This week on foot

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The week reaction continues to last week's suggestion that distracted walking may be causing increased pedestrian fatalities. In response, Arkansas, New York Lawmakers Move to Ban Headphones While Walking. Of course, one savvy blogger points out that Safety Group’s Pedestrian Fatality Report Substitutes Guesswork for Analysis, as I'll also discuss in a post next week on the NHTSA latest pedestrian fatality data. In the meantime people everywhere continue to insist that Smart phones foster dumb habits among pedestrians. No mention of the habits they foster in drivers...

And speaking of drivers, this week I found competing editorials regarding whether or not drivers should give pedestrians the right of way at crossings. Some believe Cars shouldn't stop for pedestrians at crosswalks, while others insist Pedestrians should always have the right of way. You can imagine where I fall in this debate.

Meanwhile, snow continues to wreak havoc in climes less balmy than ours here in Southern California. Not only does Sidewalk snow removal sparks debate for city, in Winnipeg City councillor to introduce motion on off-road vehicles after pedestrian killed in snowmobile collision. And for those in Illinois, don't forget that a Deadline to shovel sidewalks expires in Des Moines.

Snow isn't the only thing causing a fuss in the sidewalk department. In Toronto cyclists get sidewalk warning, while here in California we see an epic Battle of the Sidewalk Signs. And then there's the Texas Man claims lost lens caused him to strike pedestrian...on a sidewalk.

Finally, this week Santa Barbara provides us with even more evidence of its pedestrian unfriendliness, when Santa Barbara Council Votes to Pull Out Bulb-Out Requirement for Chapala Street.

Sigh.

At least Cowley residents get pedestrian crossing at long last

Whose sidewalks are they, anyway?

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As I was trolling the internet for pedestrian news this week, I was disturbed to come across this story about the City of Santa Barbara's latest efforts to clear its downtown streets of itinerants and panhandlers. The city's redevelopment agency (sidenote: Santa Barbara needs a redevelopment agency??) plans to devote $50,000 to rearranging sidewalk benches in the city's shopping district so that they are perpendicular, rather than parallel, to the street.

Photo courtesy of Google Streetview

The idea is that this will make panhandling less lucrative for people sitting on the benches because they'll only be facing one direction, and thus have only half the opportunities to ask passersby for money. The backs will also be removed from several benches, further discouraging lingering. The city's actions stem from longstanding frustration on the part of downtown business people with the way the homeless use the sidewalks. "It's just like they've made the street their living room," one anonymous business owner complained. The hope is that changing the angle of the benches will force the homeless to relocate out of downtown.

Wow. There are so many things wrong with this idea, it's a little hard to know where to begin criticizing it.

This Week on Foot

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Pedestrians and health advocates everywhere are groaning over statements this week from Governor's Highway Safety Association Director Barbara Hasha suggesting that Michell Obama's "Get Moving" campaign might actually be working--and the result is that Exercise, iPods could be causing pedestrian deaths. I won't dwell on the absurdity of this much, except to point out that 1) a single year's rise in pedestrian deaths is hardly a trend, so it's a bit early to begin pointing fingers, and 2) wouldn't rising vehicle miles traveled and rising rates of distracted driving be an equal (and more plausible) possibility? And as if American madness wasn't enough, there's the Road Madness in Ghana, we are all not safe.

No indeed we aren't, and there are efforts on many fronts to address that problem. In Canada City brass hope signs cut crossing confusion --they think a sign instructing "Wait for Gap" is easier for pedestrians to understand than "Pedestrians Yield to Vehicles"-- and in Glendale Plan clears path for cyclists and pedestrians. Meanwhile China TV shows grisly deaths as driving lessons and in Wisconsin UW Wants Pedestrians To Stop Walking In Street (here's a thought: maybe you shouldn't close the sidewalk then).

Elsewhere in the world pedestrians fight back--sometimes a bit too strongly, like the Suspect stabs man in pedestrian-rage incident.  But it's easy to understand where the anger comes from when in places like Toronto Sidewalk snowed under near Scarborough Town Centre and there's no snowplow in sight.

Finally this week, a note on vehicle safety. Grist explains that Smaller SUVs are safer than bigger ones, but walkability trumps all . It sure does.

Walk San Diego Forum - Jan 21

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For anyone in the SD region, WSD is holding its first lunchtime forum of the year:

Coast Highway101 – Our region’s next complete street?

Special guest presenters will be:
Diane Langager, Principal Planner, City of Encinitas
Mike Nichols, Councilman, City of Solana Beach

Come hear what the cities of Encinitas and Solana Beach are doing with the planning of Coast Highway 101 to make it safer for bicyclists and pedestrians and how public participation has made road diets and roundabouts part of the solution.

Date: January 21, 2011
Time: 12:00-1:00 P.M.
Location: 193 Horton Plaza, 1st level, (Next to Victoria’s Secret)
Suggested: Lunch Donation is $5.00, RSVP by January 19th, $7.00 at the door

Please RSVP to Cynthia Offenhauer
Free Parking at Horton Plaza Garage

The Mystery of the Blue Sign Continues

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As promised, I did some searching this weekend to try to discover why it is that pedestrian signs in much of Europe are blue, in contrast to the yellow signs found elsewhere in the world. Sadly, I have to report that while I did confirm that the current sign conventions were adopted in the late 1960s as part of the Vienna Convention on Road Signs and Signals, I have yet to identify anything definitive related to the blue color choice.

That said, I am dubious of the theory that blue signs are easier to see at night. While I wasn't able to find any research that examined blue signs specifically, I did come across one study that showed yellow and white signs are more visible at night than green signs. This suggests to me that blue might not be the best choice for pedestrian safety signs, despite Vienna conventions. This is not to say European sign standards have nothing on their American counterparts. After touring Erope on a quest to learn more about innovative traffic control practices, FHWA officials recommended the US adopt Europe's practice of increasing the saturation of color on traffic signs, regardless of shade.

Interestingly, I also came across a study suggesting that sign-makers have more to worry about that just color choice. This 2001 survey of five countries in the Middle East shows that age, gender, education and income all play a role in how well drivers understand signs. Young women with low incomes and low education levels had more difficulty understanding the intent of roadway signs thant their older, richer male counterparts--though even more disturbing was the fact that just slightly over half the drivers correctly identified all signs. As motorization rates continue to increase throughout the developing world, this could have dangerous implications for roadway safety--particularly of pedestrians.