Dangerous By Design 2019

READ THIS REPORT.

Our cities are overrun by motor vehicles, and more people being killed outside of cars. Fewer drivers and passengers are being killed due to improved safety standards inside vehicles, but auto makers are building fewer cars in favor of large SUVs and trucks which kill people at a much higher rate.

We will continue to work to make streets safe for people walking and riding bikes, scooters, in pedicabs, and with any other alternative modes of transportation in Asbury Park.

“The last two years on record (2016 and 2017) were the most deadly years for people killed by drivers while walking since 1990.

This is happening because our streets, which we designed for the movement of vehicles, have not changed. In fact, we are continuing to design streets that are dangerous for all people. Furthermore, federal and state policies, standards, and funding mechanisms still produce roads that prioritize high speeds for cars over safety for all people.”

Between 2008 and 2017, drivers struck and killed 49,340 people who were walking on streets all across the United States. That’s more than 13 people per day, or one person every hour and 46 minutes. It’s the equivalent of a jumbo jet full of people crashing—with no survivors—every single month.

READ ALL ABOUT IT HERE:

https://smartgrowthamerica.org/dangerous-by-design/

July 24, 2019July 22, 2019

The Atlantic: US Legal System Prioritizes Cars

Since the crash that killed this author’s friend in 1995, approximately 1 million more Americans have been killed in car crashes. This carnage has been normalized in the US, and “governments have prioritized motorists’ convenience over other goals, including the lives of people who aren’t driving”. If you ride a bike have you ever been accused that you don’t belong on the road because drivers pay gas taxes? Speaking of taxes, buyers of expensive new electric or hybrid cars get great tax breaks:

“Those who walk or bike to work receive no commuter tax benefit, while those who drive receive tax-deductible parking. Another provision of the tax code gives car buyers a tax rebate of up to $7,500 when their new vehicles are electric or hybrid; buyers of brand-new Audis, BMWs, and Jaguars can claim the full $7,500 from the American taxpayer. Environmentally, these vehicles offer an improvement over gas-powered cars (but not public or active transit). Even so, 85 to 90 percent of toxic vehicle emissions in traffic come from tire wear and other non-tailpipe sources, which electric and hybrid cars still produce. They also still contribute to traffic, and can still kill or maim the people they hit. Why are we taxing bus riders to pay rich people to buy McMansions and luxury electric SUVs?

The automobile took over because the legal system helped squeeze out the alternatives.

JUL 9, 2019

Gregory H. Shill, Law professor

People drive on Highway 134 (Ventura Freeway) at the end of the evening rush hour in Glendale, California on September 3, 2010, before the start of the three-day Labor Day holiday weekend. Close to 34.4 million people will travel at least 50 miles from home over the long weekend and about 10.3 percent more will go by car this year as compared to last, according to predictions of The Automobile Club of America (AAA). AFP PHOTO / Robyn Beck (Photo credit should read ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images)

In America, the freedom of movement comes with an asterisk: the obligation to drive. This truism has been echoed by the U.S. Supreme Court, which has pronounced car ownership a “virtual necessity.” The Court’s pronouncement is telling. Yes, in a sense, America is car-dependent by choice—but it is also car-dependent by law.

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/07/car-crashes-arent-always-unavoidable/592447/

July 23, 2019July 22, 2019

GREEN Streets Act Introduced

In keeping with the GREEN Streets Act, this is Asbury Park’s goal: “…we must make it possible for people to take fewer and shorter car trips, as well as make it easy and convenient for people to bike, walk and use transit.”

Generating Resilient, Environmentally Exceptional National (GREEN) Streets Act introduced in the Senate today

Today Senators Ed Markey (D-MA) and Tom Carper (D-DE) introduced a bill that would measure and reduce greenhouse gas emissions and vehicle miles traveled. This would be transformative.

“Unfortunately, our federal transportation program forces people to drive more by measuring success through vehicle speed—not the time it actually takes people to reach their destination. Building wider highways and sprawling cities to accommodate high-speed driving creates a feedback loop of more driving, virtually guaranteeing ever-increasing transportation emissions (and congestion). “

July 22, 2019

Who Pays For Roads?

As we become a more muti-modal country many drivers are claiming the roads they use are intended for motor vehicles only – bicycles and scooters are considered usurpers. There has been a belief that roads are meant for vehicles because drivers pay gas tax. But everyone is paying for roads, car owners, or not. In this 2015 article the author suggests, “It’s also high time to enact a per-mile fee that can be adjusted for the types of transportation costs we’d like to capture—emissions, congestion, construction, maintenance, transit equity…”

Debunking the Myth That Only Drivers Pay for Roads

ERIC JAFFE MAY 13, 2015

Landing on the moon was still a wild dream the last time gas taxes paid nearly the full cost of our roads.

“”When you tally all these hidden costs together, alongside the assists that already occur for road construction and maintenance, the average household pays between $1,105 and $1,848 a year in what the report calls “uncompensated damage costs to support motor vehicle use in the United States.” Again: whether they drive a lot or hardly at all.””

News: Electric Scooters And Valet Parking!

Asbury Park Complete Streets Coalition says YES to mobility options like scooters, which will get people out of cars, reduce congestion in the city, and provide transportation for people who don’t own cars .

Asbury Park Transportation News!

The City of Asbury Park released its Summer 2019 transportation updates Friday.

“This summer, the City launches an electric scooter program, downtown receives a valet parking service, an additional parking payment app becomes available, and the new Guest Parking Permit program was introduced,” a written news statement said.

July 14, 2019July 14, 2019

Video: WNYC, Gothamist, The Green Space Panel On Biking

Watch (or listen) to this show if you’re a bicyclist – or have interest in safety for everyone on our streets. Panelists dig deep into issues that concern everyone in any city in the US: bike and pedestrian infrastructure, car culture, law, e-bikes, police enforcement and more…NYC Police Chief even gets some heat.

We the Commuters: Biking NYC

Originally Aired: Thursday, July 11, 2019

Up for discussion: Biking (and bicyclists’ safety), Citi Bike, delivery guys and more. Throughout the night there will also be bike-curious trivia, where we’ll put your bike-related knowledge to the test for some super sweet swag.

WNYC and Gothamist reporters Shumita Basu, Jake Offenhartz, Stephen Nessen and Chris Robbins host the evening with guests State Senator Zellnor Myrie; Chief Terence Monahan from the NYPD; Citi Bike‘s Caroline Samponaro; bike lawyer Adam White; Jing Wang, the filmmaker behind the documentary “A Winter With Delivery Workers“; and Shabazz Stuart, an urban transportation advocate and CEO of Oonee.

Watch:

https://www.thegreenespace.org/watch/we-the-commuters-live/

July 12, 2019

Take Action! Support A National Complete Streets Bill

A NEW FEDERAL BILL TO MAKE OUR STREETS SAFER

A handful of leaders in the U.S. House and Senate introduced a bill that would finally require states and metro areas to design and build safer streets for everyone, but it will need strong and vocal support from across the country to become law.

Take Action For National Complete Streets

The Complete Streets Act of 2019would require states to set aside money for Complete Streets projects, create a statewide program to award the money (and provide technical support), and adopt design standards that support safer, complete streets. It was introduced today by Sen. Edward Markey (MA) and Rep. Steve Cohen (TN), and co-sponsored by Senators Blumenthal (CT) and Schatz (HI), and Reps. Espaillat (NY) and Gallego (AZ).

Complete Streets bill—tell your senators and representative to co-sponsor the Complete Streets Act of 2019.

July 11, 2019

Asbury Pod: Great Interview with Asbury Park Transportation Manager

Asbury Pod episode #3, Transportation, starting around 19:00 ’til around 1:02:00. Asbury Park Transportation Manager, Mike Manzella, Deputy Mayor Amy Quinn, and Joe Walsh get down into issues like parking, scooters, how to make a walkable and bikeable city, transit, and the rising numbers of automobile/pedestrian and cyclist fatalities across the US.

Thanks for a great in-depth interview!

Listen:

https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/asbury-pod/e/62425309

July 8, 2019February 23, 2020

Video: Amsterdam children fighting cars in 1972

Amsterdam wasn’t always bicycling heaven. Vehicles had been taking over city streets there just as they have been taking over streets in the US, but they did something about it…

This 1972 documentary video tells the story of a how the children in a neighborhood in Amsterdam fought for safe streets and a place to play with what we now call “tactical urbanism”.The area had become congested by vehicles. People, especially children were endangered. Does this 1972 neighborhood look like any American cities we are familiar with today? Some US cities are taking steps to change from “car culture” , into cities for people of all ages , but not enough, and not fast enough. 40,000 people are killed in motor vehicle related crashes every year in the US!

The documentary video was discovered recently, and shortened to about 10 minutes with subtitles. Watch and share.

Image from the documentary from 1972. The streets are dominated by cars and there is not a tree in sight.

“This would be a perfect area for a trial with a maximum speed of 30km/h” (18mph) explains a traffic expert of the city of Amsterdam to a child in a film that was broadcast on Dutch national TV almost 42 years ago.

“The TV documentary was made for a progressive broadcasting corporation and shows the Amsterdam neighbourhood “De Pijp” which was about 100 years old at the time. The homes were run down and small. The streets were never built, nor fit for all the cars brought in by the 40,000 people living in the small area and its many visitors. This led to an overpopulated neighbourhood with a lot of dirt and filth and especially the children suffered. The documentary is one of a series and this particular episode looks at the situation from a child’s perspective.”

The same street as seen in Google Streetview is very different. The carriage way was narrowed. The homes renovated and the trees and bicycles make the area a lot friendlier.