baltimorespokes

By Don Kostelec
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The 10th day is a potpourri of items illustrating how the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) is a misunderstood organization, by both transportation agencies that look up to them and the public who advocates for safer walking and bicycling investments.
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On the 10th day of Safety Myths, my DOT gave to me…FHWA says so!

[This is a great series, check it out things like: On the 12th day of Safety Myths, my DOT gave to me…12-foot travel lanes!
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“Breaking the law to save time? If you’re a speeding driver, traffic engineers try to keep you safe. If you’re on foot far from the crosswalk, tough luck.”
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On the 12th day of Safety Myths, my DOT gave to me…12-foot travel lanes!

By PETER NORTON, The Globe and Mail

You’ve seen them. Pedestrians on sidewalks or even crossing streets, faces down, their attention more on a device than on their surroundings. Such “phone zombies” can be a nuisance to other pedestrians. The practice can also be dangerous. Responses have varied. A few Chinese cities have tried dividing sidewalks to separate device users from other walkers. Some cities have special signs or lights for phone users. In Honolulu, pedestrians can now be fined if police deem their phone use hazardous. Ontario is considering a similar measure.

The most recent national data from 2015 show that 283 pedestrians were killed in Canada. In the United States, 5,376 were killed – a 10-per-cent increase over 2014 and the highest pedestrian death toll in almost 20 years.
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Pedestrians will become visible to drivers only when drivers expect them to be in streets. The success of shared space in several European cities gives us a clear duty at least to consider it for North American cities. But as long as we are the heirs of a history we don’t know, and which misleads us into assuming that streets are inherently for cars, and that we North Americans always preferred it that way, we will not give this method the attention it deserves. And until we overcome this obstacle, pedestrians will keep getting killed.

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/walking-shouldnt-be-life-threatening-even-for-phonezombies/article37668637/

By Alissa Walker

The study, published in Health Affairs this month, compared child mortality rates in 20 wealthy, democratic countries since 1960. Over the last half century, the rate of childhood death decreased in all nations except the U.S. A child born in the United States today has a 70 percent greater chance of dying before age 20 than in those countries.

“All U.S. policymakers, pediatric health professionals, child health advocates, and families should be troubled by these findings,” reads the study. “The findings should motivate Americans to do everything possible to improve the medical and social conditions of children that are responsible for these preventable deaths.”
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https://www.curbed.com/platform/amp/2018/1/10/16871152/traffic-deaths-children-vision-zero

[B’ Spoke: Imagine using the same methodology in determining the cost of delaying drivers to delaying pedestrians. I am now wondering why nobody thought of that before, time wasted is time wasted as long as you are a person at the mercy of traffic engineers poor decisions.]

https://ourauckland.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/articles/news/2018/6/traffic-delaying-pedestrian-flow-is-a-cost-too/

A new, comprehensive report that proposes a template for how to end all traffic deaths in the United States by 2050 was released last week by the Road to Zero Coalition, an alliance of more than 650 organizations.
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America lags behind 19 comparable countries when it comes to road safety, the council said, referring to a 2016 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report that analyzed data compiled by the World Health Organization and the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
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https://www.forbes.com/sites/tanyamohn/2018/04/24/america-lags-behind-other-high-income-countries-in-road-safety-vision-for-zero-deaths-proposed/

The story below reminded me how the talking pedestrian crossings around the inner harbor had to be programmed to say “No one has pressed the button.” but they decided on “The button is false.” A lot clearer and an improvement in pedestrian safety right? I’m not sure if they still do that but still, a totally different attitude than what’s described below.
– B’ Spokes

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MANY BOSTON, MA (& ELSEWHERE) PED WALK BUTTONS DO NOTHING
-> The Boston Globe reports the vast majority of walk buttons that dot downtown neighborhoods, don’t actually do anything. Officials say the city’s core is just too congested — with cars and pedestrians — to allow any one person to manipulate the cycle. Other major cities around the world, including New York, Seattle, and London, follow similar protocols. While pedestrians may be irked to learn they have been pressing what amount to placebo buttons, Boston officials say the setting is actually aimed at making life easier for walkers by eliminating the need to push a button at all. There was a time when pedestrians needed to press the device to ensure they got their turn. Now, traffic lights at many busy intersections are programmed to assume that pedestrians are constantly looking to cross. https://bit.ly/2vNQjgD

from CenterLines, the e-newsletter of the National Center for Bicycling & Walking.