hit by a automotive simply since you dared to cross the road to get to a restaurant.
There’s much more to the article, and we extremely advocate you take a look at the remainder of it right here.
