Apparently per the linked article in the Sun, the City can make intersections pedestrian hostile without a study but need a study to restore even what was there prior to the improvement for motor vehicles. Jamie Kendrick seems to imply accommodating motoring traffic at 4 AM is the bigger priority then accommodating all users safely during peek travel times. This seems to go against State law:
§ 2-602. Public policy.
The General Assembly finds that it is in the public interest for the State to include enhanced transportation facilities for pedestrians and bicycle riders as an essential component of the State’s transportation system, and declares that it is the policy of the State that:
(1) Access to and use of transportation facilities by pedestrians and bicycle riders shall be considered and best engineering practices regarding the needs of bicycle riders and pedestrians shall be employed in all phases of transportation planning, including highway design, construction, reconstruction, and repair as well as expansion and improvement of other transportation facilities…
The following stats should make it clear that Maryland/City traffic engineers have been clueless for a long time and I’ll call BS in a lot of what they are saying.
Pedestrians involved in traffic crashes, Baltimore City represents 32% !!!
| County | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | AVG. | % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Baltimore City | 934 | 972 | 973 | 874 | 832 | 917 | 31.9 |
2009 Bike/ped fatalities by county
| County | Person Type | Total Killed | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Driver | Passenger | Motorcyclists | Pedestrian | Pedalcyclist | Other/Unknown | |||||||||
| Number | Percent | Number | Percent | Number | Percent | Number | Percent | Number | Percent | Number | Percent | Number | Percent | |
|
BALTIMORE CITY (510) |
10 |
26.3 |
6 |
15.8 |
4 |
10.5 |
16 |
42.1 |
2 |
5.3 |
0 |
0 |
38 |
6.9 |
|
Total |
269 |
49.2 |
83 |
15.2 |
69 |
12.6 |
113 |
20.7 |
11 |
2 |
2 |
0.4 |
547 |
100 |
That’s right more pedestrians then drivers were killed and 42% of Baltimore traffic fatalities are pedestrians, yet we need a “study” to see if safety improvements are warranted for pedestrians, after all we have 4 AM motoring traffic to consider.
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