Friday, October 21, 2011

This Week on Foot

This week the Transportation Enhancements Program Beats Back Another Assault from the Senate, but we're still in the midst of The War On Kids, the Elderly, and Other People Who Walk--and their pets, like in TEMECULA: Pedestrian, 81, and dog killed Sunday.

And it's not just in California that folks are worried: 2011 pedestrian deaths causing concern in Arizona, and Pedestrian Deaths on the Rise in Reno. It kind of makes you want to avoid the well-intentioned advice of Transportationist, who suggests you Walk don't run across crosswalks to emphasize the point that roads aren't just for vehicles.

Fortunately in Jakarta they aren't as wimpy as me, where Pedestrians fight for their right to sidewalks. And congratulations are in order for our friends in India, where Model footpaths planned on five roads thanks to their advocacy efforts.

Back here in LA, the City considers making homeowners responsible for sidewalk repairs and legally liable for mishaps, which of course outrages Daily News readers here in the Valley. Fortunately in some places they're more enthusiastic about pedestrian improvements, like in Texas where according to a Dallas council member: Time to act on Complete Streets. Similarly, San Mateo plans to make city streets safer for pedestrians, but funding questions linger.

Funding is also a question for a small city in Canada, where a Pedestrian overpass over roundabout would be pricey. At least it wouldn't be a Bridge to nowhere: Pedestrian bridge linking students to classrooms in southwest Loveland closed. Maybe a better idea is just to add a pedestrian path, like in Pennsylvania where Fahy Bridge to get pedestrian lane next to unsafe sidewalks.

Perhaps New York should try the same thing for some of its neighborhoods, as this week we learned that Midtown is NY's most dangerous for pedestrians. And you thought it was just New Yorkers' bad attitudes that were scary...

2 comments:

  1. Keep in mind that midtown Manhattan also probably has the greatest number of pedestrians... those statistics would seem much more meaningful if they were scaled by the number of pedestrians / amount of traffic / what have you.

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  2. Absolutely, that's a very important point. The "safest" street for a pedestrian is one where no one walks, but of course that's not really what we're looking for, is it?

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