You’re free to mow down pedestrians in Prince William
from Greater Greater Washington by David Alpert
In Prince William County, apparently it’s completely legal to kill any pedestrian, anytime, if they are in the road but not in a crosswalk. All you have to do is not drive away afterward and be sober.
Image from Google Street View near the spot of the crash.
This morning, a pickup truck driver and possibly also the driver of another box truck hit and killed a man crossing Virginia Route 234 near US-1 in Dumfries.
We don’t know all the details. Did the man suddenly run out in front of the truck, or was he crossing at a place where there is poor visibility? It’s early in the morning, so maybe the sun was in his eyes. Maybe the pickup truck driver couldn’t have avoided the crash.
Or, perhaps it’s a clear stretch, and the driver was just speeding up to try to make the light, or on his phone, or trying to eat a breakfast sandwich at the same time.
But at least from the article, it doesn’t appear that Prince William County police care. Spokesperson Jonathan Perok simply told Potomac Local, “Since the victim crossed where there is no cross walk, the fault of the death lies with the pedestrian.”
Whenever we write about pedestrian safety, some commenters accuse us of being absolutist, of believe it’s always the driver’s fault. It’s not. Sometimes it’s the driver’s fault, sometimes the pedestrian’s.
But local police are the ones who are usually absolutist. Lt. Craig Royal, head of the MPD crash unit, told the DC Pedestrian Advisory Council that in pedestrian crashes, in his experience the pedestrian has always done something wrong. Even if that’s usually correct, that attitude means that police aren’t really going to try to decide. They’ll just assume it’s the pedestrian’s fault.
After all, the pedestrian is dead. The driver isn’t. Identifying fault requires an investigation which is a lot of work. And if they do blame even one driver one time, they’ll probably catch a bunch of political flak from all the drivers who don’t want to be afraid they might face charges if they hit someone.
There’s political support for arresting drunk drivers and hit-and-run drivers, so the police do that. Or at least they do sometimes; at other times, it’s still too much work. Drivers who simply aren’t paying attention face no risk at all.
Pedestrians have a responsibility to act safely. But drivers also have a responsibility to be taking reasonable care not to kill people. The police at least owe it to everyone to conduct an investigation and avoid coming to a hasty conclusion simply because the pedestrian isn’t in the very limited spaces that have been allocated to them. In many suburban areas, there are simply not enough crosswalks in places people need to cross.
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Bike/ped issues, change from 2007 to 2008
Injured Persons
| 2077 | 2008 | |
|---|---|---|
| Pedestrians | 70,286 | 68,832 |
| Bicyclists | 17,685 | 18,011 |
Distribution of Transportation Fatalities
| 2077 | 2008 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number | Percent | Number | Percent | |
| Pedestrians | 4,699 | 10.8 | 4,378 | 11.1 |
| Bicyclists | 701 | 1.6 | 716 | 1.8 |
Continue reading “Bike/ped issues, change from 2007 to 2008”
While 33 men were rescued from a Chilean mine, 6500 people died on American streets
From Biking in LA
Like everyone else, I kept an eye on the TV since the rescue of the Chilean miners began late Tuesday night.
My spirits soared when Florencio Avalos reached the surface, the first of 33 miners to be saved. And I’ve said a prayer of thanks for every one who has been brought out safe and alive, and rejoiced when the rescue capsule was raised for the last time and the final rescuer stepped out.
But let’s put this in perspective.
In the 10 weeks since the 33 miners were trapped on August 5, the world watched in rapt attention as an international team of rescuers literally moved the earth to bring them out.
But during the same 10 weeks, over 6,500 people died on American streets, based on statistics from the U.S. Department of Transportation.
In the same period, roughly 850 pedestrians and 140 bicyclists were killed in motor vehicle collisions.
By my count, 12 cyclists were killed by motor vehicles here in Southern California alone since August 5 alone; another died as the result of a collision with a pedestrian.
And no one even noticed.
No massive press response. No live coverage.
No 24/7 media watch tracking the safety of every motorist, cyclist, pedestrian and transit user throughout their journey, and breathlessly reporting when each arrived safely at their destination. Or breaking the tragic news to the world when one of the 33,963 people who were killed on our streets last year didn’t make it back again.
Those same statistics tell us that of the millions of people who will leave their homes today, 93 won’t return.
It could be you. Or me. It could be someone you love, or someone you barely know. Someone who once crossed your path, or someone you’ll never meet.
It’s just collateral damage. The price we’ve come to accept for the privilege of getting from here to there. 93 people every day. 651 every week. 2830 every month.
Roughly one person killed on American roads every 15 minutes.
And it touches virtually every life in this country.
So when does it become unacceptable? When do we reach the point when we decide as a society that the price is too high, that the last death was one too many?
And we’re willing to put the same effort into saving the 33,000 that we put into saving the 33.
I’m already there.
I thank God the miners are safe.
And I’ll be just as glad when the rest of us are.
Continue reading “While 33 men were rescued from a Chilean mine, 6500 people died on American streets”
Hey, I want a tax free subsidy too.
from Streetsblog Capitol Hill
…
Cato’s free parking severely distorts transportation prices. The market price of commuter parking in the commercial garage closest to Cato is $255 a month, so Cato’s free parking subsidizes the cost of driving to work by $255 a month. Because employer-paid parking is a tax-exempt fringe benefit, Cato pays the free parkers a tax-exempt subsidy of $3,060 a year ($255 x 12).
…Cato’s free parking reduces the out-of-pocket cost of driving to work by two-thirds….
Continue reading “Hey, I want a tax free subsidy too.”
Still more evidence of the network effect in bicycle safety
from Streetsblog.net
I have heard some criticism of Jacobsen’s 2003 study that showed that, for cyclists, there was safety in numbers, but it’s good to see a couple of other studies that seem to validate it.
As ridership goes up, crash rates stay flat. It’s happening in Portland (see page 11 of this report [PDF]). It’s happening in New York City.
The phenomenon, dubbed “safety in numbers,” was first identified in 2003, in an academic paper by public health researcher Peter Jacobsen [PDF]. After being asked by officials in Pasadena, Calif., if their city “was a dangerous place to bicycle,” Jacobsen began looking at crash data from various communities where bicycle ridership had fluctuated over time.
What he found surprised him: The number of crashes involving bikes correlated with the number of riders in a community. As ridership fluctuated, so did the crash rate. More riders, fewer crashes; fewer riders, more crashes.
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The lack of what to do in public places
At least in prison they get to play basketball in the courtyard
Unsurprisingly, Emily in D.C. says it took less than 24 hours for one her neighbors to call bullshit on the building management’s “exciting news.”
Guerilla Complete Streets – Fort Worth Better Block Project
By: Kevin Buchanan
Narrow, slow traffic lanes. Dedicated bike lanes. Giant-sized people space. Art vendors. Food carts. Sidewalk cafes. On-street bike corrals. Live music. Native landscaping. Games. Giant crosswalk.
If it weren’t for the presence of skyline landmarks like Burnett Plaza, the T&P Station, the Omni, and Carter + Burgess, err, Jacobs Plaza, you’d be forgiven for thinking this was a scene out of Austin or Portland. You certainly wouldn’t think this was the 200 block of South Main in the Near Southside here in Fort Worth.
Yet, thanks to some extensive under-the-radar planning work and a dedicated team of volunteers willing to go “guerilla” in the name of proving the concepts behind revitalizing our classic urban areas, all of these things arrived on South Main just in time for the Fall 2010 Arts Goggle event.
…
Before
After
And lots more pictures
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Real-time Capital Bikeshare map
from Greater Greater Washington
An amazing map site shows real-time usage at Capital Bikeshare stations, along with how empty and full stations have been over the last 48 hours. You can also see 15 other cities, which gives a fascinating look at how the density of bike sharing varies between cities.
MD motorist spotted out of state – still telling cyclists what to do
From sierramotors.wordpress.com
I live 50 miles from the entrance to Yosemite National Park. I have beautiful places to ride and get to deal with tourist regularly that drive like complete idiots.
This morning I was on my bicycle just before sunrise. I headed over to Hwy 4 to spend a couple of hours climbing hills. Hwy 4 goes from the 99 freeway near Stockton, over Ebbetts Pass (Elevation 8750’). The part I ride on regularly has steep climbs and a nice shoulder so I am not too close to traffic. The traffic can include logging trucks, vacation RV’s and people in a hurry to go either to the valley or wine tasting.
At the top of the three mile climb is a viewpoint, Vista Point. It is a convenient place to take a quick break for nourishment or whatever is needed. After doing three climbs I stopped for a brief minute. I see a Nissan Maxima with Maryland plates (tourist) coming my way very slowly. The car came to a complete stop. It was sitting in the middle of the highway where the speed limit is 65 mph. and on a curve with limited visibility.
They were looking at each other and motioning like they were lost. And they sat. I couldn’t just let them sit there until a logging truck came by so I attempted to wave them into Vista Point. After looking at me rather stupidly they pulled in. I motioned for them to roll down their window. They looked at me with a vague lost tourist smile. I explained my point of view to them.
“I see people like you all of the time” I started. “You think your out in the country and the rules of the road no longer apply to you. You can’t just stop your car in a traffic lane and sit there, just like you can’t make u-turns on this roadway”. (Another tourist favorite)
I implored them to drive like they had at least a little intelligence as to not cause an accident. The driver just started to pull away.
He quickly stopped and backs up to me.
“I see a lot of bicyclist riding two abreast and that’s not safe” the guy says. “And sometimes they are not even in bike lanes!” Wow, this guy is obviously a deep thinker. “I’m not doing that, now am I pal?” Was my retort.
I continue with him, “It is stupid to stop in a traffic lane. You are going to cause an accident or kill somebody” I stated with a little increase in volume. I think he started to sense my urge to educate him on proper roadway etiquette by dragging him thru his window and rearranging his nose. No one wants to be beat up by a guy in spandex.
He hits the accelerator and yells out the window, “You are a rude cyclist”. I just smiled and went back to climbing hills.
Continue reading “MD motorist spotted out of state – still telling cyclists what to do”