SUVs Kill and Fed Regulators Know It

Death on foot: America’s love of SUVs is killing pedestrians

America’s love for SUVs is killing pedestrians, and federal safety regulators have known for years.

Eric D. Lawrence, Nathan Bomey and Kristi Tanner, Detroit Free Press/USA TODAY NETWORK June 29 2018

Almost 6,000 pedestrians died on or along U.S. roads in 2016 alone — nearly as many Americans as have died in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2002. Data analyses by the Free Press/USA TODAY and others show that SUVs are the constant in the increase and account for a steadily growing proportion of deaths.

Our investigation found:

Federal safety regulators have known for years that SUVs, with their higher front-end profile, are at least twice as likely as cars to kill the walkers, joggers and children they hit, yet have done little to reduce deaths or publicize the danger.
A federal proposal to factor pedestrians into vehicle safety ratings has stalled, with opposition from some automakers.
The rising tide of pedestrian deaths is primarily an urban plague that kills minorities at a disproportionate rate.

June 30, 2018June 28, 2018

Getting Rid of Cars in City Center

Idea for Asbury Park’s Business District? Tactical Urbanism taken to a new level. It won’t happen easily, but we’re on the way to reducing parking congestion and building infrastructure and options for reducing cars.

BY EILLIE ANZILOTTI

Sneaky. If You Can’t Ban Cars–Take Away Parking Spaces

Oslo had a plan to lower its emissions by drastically limit car travel in its center. Now you can drive, but it might not be worth it.

Instead of an outright car ban, Oslo has now announced a tactical-urbanism approach to limiting vehicle movement through the city center. [Photo: Nanisimova/iStock]

For those businesses owners concerned that the lack of parking in the central district will hamper their sales, a study of a Toronto neighborhood, previously covered by Fast Company, should give them some peace of mind. The study found that business owners drastically overestimated the percentage of their customers who arrived by car, and as such, voiced opposition to eliminating street parking in favor of more pedestrian routes and bike lanes. Visitors to the shops, on the other hand, far preferred the more humanized streets, and pedestrians and cyclists, as it turns out, were far more loyal customers, lingering longer in the shops, buying more, and exploring more outlets in the district instead of beelining back to their cars.

June 29, 2018June 27, 2018

Stereotyping People By Their Mode of Transportation

People are not defined by what we use to get around

By Alissa WalkerJun 27, 2018

How we choose to get around is in many ways the most personal decision we make, and one most of us have to confront in public, under dramatically different circumstances, every single day. It’s a daily calculation that takes into consideration money, safety, health, even weather conditions. But, for many of us, it’s not a lifestyle choice. It’s a matter of necessity.

June 28, 2018June 27, 2018

Creative Crosswalks

Katie Pyzyk June 26, 2018

Creative crosswalks: Street art meets safety enhancement

Bright colors and unique designs in crosswalks can create a sense of community while keeping pedestrians safer and drawing drivers’ attention to them.

Painted crosswalks have become ubiquitous as a pedestrian safety measure across the United States and around the world. The instantly recognizable white stripes lead pedestrians and alert drivers to pay extra attention. But a growing trend involves cities abandoning the blasé white uniform for colorful, eye-catching options that serve both as art and enhanced safety tools.

San Francisco has been at the forefront of the movement, with its well-known rainbow crosswalks in the predominantly gay Castro neighborhood. That idea is catching on in cities of varying sizes throughout the country, including Philadelphia, San Antonio and Maplewood, NJ.

June 26, 2018June 25, 2018

What The Heck Are Sharrows?

Sharrows, or Sharing Arrows are showing up on streets in cities (Red Bank and others), and bicyclists and cars don’t know what do do with them.

BY BRIAN MCENTEE JAN 19, 2018

MALIGNED AND MISUNDERSTOOD, SHARROWS ARE THE CAUSE OF MUCH FRUSTRATION FOR CYCLISTS AND DRIVERS ALIKE. BUT THEY CAN PLAY AN IMPORTANT ROLE—IF THEY’RE USED CORRECTLY.

For something that ought to help clarify rules of the road, the shared lane marking—more commonly known as the “sharrow”—can cause tremendous confusion. The distance between what it’s supposed to mean and how it’s actually used is a source of frustration for cyclists and drivers alike. But it doesn’t have to be this way. The sharrow, though often maligned and misunderstood, can have its proper place on our shared streets. That can only happen, however, if we understand its uses and limitations.

Recent opinion by Luisa D’Amato The Record in Ontario, Canada:

‘Sharrows’ are a failed cycling experiment

Sharrows — In Ontario those bicycle symbols on a green background that are painted on some downtown streets — are confusing and pointless. It’s time for them to go.

Shared-lane markings alternating with full bike lanes in Grand Street (Manhattan)

A shared-lane marking in Toronto, Ontario, Canada

June 25, 2018June 25, 2018

A 20 MPH STREET

NOVEMBER 2, 2015
BY STRONG TOWNS

Sometimes a meme is so good, you just have to share it. This one reveals in two simple photos the difference between a street designated 20 mph and one designed to be safe.

We can’t regulate our way to safety. We must design our streets to be safe.

Meme Created By Wes Craiglow, Deputy Director Planning & Development, City of Conway, AR. Loved by Transportation Psychologist!

As Wes points out below, “The meme is intended to help viewers consider how different street designs makes you feel as a driver, and ultimately affect how you behave behind the wheel.

Generally speaking, as depicted by the lower photo, narrower travel lanes, shorter block lengths, and a tree canopy, all contribute to drivers traveling more slowly. See more,,,

https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2015/11/1/a-20-mph-street

June 24, 2018June 22, 2018

3 Steps To Make A City For People Of All Ages

WANT A CITY THAT WORKS FOR PEOPLE OF ALL AGES? TAKE THESE 3 STEPS.

JUNE 20, 2018 BY RACHEL QUEDNAU

Growing older shouldn’t have to mean relocating from the community and neighborhood you love, but in so many American cities which are oriented around cars instead of people, seniors end up relegated to suburban apartment complexes or become increasingly isolated in homes they can’t manage. Simple adjustments to the way we structure our cities and neighborhoods could change that scenario and in turn, make life a whole lot happier, healthier and easier for everyone.

Here are three steps that would make our cities work for people of all ages:

June 23, 2018June 21, 2018

Bikes Can Save Cities

Asbury Park is on its way to designing a city for bicycles which will make the city more equitable, healthy and clean.

How The Humble Bicycle Can Save Our Cities

Eillie Anzilotti Fast Company May 13 2018

Here’s a blueprint for how cities can welcome the bicycle – and all the positive outcomes that a bike-centric city brings.

Designing a city for bicycles is not just a pleasant idea for the cyclists among us. Designing a city for bikes will also achieve the goals we want for our future urban centers, making them more equitable, healthy, efficient and clean.

June 21, 2018June 20, 2018

A Parking Problem? Maybe It’s A Walking Problem.

We’re continually amazed (and comforted) that other cities all over the US are experiencing similar issues. Parking is a common problem. Should shopping and dining patrons be entitled to park in front of businesses? Is free parking really free? Read on…

Sherman Smith June 18 2018

Think Topeka has a parking problem? Take a hike

As more people look to downtown for entertainment, shopping and restaurants, the city plans to modernize meters, make it easier to locate open spaces and incentivize contiguous parking spots.

Even on days when S. Kansas Avenue is crowded, 60 to 70 percent of spaces on side streets may be open. The city maintains 6,000 spaces among streets, lots and garages downtown.

“I think what that turns out to be is there is a walking problem instead of a parking problem,” said public works director Jason Peek.

June 20, 2018

Traffic Signals Are Not Safe For Pedestrians

Making Traffic Signals Fair for Pedestrians

By Angie Schmitt Jun 19, 2018

Traffic signals that maximize crossing time for pedestrians remain the exception, not the rule, in American cities. Photo: District DOT

If you walk in American cities, you know the streets weren’t engineered for you. The obvious signs are the broken, obstructed, or just plain non-existent sidewalks. But there’s also a less visible bias against walking programmed into our traffic signals.

Asbury Park Complete Streets Coalition

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