http://www.transalt.org/crashmaps/index.html

I grew up in Oklahoma and have lived in OK, TX, TN, and MS. In all of these states, it is against the law to make a right-hand turn while pedestrians have the crossing signal. I can’t believe that in NYC and it’s boroughs, a car can turn right while I’m walking across the street.

One thing Mayor Bloomberg should change is making these right-turns illegal in addition to making the cross signals longer to allow more time for pedestrians to cross.

Pedestrians don’t kill people, cars do. Even when pedestrians or bicyclists may be defying traffic laws or limiting their awareness in some way (like by listening to iPods), they are posing no direct threat to anyone.

A person driving a car is a threat to people by the mere fact that what they are in control of can very easily injure and kill people. If the car has limited visibility (like not being able to see children over their hood), is unnecessarily large or is sound proofed, the driver is knowingly limiting their awareness of their surroundings and what they might impact (perhaps in a similar way to being under the influence of alcohol while driving). With these factors or if they have music or a cell phone conversation going (even with a hands free device) this is infinitely more threatening to society than in the case of pedestrians.

Of course, as an example of far out of whack our priorities have gone, many DOTs actually design streets with the principle that even pedestrians on sidewalks or any objects that might protect pedestrians(like bollards) on sidewalks are dangerous to cars.

We forget that the purpose of cities, transportation systems and streets is to serve people, not to serve cars. The demand for cars and for accommodating their “smooth flow” is a political choice that we have made that can be switched on a case-by-case and system-wide basis. DOTs say they are just responding to demand, when in fact they are driving it.

The system we have created, that is meant to serve people, is drastically degrading our environment on every scale and is now directly causing more random violence and death than any other source in this city.

In most neighborhoods now, if you ask people if they are more concerned about traffic or crime, they will say traffic. Our current choice to freely accommodate automobiles is now causing more fear and isolation — not to mention, community and family destruction — than crime. The city has taken responsibility for crime, but has yet to admit that it even has a problem with traffic

Traffic issues are generally more predictable and manageable than crime, and just as with crime, patterns of negative or destructive behavior need to be held accountable and prevented from continuing.

There is no two-way street here in terms of solutions. Regulating pedestrians would just further feed the monster that we have created, pedestrians that feel safe on their streets is actually part of the solution. It is central to this city’s success that streets are no longer a place of fear and isolation. The streets of this city need to be returned to the people they are meant to serve. While don’t need a “War on Traffic” like the “War on Crime” and defiantly don’t need a “War on pedestrians,” what we do need is a renaissance for our streets.

As you can see, the city hall rally got me feeling it!

it goes without saying they are a lot of unsafe drivers out there, but there might be as many unsafe pedestrians. 2way street on this one.

http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/502522p-423755c.html

http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/502523p-423681c.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/04/nyregion/04hit.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

Why? Because This Bike [Could Be] A Pipe Bomb, or is there just not that much space?

Sad to say it, but I don’t see much happening until the problem gets much worse, and an important celebrity (Paris Hilton, for example) gets hit.