This Week on Foot

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This weekend the World’s First Double Helix Pedestrian Bridge Opens in Singapore, providing pedestrians with the final link in a 3.5 path around the Marina Bay development--and the opportunity to hang out in some pretty cool architecture. Maybe Singapore can share some of its expertise with Israel, where Tel Aviv Requests Public’s Help in Boardwalk Redesign.

Of course, it takes more than walking paths to make a community pedestrian friendly. As we learned this week from Switchboard, For walkability and community, put the building on the street and the parking in back. Turns out people like looking in the windows of shops as they walk down the street more than they like looking in the windows of cars.

Think policies that require parking to be located behind buildings aren't important? If you live in an unwalkable community, Your Neighborhood Could Be Making You Sick. According to several studies cited in Psycology Today, people who live in walkable neighborhoods are "thinner and healthier" than people in pedestrian unfriendly areas.

A report out of New York City this week explains one other reason that walkability is important: the economy. Yes, Carless New Yorkers save, help city economy. Perhaps that's why in Ithica, New York a Seniors' group to survey intersections for pedestrian safety. Every little bit helps...

Happy Earth Day

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Want to do your part for the planet today? Take a walk! By conservative estimates, walking generates about 1/4 the emissions of driving (more if you don't fuel your walks with a hamburger). Learn more from the Pacific Institute's study Driving vs. Walking: Cows, Climate Change, and Choice.

Home is where the sidewalks are

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Reading through this post from Streetsblog got me thinking about how transportation choices and walkability affect our decisions about where to live. The post asks readers to respond to the question, "How walkability a top priority for you [in deciding where to live]?" Not surprisingly (these are Streetsblog readers after all), the walkability and bikeability of a neighborhood seem to be pretty important. This seems in line with at least one recent study that shows homes in walkable neighborhoods sell for more than those in more traditional suburbs.

On the other hand, I think it's important to keep in mind the response of one reader, who explained: "most important for me, can I get a job there?" I admit, this is the case for me as well. In a perfect world walkability would be the top factor in my choice of where to live...but in that perfect world I would also have the money to afford chic California real estate, not to mention a lively trust fund.

Here in Reality, things aren't quite so simple. I have to take into account not only the location of my workplace, but also my husband's workplace. Factor in kids, schools, not wanting our kids to have to forgo school because our mortgage is so expensive that once we've paid it we can't afford to also clothe our kids...it gets complicated quickly, and walkability slips further and further down the list. All of which only serves to emphasize why it's so important to push for walkability everywhere. It should be a given that neighorhoods have good sidewalks and marked crosswalks, the same way that it's a given that neighborhoods have roads.

I'm looking forward to the day when asking a person if they prioritize walkability in deciding where to live sounds as crazy as asking if they prioritize the availability of drinking water. Until then, I guess I'm not moving.

This week on foot

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New Jersey, where a New Law Says Stop, Not Yield, for Pedestrians, continues to be in the pedestrian safety spotlight this week. The goal of the law, which requires drivers to stop completely once a pedestrian enters a crosswalk or face a $200 fine and 15 days of community service, is to eliminate ambiguities about driver behavior and Protect Pedestrians in crosswalks.

The Pacific Coast Highway could certainly use some of that protection, where this week Authorities seek witnesses to Malibu crash that killed pedestrian. The crash was the second pedestrian fatality in Malibu in the past month.

At the New York auto show this week Volvo revealed one potential solution to pedestrian safety: New Volvo S60 brakes automatically if it detects pedestrians. The vehicle is just one of a growing number of cars that are taking pedestrian safety out of the hands of drivers--a trend that I would like to see a lot more of (and not only because I have a running bet with my husband over whether or not we'll see cars that drive themselves entirely in our lifetime).

Of course, there are other options for improving pedestrian safety, as we learned in this nice Streetsblog feature about Making Streets for Walking: Dan Burden on Reforming Design Standards (e.g. if we want people to drive slowly then we need to--I know, this sounds crazy!--design roads that make it uncomfortable to speed). The piece focuses on the new street design publication recently released by the Institute of Transportation Engineers and the Congress for New Urbanism: Designing Walkable Urban Thoroughfares: A Context Sensitive Approach .

Now if they could only do the same thing for parking lots like this one in Hattiesburg where there was a Pedestrian hit in Wal-Mart parking lot...

The Bunny Fiasco

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Angelenos have probably already heard about last week's controversy over Glendale's Easter-themed crosswalk sting, in which an officer dressed in a rabbit suit repeatedly crossed an unmarked crosswalk to see if drivers would yield to the "pedestrian" as required by law. The police department justified the decision to use the costume by explaining that such an unusual outfit would be more noticeable (clearly they should have read my post explaining that even funny outfits don't catch the eye of distracted drivers).

The sting earned the Glendale PD a lot of publicity...not to mention the ire of at least one city councilmember, who blasted it for being "dangerous" and a waste of city resources. It got me thinking about these types of operations (e.g. crosswalk stings, pedestrian marches, etc) and whether or not they actually advance the pedestrian cause.

We know that spot enforcement can be effective at reducing bad driver behavior like speeding--for a while. But improvements tend to dwindle rapidly once the officers pack up and move to another location. What does linger on, in my opinion at least, is the resentment and bad feelings towards pedestrians that the enforcement generates. Do you think that any of the 24 Glendale motorists who were cited because they failed to yield to a bunny are going to feel enthusiastic about pedestrian rights in the future? I suspect not.

Jane's Walk USA

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I recently learned about this international event honoring the Jane Jacobs, the author of the Death and Life of Great American Cities and generally awesome urban planning thinker (and wearer of surprisingly cool glasses, see below).

What better way to honor an urban planner than by walking around a city? Jane's Walk USA is an annual series of neighborhood walks that teach people about urban planning and introduce them to their community (especially the parts that they might not notice while gazing out of their windshields). Begun in 2007 by a set of Jane's friends, the walks can be led by anyone with an interest in planning, walking, architecture, or other social issues facing city residents.

As the groups website describes "Jane’s Walk honors the legacy and ideas of urban activist and writer Jane Jacobs who championed the interests of local residents and pedestrians over a car-centered approach to planning. Jane’s Walk helps knit people together into a strong and resourceful community, instilling belonging and encouraging civic leadership."

ITS Berkeley Transportation Seminar Series

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Courtesy of the UCLA Transporters email list...

Friday, April 2, 2010

4 - 5 p.m. in 512 O’Brien

Rick Shaw
Professor, Graduate School of Business, Leland Stanfurd Junior College

A Life Cycle Analysis of Pedestrians

Abstract: It has become a mantra among transportation engineers and urban planners that our cities should be more “walkable”. However, a detailed cradle to grave study of the economic, environmental, and social impacts of pedestrianism challenges such orthodoxy. First, an historical survey reveals that innovation in perambulation technology has stagnated over the last several millennia. Additionally, a fiscally driven life cycle analysis of sneakers and automobiles reveals that the former has a markedly negative impact on global economic growth when compared to the latter.

A Distracted Driving Update

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I'm over a month in to my anti-distracted-driving quest. Aside from the rare 30-second call to my husband to tell him I'm on my way to pick him up from work, I've managed to keep off the phone pretty consistently so far.

My biggest complaint has been missing out on all that talking time during my 2-hour commute (I haven't been calling my mom as much lately, I think she's worried), and I have been tempted give in and allow myself hands-free conversations while driving on the freeway. But then I saw this (you might have seen other versions floating around on the internet).




It reminded me of the recent study showing that people talking on cell phones were so absorbed in their conversations they missed a unicycling clown...and reminded me to stick with my no-talking-at-all-while-driving rule.

This Week on Foot

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The week started out on a postive note for those of us who spend time in the City of Ventura, where Ventura council adopts newsstand ordinance for downtown. The new ordinance requires dozens of haphazard newsstands to be replaced with classier multi-publication modules, which will eliminate ugly (and sometimes dangerous) sidewalk clutter throughout the city.

A hundred or so miles to the south, the City of Chula Vista contemplates Walkability's Price, and hopes it's low enough to convince its city council to approve a new streetscape project that will improve walkability on one of its main aterials. Improving walkability is a hot topic on the other side of the country also, where in the Washington, D.C. area a New program aims to improve pedestrian safety .

Why all this interest in improving walkability? For one thing, walking is cheap. As we learned from various sources this week transportation is The Hidden Cost of Living in the Suburbs. Based on the new Housing and Transportation Affordability Index from the Center for Neighborhood Transportation, walkability + cheaper housing = affordability.

Oh, and Beware the Ides of March Madness: brackets based on walkable urbanism. Turns out walkability is good for basketball, too.

Beyond Transit Oriented Development

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POD.

No, it's not just an Apple product.

POD stands for Pedestrian Oriented Development, the topic of a recent speech by author and professor Reid Ewing (described in this recent article in the Planning Commissioners Journal). Ewing explained that effective POD requires higher density (8-12 dwelling units per acre), diverse land uses, and of course "good design" (e.g. short blocks, public spaces). Unfortunately, antiquated development codes and a continuing focus on auto-oriented development currently stand in the way POD. Nonetheless, Ewing estimates that roughly 3-5 percent of development in the US could be classified as POD, a number that will hopefully increase as cities begin to revamp their municipal codes to promote more walkable communities.

While planners have long touted the benefits of Transit-Oriented Development (TOD), which promotes higher-density, mixed-use development around transit hubs, Ewing argues that in fact pedestrian-oriented development has more potential in many US cities, where there simply aren't enough people to support effective transit service.

Hopefully the transit folks won't hate me for saying this, but personally I agree. It's not that I have anything against transit per se. (Well, actually I do--not enough bang for the buck, too much focus on commute trips, biased towards expensive rail projects that primarily benefit rich, white people--but that's not really the point of this post.) It's just that I spend almost all of my time in places (Ventura County, Woodland Hills) that don't have the kind of density/population/job centers to support the frequent transit service that makes for good TOD. So no, transit and transit-oriented development don't excite me much.

On the other hand, I'm lucky enough to live in a community that's so walkable that I can literally go days without getting in my car (don't snicker, that's impressive for a LA suburb). I see the difference having sidewalks and places to walk to can make in travel patterns--imagine if my neighborhood also had short blocks, street furniture, and some of the other POD features that Ewing talks about. Moreover, I'd be willing to bet that implementing POD is cheaper--and maybe even more effective at reducing vehicle trips--than a lot of the transit projects out there.

Street Summit 2010

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In true--ironic--LA fashion, I drove for 2.5 hours yesterday to learn more about how I could spend less time in my car. Yes, yesterday was the 2010 Los Angeles Street Summit, and I wanted to share some info about what I learned in the afternoon's workshops.

MoProject

MoProject is a multi-media contest that allows young people in California to enter their videos, posters, or spoken-word pieces about the health issues they deal with every day. Last year the contest focused on challenges to health in California, such as dangerous sidewalks. This year's asks California teens, how do you "own your health"? Sponsored by CANFIT, MoProject provides a venue for young people to become active participants in their community's health and development.

Greenfield Walking Group

Recently recognized by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation for its success in promoting community health, the Greenfield Walking Group started in 2006 with a few moms who simply wanted to get some exercise by walking in their local Bakersfield park. Unfortunately, they were thwarted by nasty dogs and even nastier trash, not to mention a language barrier. Enter the walkability assessment. Working with California Walks, the ladies were able to assess the walking conditions in their park and identify key problems. Once armed with actual data, they were able to communicate effectively with city leaders about the lack of walkability in their park and develop real solutions for the area (lights, playground equipment, a jogging trail). Now 150 strong, the group has begun to branch out to other communities, teaching them how to advocate for improvements within their neighborhoods.

Trainings and Resources

Those of you who are interested in transforming your community the way that Greenfield ladies did can get some free help from folks at state and federal level. In California, the Office of Traffic Safety in partnership with UC Berkeley provides four-hour Community Pedestrian Safety Trainings in numerous cities throughout the state each year, as well as Pedestrian Safety Assessments for California communities.

The Federal Highway Administration also offers several programs related to walkability and pedestrian safety, including free technical assistance and bi-monthly webinars. The FHWA also recently revised its handbook on creating a Pedestrian Safety Action Plan.

This Week on Foot

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Los Angeles has been buzzing this week about a visit from NYC Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan, who has been sharing her experiences promoting bike and ped-friendly transportation in New York as part of this year's Street Summit. If you missed her opening speech on Wednesday (see excerpt from YouTube above), you have another chance on Saturday at 10:30 at LA Trade Tech College. You can also hear her interview on KPCC here.

Elsewhere in the Southern California region things haven't been so inspiring for pedestrians this week. Along the coast in Malibu, we heard about a Pedestrian hit and ran over multiple times by vehicles on the PCH.

Further up the coast in the Santa Barbara area, Foes of Curb Extensions Can’t See the Safety for the Cars.

At least some people in California are working on improving the pedestrian environment. In the Bay Area 25 motorists cited in West Oakland pedestrian safety sting. Also in Northern California, Fox News (!!) did some investigative reporting, asking Are Sacramento Streets Safe For Wheelchair Pedestrians? (I'll give you three guesses what the answer was). Maybe the Hi-vis coats keep pedestrians safe could work for folks in wheelchairs too.

On a lighter note, a follow up on last week's story about one European town's attempt to improve pedestrian safety for those whole like to imbibe: Romanian 'drunk pedestrian' traffic signs scrapped after 'excessive media coverage'. I wonder how I can get my hands on one of those, now that Romania doesn't need them?

Factors in Childhood Obesity

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I sometimes hear fitness buffs explain that losing weight is simple: eat less, exercise more. This might work nicely as a mantra to chant in your head while running up hills, but the reality is that obesity is a pretty complex phenomenon, particularly when it comes to children. As reported in this recent article from the LA times, race, family structure, household income, and several other factors are all linked to childhood obesity rates according to a newly-published study using data from the National Survey of Childhood Health.

I was especially interested in relationship between childhood obesity and outside activities, which is striking. Children who do not participate in activities outside of school are 40 percent more likely to be obese than children who do, and children who live in neighborhoods without a park or recreaction center are about 20 percen more likely to be overweight.

It seems to me that one of the barriers to getting children to do more outside of school (aside from cost, of course) is that it's hard to get them to those outside activities. What if a kids could walk themselves to soccer practice after school, instead of relying on a parent to drive them? Or walk to a park to play? I believe that an important part of addressing childhood obesity should be restructuring the built environment to make active transportation easy for everyone--especially kids.

Thank you Ray LaHood

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Yesterday Transportation Secretary LaHood announced on his blog (all the cool people have them these days) the "end of favoring motorized transportation at the expense of non-motorized." This major policy revision from the FHWA includes several key recommendations:

• Treat walking and bicycling as equals with other transportation modes.
• Ensure convenient access for people of all ages and abilities.
• Go beyond minimum design standards.
• Collect data on walking and biking trips.
• Set a mode share target for walking and bicycling.
• Protect sidewalks and shared-use paths the same way roadways are protected (for example, snow removal).
• Improve nonmotorized facilities during maintenance projects.

It's great to see leaders at the top of the transportation world recognizing that people who travel on two feet deserve exactly the same treatment as people who travel on four wheels. Here's hoping that whole bit about treating walking and biking equally extends to funding...

Upcoming Events: Street Summits on Two Coasts

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Angelenos and others in the SoCal region can check out STREET SUMMIT 2010: Biking, Walking and Beyond! this Saturday (March 20) at the LA Trade Tech College from 10:00 am - 5:00 pm. Participants can learn about Sidewalk Politics, Reclaiming Streets for People, and Changing Communities Through Walkability Assessments. More information and registration is available on the Street Summit webpage.

Folks on the opposite side of the country are invited to the Chittenden County Bike/Ped Summit on March 27 at the McCarthy Arts Center from 8:30 am to 12:45 pm. On the agenda are sessions about advocacy and behavior change, safe routes to school, bicycle commuting, and a keynote address from Mary Collins, author of American Idle: A Journey Through Our Sedentary Culture. More information is available here.

Cool Ped Stuff #6: Skinny Streets

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Your street is fat.

Who could resist a story (from Grist) that starts with a headline like that? It led me to the blog of photographer and self-proclaimed urban planning geek David Yoon, who passes the time creating pictures of what LA streets might look like on a road diet. Here's one example from Santa Monica, which shows how narrowing a street can transform it from pedestrian acquaintance to pedestrian friend. You can see more at Narrow Streets Los Angeles.

This Week Foot

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This week began with a spate of nasty pedestrian crashes in my part of the world. First the Ventura County Star reported a Pedestrian, 33, struck and killed by car in Fillmore, then there a Buena student hit by car remains in critical condition. Happily, she seems to be improving--but not so happy was the story of Donations sought for Ventura boy's funeral expenses after a two-year-old was hit in a Ventura crosswalk.

Hoping to avoid a similar fate for her own child, Streetsblog describes how a Bay Ridge Mother Stirs Street Safety Awakening at Brooklyn CB 10 after she--and her empty stroller--were hit while walking to pick up her son from school.

They could use that kind of activism elsewhere in the world, like in Nigeria, where in Lagos there is such an Urgent Need to Rehabilitate Ketu Pedestrian Bridge that pedestrians are forced to scurry across a busy four-lane road because it's "safer" than using the overpass.

Of course, the Nigerians almost seem to have it good compared to the Frail pensioner forced to take 14-mile bus ride when she wants to cross the road, who appeared in various blog posts this week.

With all the negative news out there, a little humor was in order. Enter this story: Romanian Residents Amused By Drunken Pedestrian Sign.

Sidewalk Materials: What Are You Walking On?

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Not only did this recent post from the Infrastructurist make me realize that there are blogs about absolutely everything out there, it got me thinking about what we use to build our sidewalks.

Concrete is the most common choice, as it meets several key criteria for sidewalk design: it's cheap, durable, and slip-resistant. On the other hand, it's pretty boring to look at and--a factor that's becoming increasingly important as stormwater runoff regulations become more stringent--it's impervious.

In the past bricks and similar decorative pavers have been used to spice up the look of sidwalks, but cobbled surfaces can be difficult to navigate for folks with disabilities (not to mention those of us who wear high heels). As an alternative, the FHWA recommends stamped concrete or concrete pathways with brick trim. WALKArlington has been working with that Virginia city on a similar "field and border" design concept that relies entirely on textured concrete slabs with a smooth concrete border.

Then there's the issue of permeability. With pavement covering so much of our urban surfaces, it's important to finds materials that allow water to drain directly into the ground. The City of Olympia in Washington state has been installing pervious pavement in projects throughout the city since 1999. Although pervious concrete sidewalks are more expensive than traditional sidewalks, they can significantly reduce overall construction costs by eliminating the need for expensive "stormawater controls" adjacent to roadways (see the full report on Olympia's pervious sidewalks here).

The uber-green may opt for rubber sidewalks, another porous option, made entirely recycled tires. My knees are particularly intrigued by the proponents' claim that the flexible rubber surface is more comfortable to walk on. Sounds cushy to me.

Transportation For America: Take Action

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Transportation for America is heading to DC this week to advocate for Rep. Earl Blumenauer's Active Community Transportation Act (H.R. 4722). This bill would create a $2 billion competitive grant program to fund safe networks for biking and walking, and it needs your support.

You can find more information on the Active Community Transportation Act here, along with links to send a message to your representative asking them to co-sponsor the bill.

This Week on Foot

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Some weeks it sure seems hard to find any good news on the pedestrian front. Seems like I shouldn't have to scour through pages and pages of headlines about pedestrian deaths before I discover anything positive.

Take this story from the small Washington state town where my family is from, which describes a Day of tears: Driver gets prison for hitting, killing pedestrian (the tears must have made a difference for that driver, who only received a three-year sentence, as opposed to the Swedish Rapper Sentenced 15-to-Life for Killing Pedestrian here in LA).

Or there's this story from Long Beach, California, where LBFD rescues pedestrian pinned under Metro Blue Line in downtown Long Beach. Or the sad tale from Detroit, where a DDOT test-drive ends in a pedestrian's death.

All that mayhem makes the fact that Berkeley Police Focuses on Pedestrian Safety in March to Remember Zachary Cruz (a six-year-old killed on his way to an after-school program in Berkeley) seem almost cheerful.

But all is not completely bleak on the pedestrian front. In the UK Road safety group C76 triumphant as Kings Langley C76 route repairs commence. At least London pedestrians will have safer access along one major roadway soon.

Today's Disheartening Quote

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"When did it become the responsibility of the federal DOT to build sidewalks?" asked Missouri Senator Kit Bond during today's transportation appropriations hearing (full story here on Streetsblog).

How about: around when we realized how much treating the obesity epidemic, driven in part by our auto-centric society, costs us? Or, when we discovered how expensive it was to deal with the health and environmental impacts of relying only of vehicles to get around? When we saw how many pedestrians are killed or injured each year in traffic crashes? When we learned that poor walkability contributes to serious social and economic disadvantages for people who can't drive or can't afford a car?

Sigh.

Safe Routes to School Travel Data Report

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In its recently released report Safe Routes to School Travel Data: A Look at Baseline Results from Parent Surveys and Student Travel Tallies the National Center for Safe Routes to School summarizes two years of travel data from the national safe routes to school program. Some of the key findings:

• Most children travel to school by car or school bus, although walking does make up a fairly significant portion of school trips (11 percent in the morning and 15 percent in the afternoon)
• Walking peaks in fifth grade, when nearly a quarter of kids walk or bike to school, then drops when children enter middle school (possibly due to middle schools being further from home than elementary schools)
• Distance is the biggest factor in parents' decision to allow their kids to walk to school, and makes a dramatic difference in walking rates. Over 40 percent of children who live less than a quarter-mile from school walk to school. However, the percentage of walkers drops to nine percent for children living between 1/2 and one mile from school--and to two percent or less for children who live more than a mile away from school.
• Although distance was important, traffic speed, traffic volume, and intersection crossing safety were also major factors in whether or not parents allowed their children to walk to school. Weather also made a difference to parents, but not as much as has been shown in previous studies.

Based on this data, the National Center for Safe Routes to School suggests that in the short term safe routes to school programs focus efforts particularly on areas within a mile of schools, where many children already walk. Since safety concerns are a major reason that parents don't allow their children to walk to school, identifying strategies to lower traffic around schools, reduce traffic speeds, and provide children with safe crossings could have a strong influence on the number of kids who walk to school.

WalkSanDiego 2010 Gala

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San Diego pedestrian advocacy group WalkSanDiego has announced the date of its annual Gala and Golden Footprint Awards ceremony. The Gala, honoring Lemon Grove Mayor Mary Sessom and other award winners to be announced, is a great opportunity to mingle with other pedestrian advocates and learn about some of the important pedestrian work happening in California's most southern county. You can get more details on the website or from the event flyer.

Free FHWA Pedestrian Safety Webinar Tuesday

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Date: Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Time: approximately 1:00-3:00 pm Eastern Time (that's 10-12 am for those of us on the west coast)

The Details: This webconference will focus on tools for improving safety. There will be two presentations and discussions.

Dan Nabors (of VHB) will discuss Pedestrian Road Safety Audits (PRSAs). Case studies and programs such as Montgomery County, Maryland’s PRSA program will be highlighted. Montgomery County’s PRSA program includes an innovative funding mechanism, a before and after study, and has resulted in numerous engineering, enforcement, and education safety countermeasures.

Sarah Weissman (of the Transportation Safety Resource Center at Rutgers University) will discuss “Plan4Safety,” a multi-layered decision support tool and program created for the New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT). Plan4Safety identifies crash hot spots, integrates statewide crash data, roadway characteristic data, calculates statistical analyses, incorporates network screening layers and models, and includes visual analytical tools (GIS).

You don’t need to register. Just follow below instructions:

LINK TO JOIN THE WEB CONFERENCE:
http://fhwa.na3.acrobat.com/psfsw/.
Select “enter as guest,” type your name in the space provided, then click on
“enter room”

TELECONFERENCE NUMBER TO ACCESS AUDIO PORTION

Phone: 800-988-0375, passcode *:* 8220909

Hollywood Walk Audits - Feb 25 and 27

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This week the Hollywood Community Studio is hosting two hour-long walks for people interested in making Hollywood a more walkable place to work and play.

For the uninitiated, a walk audit is a short walking survey of a neighborhood to evaluate the area's pedestrian friendly (or unfriendly) features. Walk audits focus on all aspects of the walking environment, including sidewalks, crosswalks, street furniture, landscaping, lighting, adjacent buildings and other elements that contribute to the pedestrian environment. Often hosted by local pedestrian advocacy groups, walk audits can the the first step in a process to improve community walkability. The great thing about walk audits, aside from the fact that they get people out walking in their neighborhood, is that they provide planners and community leaders with data on the pedestrian enviroment that might not otherwise get collected in a typical traffic study.

"Auditors" often use checklists to help evaluate the walkability of a neighborhood. Here are a couple of examples that you can use in your community:
Partnership for a Walkable America
City of Los Angeles
WalkSanDiego

This Week on Foot

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It seems like we've been hearing a lot lately about the dangers pedestrians face in inclement weather, and this week is no exception. First, in Maryland there was a Pedestrian killed on Branch Avenue while avoiding snowy sidewalks (proving why it's so important to clear the sidewalks and the roadways after a storm). Then, in Montreal Snow removal trucks kill 3 pedestrians.

Even though they rarely have to worry about snow, Seattle bicyclists and pedestrians were hoping for increased safety from proposed legislation that would have increased penalties for drivers who hurt or kill "vulnerable" road users. Unfortunately, the 'Vulnerable Users' bill dies in state Senate -- but supporters promise to bring it back again.

At least pedestrians in New York got some good news this week when they learned that Broadway pedestrian plazas made permanent, NYC might create more . The popular car-free spaces in central Manhattan have not been without controversy, but during their eight-month pilot period they were popular enough to convince Mayor Michael Bloomberg to keep the plazas in place.

Other cities around the world are considering implementing similar projects. Pedestrians to reclaim Queen Street in Brisbane, Australia, and a Bus terminus at Valletta to make way for pedestrians in Malta.

Abu Dhabi is also working to make its streets more pedestrian friendly, where a new street design manual explains Narrower lanes will cut speeding . Maybe they'll let us borrow it to use in LA?

Enjoy the Walk

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Michelle Obama isn't the only one with a campaign to encourage physical activity.

Tipped off by a story last week in the Ventura County Star, I learned about an ambitious walker named George Throop who is traveling from Vancouver, Washington to Washington, D.C. on foot in the hopes that his example will inspire others to "Walk 20 Minutes Today." Guessing that anyone who had already walked through three states would have something to say about walkability, I caught up with George and his current walking buddy (Colin Leath from Santa Barbara) over the weekend.

First, the obvious question: why walking? George explained that he chose walking because it was something that pretty much anyone can do; it doesn't take expensive equipment or special training to walk. He also wanted to keep his message direct. Instead telling people to do something vague like "exercise more," George decided to focus on one simple lifestyle change: walk 20 minutes a day for better health.

Then there's the community-building aspect of walking. People who walk in their neighborhoods every day get to know their community and their neighbors. Their eyes are out on the street instead of inside houses or cars, leading to safer communities. Plus, placing an emphasis on walking helps to generate demand for pedestrian infrastructure and the political will that it takes to push for pedestrian-friendly communities.

George is realistic about what walking can accomplish in terms of people's health. He acknowledges that walking 20 minutes a day won't prevent all health problems, but he believes it can increase awareness about preventative health. He hopes that walking 20 minutes each day will create some momentum in people's lives, moving them towards a healthier lifesytle overall.

So how is it out there? George says that walking conditions have been mostly good so far. Many neighborhoods have sidewalks, particularly in middle class areas (though they often lack curb ramps). However, in poorer neighborhoods the sidewalks are often run down--or nonexistent. Interestingly, sidewalks are also missing from many of the the wealthier communities George has traveled through ("maybe they're inside the gates?").

Some of the most challenging walks have been along rural roads, such as Box Canyon Road in Simi Valley, which aren't built to allow pedestrian access. Highway 1 along the California coast, with its many blind curves, was also a dangerous stretch--although George points out that the good thing about walking is that you can generally hear cars coming early enough to get out of their way. However, George explains that freeways have been the biggest barrier to walkability he has encoutered. He's often confronted by freeways without a pedestrian crossings, forcing him to take long and time-consuming detours.

With his neon yellow safety vest and bright signs advertising his trip, distracted driving hasn't been much of a problem for George yet. On the contrary, he is often the distraction. George explains that drivers regularly veer towards him while trying read his signs, quickly correcting themselves when they realize what they're doing.

Not surprisingly, both George and Colin agree that walking across the country is different that traveling by other modes. George explained that the more you slow down, the greater the experience--which is partly why he has moved the finish date of his trip from June to November. Colin, who has already completed a cross-country bike trip, finds walking more social than other modes. He notices that people are more likely to stop you with questions--or even join the walk for a block or two--when you travel at "human speed."

This week you can find George and Colin walking through Los Angeles along Wilshire Boulevard. After they cross they city, they'll cut north to Glendale and follow Interstate 10 east to Phoenix, El Paso, and eventually the White House. George is hoping he'll be able to convince President Obama (and maybe the rest of the first family) to finish the last 20 minutes of the walk with him.

You can learn more about George and his walk on his website: http://www.enjoythewalk.org/.

Fighting Childhood Obesity

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Thanks to my friend Jessica for sending me the scoop on a newly published study in Preventative Medicine that investigated the link between traffic around the home and childhood obesity. The study tracked about 3,000 children from various communities in Southern California from age 9-10 to 18 to see how the built environment surrounding their homes affected their health.

The study shows a statistically significant correlation between the level of traffic within 150 meters of a child's home and their body mass index (BMI). Children living in areas with higher traffic density showed about a five percent increase in BMI.

The study authors suggest there could be a couple reasons for the correlation. Part of the problem could be that the high traffic levels instill a sense of fear in parents, who are then less likely to allow their children participate in "active" transportation (walking or biking) or outdoor play. Lung function could also play a role, as children exposed to air pollution from nearby traffic are more likely to have asthma, which may inhibit their ability to exercise.

Hopefully the first lady will keep this all in mind as she moves forward with her campaign (summarized here) against childhood obesity. Physical activity is a key component of the campaign, but without better community design it's going to be a hard task to get children to move more...

This Week on Foot

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This week has brought us a hodgepodge of policies, innovations, and decisions, representing all that is good and bad for those of us on foot.

Starting on a positive note, we learn that there are Fewer pedestrian accidents in Reno recently, due at least in part to a hefty enforcement program between October and December of 2009.
The same is true across the world , where in Jamaica Road fatalities decrease by 20% over same period last year.

Things don't look so good in North Dakota, where a Bicycling-pedestrian bill tabled. The bill would have required drivers to give bikes a pedestrians a three-foot clearance while passing.

Of course, things are even worse in South Dakota, where a Proposal gives drivers pedestrian protection. Yes you read that right, drivers would be protected from pedestrians--who would lose some of their crosswalk rights under the proposed bill.

At least South Dakota walkers don't live in Algeria, where Wayward Algerian pedestrians face hefty fines for crossing outside a marked crosswalk.

Fortunately one Oregon city has taken the opposite route, instructing drivers to Stop for pedestrians or face a fine.

Hawaii and North Carolina are also working to improve the pedestrian environment. In Honolulu 'Pedestrian flags' meant to make crossing Pali safer and in North Carolina an 'Enhancer' crosswalk gives pedestrians, cyclists help in crossing busy street. Volvo has also gotten into the game, creating a new system that spots pedestrians in the car's pathway and warns drivers to brake--or brakes for them: Volvo S60 has pedestrian tracking.

Such a system might have helped the woman in the Atlanta area who faces a Gwinnett first: Vehicular homicide charge for texting. Perhaps automatic brakes would have prevented the death of James Eaton, who was struck and killed by distracted driver Lori Reineke.

Ventura County Takes Notice

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In a clear effort to win my heart, Scott Hadly titled his part of the Ventura County Star's feature on traffic safety "Driving riskiest thing people do, yet traffic safety gets little notice." Scott, you have no idea.

The series combines personal stories with hard data on 15 years of fatal crashes in Ventura County, even providing some fancy online spreadsheets for data geeks like me to play around with.

A few quick statistics:

• Between 1994 and 2008 1,005 people were killed in Ventura County traffic crashes.
• 208 of the fatalities were pedestrians--that's about 21 percent of all deaths. As I've complained about before, we don't make the effort to count how many people actually walk in Ventura County (or anywhere, for that matter), so it's hard to say just how disproportionate that is--but given that nationwide walk trips are around six percent of travel, we can assume that pedestrians are dying at much rates than they should be.
• About a third of pedestrian fatalities were related to speeding. This shouldn't come as a surprise, as pedestrian death rates jump dramatically with speed. Traffic calming anyone?

This Week on Foot

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This week begins with the end of the trial David Jassy. The Swedish rapper convicted of 2nd-degree murder claimed he acted in self defense when he attacked and killed pedestrian John Osnes, a story neither the witnesses nor the jury believed.

In happier news, Glendale Downtown alley to become more pedestrian friendly with new decorative pavers, lighting and benches. Business owners in the area plan to take advantage of the enhancements with outdoor concerts and other alley-oriented activities.

But enhancements in New London haven't been met with the same enthusiasm. Pedestrians still wary at Parade, even with classy crosswalks, because the town's new "talking" crosswalks and speed humps don't seem to be having the effect they were intended to.

Some Tulare pedestrians are also fed up with pedestrian improvements. The result? Tulare City Council votes to close pedestrian path after years of vandalism.

Pedestrians in Asia, on the other hand, are having the opposite problem. In Mumbai, Pedestrians ignored, roads preferred over footpaths. And in Jakarta, Pedestrian bridges don’t work for jaywalkers, who risk crossing at street level rather than deal with garbage, crime, and other problems associated with the city's bridges.

It's Not About the Hands

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Today the LA Times reports on a new study by the Highway Loss Data Institute that shows no difference in crash rates following the adoption of California's hand-held cellphone ban. The results have been dismissed by some because of a small sample size (not to mention the fact that just because the law has been adopted, doesn't mean everyone is following it). However, many see the study as further evidence that the true danger of cell phones doesn't come from the way that they are held, but from how they are used while driving.


My personal efforts to give up the distracted driving habit are entering their second week, and so far so good. I admit to having a few moments of "Drat [or other, more forceful, curse word]! I really wish I could use my phone right now," but overall giving up the cell phone hasn't caused as much pain as I expected. The true test comes this weekend, when I have a two-hour drive to San Diego. Alone.

This Week on Foot

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This week the Toronto community continues to stew over a recent uptick in pedestrian deaths. A myriad of potential solutions, theories, and general ranting abound, with Officers out in force to warn, ticket pedestrians, while CBC offers an idea of How pedestrians, cyclists and drivers can get along a little better. One author looks at How Poisson would explain pedestrian deaths, while another just laments the Shell shock and paralysis the whole situation has caused.

Perhaps Toronto can look to Latvia, where Slesers suggests make pedestrian mall in Latvian capital’s downtown, or even the small Washington town of Cheney, where Railroad crossing improvements OK'd: Cheney council approves better pedestrian access

Just as long as they don't follow New York's example. In that city Besides pedestrians, New York City streets are safer for drivers, passengers and bicyclists

Or, it would seem, Ohio: Lottery winner dies after being struck by car

Road Rage Rapper Defends Himself

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As reported today in the LA Times, Swedish rapper David Jassy continues to insist that his November 2008 killing of a pedestrian in Hollywood was motivated by "fear." The confrontation with John Osnes began when Osnes banged the front of Jassy's SUV after Jassy nearly hit him while he was crossing (in a crosswalk) the Sunset Strip.

It ended when, after a tussle between the two men, Jassy ran over Osnes with his vehicle. Jassy explained, "I was in fear for my life. I didn't know if he had a gun, a knife. I know L.A. is way more dangerous than Sweden is."

Apparently so.

Cool Ped Stuff #5: Music Videos

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This Week on Foot

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This weeks brings some interesting innovations in pedestrian safety.

In New York City Coming Soon: Ped-Friendly “Urban Umbrellas” for NYC Sidewalks will help protect pedestrians from falling debris during the construction without forcing them to walk through dark and unattractive sidewalk "sheds."

And then there's Mercedes Developing 'Auto-Swerve' For Pedestrian Safety. As expected from the catchy name, the new device would identify potential pedestrian conflicts and automatically swerve to avoid them.

We can try to improve vehicle safety, but it's going to be hard to fight mother nature. Can pedestrian deaths be blamed on warm weather? Officials in Toronto seem to think so.

Snow can also be a challenge, as we saw this week in New Hampshire where Snowplow driver in NH cited for hitting pedestrian

Or maybe it's just those dangerous pedestrians--like the one in Sweden, where a Swedish rapper argues self-defense in murder case.

It makes you wonder, Will pedestrians ever be safer on our mean streets?

You know it's a big deal when Oprah gets involved

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Yes, Lady O has joined the fight against distracted driving, as we learn here on her webpage--where you can even take the No Phone Zone Pledge along with her other fans.

The nice thing about Oprah's campaign is that there's none of this half-hearted, mixed-signal, we-know-you-can't-spend-20-minutes-out-of-touch-because-heaven-forbid-you-allow-yourself-time-to-think-so-here-have-a-bluetooth-device stuff to muddle things up. As one of her guests put it, "It's not where your hands are, it's where your head is."

Okay, so it's a clear message, and it's in the interest of pedestrian safety, and even the DOT is all over it...and boy is it hard. I spent my entire 55-minute drive home contemplating whether or not I could bring myself to cut the wireless phone cord. (Yes, I realize that it is only because I wasn't on the phone that I had 55 minutes to contemplate this.)

The thought of losing out on all that convenient chatting time seems horrid, and I'm only marginally moved by the example of people like Oprah and Ray LaHood who are probably driven everywhere by someone else and don't even have to deal with this issue.

Nonetheless, as a good pedestrian advocate I'm going to stop ignoring the clear evidence of the dangers of distracted driving and give it a try. I'll let you know how the experiment goes.

This Week on Foot

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The week has been mixed for walkers of the world. Here in Los Angeles we learned that a Stretch of Grand Avenue may be transformed into a park. Will this make Downtown LA: Totally Pedestrian Friendly ? Let's hope so.

Elsewhere in the country an SC woman receives 15 years for killing pedestrian . Perhaps the long sentence will send a message to the driver in San Jose, where a Crossing guard, pedestrian hit by VW near San Jose school

At least one city in Flordia seems to be getting the message: in Winter Park Road design has pedestrians in mind. Not so in Minnesota, where A pedestrian's tumble illustrates winter's hardships

Pedestrian problems also abound outside of the US. This week the Jordan Pioneers Content and Research Department released the results of a survey of four- to seven-year-olds showing Most Children in Jordan Unaware of Safe Pedestrian Behaviour. Perhaps Jordan should look to Europe, where Hungary's new traffic rules favour cyclists and pedestrians

Pedestrian-Oriented Parking

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A new year, a new parking ordinance.

Okay, technically the ordinance became law in November. Still, I hope you’ll forgive me for dawdling on writing this up (and for tooting my own horn), because I couldn’t resist bragging about Ventura County's new parking ordinance.

This isn’t the same old motor-centric set of regulations that linger on in many jurisdictions’ codes; the purpose statement is full of phrases like “reduce the adverse effects of motor vehicle parking areas,” “create pleasant neighborhoods designed at a human-scale for human needs,” and even “encourage reduced driving.” Yes, this is a parking ordinance that wants you to drive less.

The ordinance works towards creating a more walkable environment in many different ways, but rather than subjecting you to all 30+ pages of code (available in legalese for the truly motivated here, Section 8108, --or in layman's terms in the companion Parking and Loading Design Guidelines), here are a few highlights:

Safe Pedestrian Access: the new code mandates that pedestrians have safe and convenient access from the street to building entrances. Among other things this means direct pathways to the front door, including pathways through parking lots where necessary, and no drive-through lanes or vehicles impeding the pedestrian path. This is particularly important because many pedestrian crashes actually happen within parking lots and not out on the roads.

Urban Design: the ordinance encourages sites designed with buildings in front and parking the back to create more pedestrian-friendly streets. When parking lots are located between the sidewalk and the building, extra landscaping is required to soften the impact of parking spaces.


Parking Space Reductions: new regulations allow reduced parking rates for uses that provide sidewalks, crosswalks, and other enhancements to the pedestrian environment. Considering how expensive even a single parking space is ($5,000 to $10,000 for a surface space, not including maintenance), this should motivate developers to substitute cheaper pedestrian amenities for pricey parking spaces.

Landscaping: updated landscaping requirements increase the amount of greenery required in parking lots, lessening the effect of all that asphalt on the streetscape. The code even allows some required parking spaces to be maintained in a landscaping “reserve” (kept as landscaping unless future demand warrants their conversion to parking). Result? More green space for pedestrians.

Since this is a pedestrian blog I won’t go into the new section on bicycle parking, but I assure the bike advocates out there that it’s equally extensive.

Let’s remember that we’re not talking downtown San Francisco here, where high densities and extensive transit systems provide ample opportunities to get creative with parking policy. This is unincorporated Ventura County, where a lot of serious regulatory issues revolve around roosters. If we can adopt (unanimously, I might add) an ordinance like this in Ventura, shouldn’t the rest of the region (yes LA, I’m talking to you) be able to follow suit?