Traffic Violence. 3 stories.

Hello APCSC Friends~

Three recent tragic events inspire this newsletter today.

I’d truly prefer not to be writing about them.

Please share your thoughts after reading. At the start of the holiday season I know it’s a downer. but so important that we have these conversations.

First: Last week a child was struck and seriously injured by a driver in Asbury Park. I published the family’s GoFundMe on social media. They will need ongoing help, even though they only asked for funds to pay for a ramp for the child’s wheelchair.

The child who was struck by a driver after getting off his bus in Asbury Park.

A long Asbury Park Next Door thread ensued, in which people strayed way off the topic to mention annoyance of bicyclists riding on the sidewalk, revealing a total lack of understanding of the critical importance of improving infrastructure design so drivers cannot run into children as they get off the bus – the true dangers of drivers on our roads. And outrageously, one commenter stated, “Watch your kids.”, showing a stunning lack of empathy for the child with a broken pelvis, and his family with serious, ongoing financial needs.

Second: A tone deaf article in the NYTimes. The paper published an article on November 29th that’s unsurprisingly tone deaf citing an an incident of road rage in which a cycling advocate was killed. In twisted logic the writer blames the incident on The War On Cars. This (formerly) highly respected news outlet is not immune to the brainwashing of the auto industry, NYT editors are willfully ignorant, or else they just want to sell readership piling on with those who continue to bash bicycling advocacy in the US. Streetsblog called out the NYTimes in an article today.

The cyclist fatality in Paris was NOT caused by the “war on cars”.

It’s sadly unsurprising that American reporting would avoid applauding Paris Mayor Anne Hildago’s success in building more and more bicycling infrastructure, and vastly improving health and safety for everyone in the city.

Third: A bicyclist fatality in Long Branch. Can you spot what’s wrong, wrong, wrong with this reporting? Read the article in Patch.

Poor street lighting can be the cause of a fatal crash.

The “teen”driver is not held responsible because he “stayed at the scene”, and “it appears to be an accident”.

American crash reporting almost always absolves the driver unless they are intoxicated. The victim is often blamed for being on the road at all, or not wearing a helmet or bright clothing.

The driver should not always be blamed.

Journalists rarely mention the distractions of gigantic dashboard screens, the dangers of huge SUVs, the design of roads that allow, even seem to invite speeding, lack of adequate street lighting, or insufficient bicycling and walking infrastructure. All of which is truly to blame.

In the US drivers do terrible things because they can. Roads are dangerous by design, the industry is not regulated against selling excessively large vehicles, and the built environment prioritizes drivers above all other road users.

These, and almost all other CRASHES are preventable.

Airline crashes are treated as such – the plane is grounded, and every aspect of the crash is investigated to prevent it happening again. Not so with car crashes. 40,000 people are killed in traffic violence every year in the US.

Road violence is rarely an accident. It’s always a crash. #crashnotaccident

Our city leaders and traffic engineers ignore the needs of the large % of people in every community who do not or cannot drive, whether due to age, disability, or financial reasons.

It doesn’t have to be this way.

Join the movement.

Email: apcompletestreets@gmail.com

Onward~

Polli Schildge

Editor APCSC

Postscript:

Without question every collision is a crash. Sadly some people still think crash and accident are interchangeable terms. The use of accident is no accident – the auto industry has made that term ubiquitous and it’s been adopted by police and journalists thereby taking the onus off drivers and systems that lead to crashes. Thankfully many police departments and journalists are switching to crash, but in some recent articles BOTH terms are used. It’s hard to break a habit…

Calling a crash an accident makes it seem pre-ordained or unavoidable.

Crashes take the lives of 40,000 people every year in the US and they’re treated like collateral damage because, oh well, we have to drive.

It’s criminal that traffic/road engineers and the auto industry have continued to fail people, to kill people – the vulnerable road users outside of cars, those within cars, and drivers themselves.

October 31, 2024

NJ is the most dangerous state for pedestrians. What’s Asbury Park doing about it?

How safe do you feel on Asbury Park city streets? We’d love to hear from you. Email: apcompletestreets@gmail.com

We all walk sometimes. Some of us ride bikes, and many drive.

Are you ever fearful when you’re seeing a loved one off in a car, on a bike, or sending a child off walking to school?

What’s Asbury Park doing about safety on city streets?

There have been some efforts to implement measures to calm traffic, but bike lanes are not connected, curb extensions are not built into newly paved roads. School zones lack basic complete streets infrastructure.

Our streets are wide and seem to invite speeding, so that’s what drivers do. Drivers routinely ignore stop signs, and run through right turns on red without stopping.

Factors that worsen pedestrian safety include long crossing distances, intersections where right-on-red is allowed. More cities are banning right turn on red, and like in Hoboken redesigning streets to save lives. .

Things to know about crosswalks and pedestrian safety.

Meanwhile, there is also a sense of driver entitlement, and simmering anger at anyone using the roads other than drivers.

Road rage leads to traffic violence.

Incidents of road rage escalate across the country. Anger triggered by stress leads to aggressive driving behavior, speeding, and crashes: “humans are just too overwhelmed with, just, everything.”

Road rage in Poughkeepsie involved gunshots, and leads to fist fighting in Ohio days ago.

New Jersey has the distinction of being the most dangerous state in the country for pedestrians.

At some point in life, nearly everyone has been a pedestrian, whether out on an evening stroll, crossing a busy street in the center of town or walking home from school or the bus stop as a kid.

A study has found that the overall number of pedestrian fatalities has increased by 53.34% since 2012.

By gathering and analyzing data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s fatality analysis reporting system, the study also found that New Jersey is the most dangerous state in the country for pedestrians.

Streets are public space. Everyone deserves to use the space equitably and safely.

In April Smart Growth America reported that pedestrian fatalities are at a historic high.

We know the problem, we know the cause, and we know how to fix it.

Painted stripes on the road are not the only solution.

Paint doesn’t protect. 18% of crashes take place in crosswalks.

Our streets are dangerous by design, designed primarily to move cars quickly at the expense of keeping everyone safe.

Let us know what you think about your safety on city streets in Asbury Park. Email apcompletestreets@gmail.com

Onward~

Polli Schildge, Editor APCSC

January 30, 2024February 20, 2024

What Is Asbury Park Waiting For? Advocating for Quick Build. And what the heck is a “sneckdown”?

Hello friends of Asbury Park Complete Streets Coalition,

Hoping that you’ve all been safe and healthy during these winter months.

In a communication today with The City Of Asbury Park administration we discussed the removal of bollards during the recent mini, almost non-snow storm, and the delay of DPW putting them back because of the threat of another (zero) snow event. Instead of being taken away with the first forecast of snow and stored for the entire winter (snow or not) as in previous years, they were moved to the side of the roads, But it’s taken time to get them back in place where they do a critical service making streets safer for people walking and rolling. Essentially putting peoples’ safety at risk while protecting plows and bollards.

City officials too often neglect to improve road infrastructure, using snow plowing as the excuse that mini-roundabouts, curb extensions, (aka “bulb outs), speed bumps, pedestrian islands will impede plows.

First, safety road improvements can easily be designed not to interfere with plowing.

Second, the snow in our area is negligible, but even in cities where there is snowfall, it can be beneficial to safety with the snow itself creating a road narrowing effect, called a “sneckdown”,

The “portmanteau mashes up “snow” and “neckdown,” an engineering term for a sidewalk extension or street island designed to damper drivers.”

This is what happened in Asbury Park when one bollard was not removed during a snowfall. It’s a snowy mini-roundabout, creating a road-narrowing, traffic calming effect.

In addition to being a snowy safety measure, DPW wouldn’t have to spend time picking bollards up and putting them back.

Recently across the US there have been advocate and administrative meetings, and articles published about how to quickly implement measures to make our streets safer.

On Jan. 25th I attended a great meeting with the NJ Bike & Walk Coalition SAFE Network “Streets Are For Everyone”.

The topic of the SAFE Network meeting was Quick Build Demonstration Projects.

Advocates from several municipalities shared projects they’ve completed, most with with help from technical assistance grants.

This Free Complete Streets Technical Assistance grant expires Feb. 2nd. We do not know at this time whether Asbury Park has submitted an application.

Crashes occur regularly in the city, especially during the tourist season. I’ve seen the aftermath on multiple occasions, and I’ll be some of you readers have too.

We don’t know current crash data in Asbury Park, or numbers of injuries or deaths.

We do know that there’s a terrible speeding problem in Asbury Park.

Some residents have protested traffic calming measures like speed bumps and mini traffic circles with the mistaken belief that they’ll lose street parking. So far no other prescribed solutions have been installed, and we don’t know of projects slated for implementation. (Not for lack of inquiring, so we’ll let you know when we find out.)

We know that “Quick Build” tactical urbanism projects work to make streets safer.

Take a look at Red Bank’s report on their project.

Pedestrian Safety Demonstration Project Borough of Red Bank, Monmouth County, NJ

The NJBWC meeting was right in line with an opinion piece in the Washington Post yesterday, by Janette Sadik-Khan, former Transportation Director on NYC, and Kate D. Levin.

Gift article: Washington Post: Want safer streets? Paint them.

Opinion Want safer streets? Paint them. By Janette Sadik-Khan and Kate D. Levin January 29, 2024 at 6:30 a.m. EST

Lastly, a piece was published today in Strong Towns:

No One Should Be the Second Person To Die on a Dangerous Street

As I noted above, we don’t know whether there have been recent injuries or deaths on Asbury Park streets.

Many streets are poorly lit, like intersections on Memorial Drive and other streets are wide and invite speeding.

Do any of the city leaders walk or ride a bike throughout the city day or night, and have a true sense of this reality that many people face every day?

This dark intersection looks exactly like many in Asbury Park.

Here’s a great example taken from the Strong Towns article showing before and after, how a simple paint project can make an intersection safer.

We do have the power to make our streets safer, and in doing so save the lives of people in our communities.

It had been true for many years, according to the previous traffic engineering guide, that cities had to adhere to specific standards in street design to allow for the movement of vehicles over the safety of people, including requiring a certain number of fatalities in order for infrastructure to be built.

This guide, the Manual Of Uniform Traffic Control Devices has been updated, allowing municipalities much more leeway in making changes for safety.

There is grant money available to do Quick Build projects, and the projects themselves are not costly – usually only paint, then easy next steps as described in the featured articles.

What is Asbury Park Waiting for?

Onward.

Polli Schildge, Editor

August 23, 2022August 24, 2022

The Quest for Safer Streets In Asbury Park – And A New Documentary

We’re excited to share the documentary,“The Street Project, premiering on PBS International and Amazon Prime Video on Aug. 25.

The film will be illuminating for many, especially those who drive – which is almost everyone. It brings the American traffic safety crisis — and its possible solutions — to a TV audience.

Bicycle fatalities increased more than 40% between 2010 and 2020, according to the National Safety Council, and preliminary 2021 data from the Governors Highway Safety Association showed that last year saw 7,485 pedestrian fatalities, the most in 40 years.

Bicycle infrastructure on Asbury Park streets, particularly protected infrastructure) is far behind were we have hoped it to be since we began advocating in 2015, outlined in the AP Complete Streets Resolution, and in the city’s Plan For Walking And Biking.

The surge in vehicle crashes is disproportionately harming lower-income families and Black Americans.

Many people in Asbury Park walk and ride bikes or scooters for daily transportation.

Pedestrian behaviors like jaywalking (fake, made up by the auto industry) have been a smokescreen to get drivers off the hook for the surging numbers of walker and bicyclist injuries and deaths in the US. Drivers have gotten off for years claiming, “she came out of nowhere”, and the media, influenced by the auto industry has been blaming people walking distracted by cell phones, or blaming people riding bikes and scooters.

It’s almost NEVER the case that crashes happen because people ride or wander into traffic.

The US leads the world in traffic deaths. Crashes have increased to catastrophic numbers in 2022, the highest in 20 years, and it’s NOT due to the behaviors of people walking or rolling.

The design of our roads encourage (or do little to deter) speeding, and the proliferation of huge vehicles, and driver distraction from dashboard screens have led to a surge in crashes, injuries and deaths of people outside of vehicles.Tom Flood, a former auto ad executive, now a walking and biking advocate using his ad skills created this jarring video: Dashboard screen experience: iCrash, iKill.

Drivers are speeding in gigantic “living rooms on wheels”, with built-in dashboard distractions, on roads that were designed to expedite the movement of vehicles. The incredible power of auto industry advertising has hijacked our brains into believing that we have a human right to drive, that our vehicles are tied to our identity, and that drivers own the road. Safety campaigns aimed at the behavior of people walking and rolling, and the mistaken idea of “shared responsibility” on our roads are contributing to the ongoing problem of traffic violence.

The government has blamed the increase on speeding, impaired driving and other reckless driving behavior. The USDOT has pledged to fund investments in speed enforcement and to build safer roads. We can do the same here in Asbury Park.

We can do things right now to stop traffic violence in Asbury Park.

Crashes have been occurring with greater frequency in Asbury Park.

Reducing car dependency with alternative transit options (Via in Jersey City is an idea!) will reduce traffic. Traffic calming measures are not always laborious or expensive, and there is already grant funding appropriated for projects which have not yet begun. AP administration has been advised by APCSC of NJDOT grants, and Federal grant programs: SS4A and RAISE grants.

There is funding available, but it takes prioritizing, commitment, and political will to get things done.

We are advocates of safe streets for the most vulnerable road users in Asbury Park – that’s literally anyone not inside a car. Cars still rule here, and there’s a political fear of alienating and angering drivers. We get it. Drivers vote, and votes matter. But what matters more is the human health crisis of traffic violence. We believe that a message promoting a safe and healthy city will win votes.

APCSC supports bold candidates who will step up to make permanent change on our streets. Stay tuned.

Onward~

Polli Schildge Editor APCSC

January 1, 2021December 31, 2020

Goodbye 2020

There are no easy ways to describe 2020 as it comes to a close. In the past weeks writers have been philosophizing, analyzing, probing for meaning and grasping for lessons going forward. In Asbury Park we can learn from the mistakes made during these months during the pandemic. We’ve had false starts, beginning with rolling out a neighborhood Slow Streets program without enough community input, and quickly dismantling it. We made the great step of prioritizing people by implementing an Open Streets plan on Cookman Ave (with the hope of making it permanent), allowing foot traffic, outdoor dining and retail on the street between Thursdays and Monday mornings. Then a we sent a conflicting message that cars rule, advertising free holiday parking and welcoming drivers back. Asbury Park social justice advocates are working to limit police interaction in mental health calls and traffic enforcement. And Asbury Park Complete Streets Coalition is continually working with city leaders to make city streets safer and more livable, especially for the most vulnerable. None of it will be easy, and we are grateful for community support.

Onward to 2021.

Goodbye to 2020, a Truly Unimaginable Year for Sustainable Transportation

By Kea Wilson Dec 30, 2020

Black Lives Matter Plaza, created by the Government of the District of Columbia, in the wake of the murder of George Floyd. Photo: Ted Eytan via Creative Commons

Let’s pause for a second and imagine that we could go back in time to Dec. 31, 2019, and tell sustainable transportation advocates what this year held in store for our movement.

Imagine how those hypothetical advocates would react if you told them that, within a few months, roughly two-thirds of all car traffic would abruptly vanish from U.S. streets.

Imagine what our former selves would say you if you told them that such a rapture would prompt countless cities across the country to transform roadways that used to be dedicated exclusively to private vehicles into places to play, move, eat, shop, learn, and more.

Then imagine their faces if you told them that countless other cities would do nothing at all, even as those wide-empty streets encouraged the drivers who remained to speed out of control — forcing per-mile car crash rates to a terrifying, 15-year high.

Read this great article:

https://usa.streetsblog.org/2020/12/30/goodbye-to-2020-a-truly-unimaginable-year-for-sustainable-transportation/

October 22, 2020

Race, Class, and the Silent Epidemic of Pedestrian Deaths in America

For those concerned about making streets safe for the most vulnerable in our Asbury Park community, we recommend the book, Right Of Way, by Angie Schmitt, and the webinar hosted by Charles T. Brown: Right of Way: Race, Class, and the Silent Epidemic of Pedestrian Deaths in America.

The facts and data presented in the webinar are illuminating and disturbing. Pedestrian deaths are not accidents, nor are they random, but they are a part of a systemic problem, with systemic causes. We have a car-oriented culture by design on the part of the automotive industry. There is a need for engineers (and there are some) to step up to acknowledge that 6000 deaths a year of people walking in the US is unacceptable. Black and brown people are the most common victims of pedestrian crashes.

Asbury Park is a small city with a lot of automotive traffic, and a high percentage of residents under the “poverty line”. Traffic is moving at unsafe speeds most of the time throughout the city. We need to reduce speeds by building infrastructure that prioritizes people walking and micro-mobility. While we don’t advocate for enforcement by police, we do advocate lowering speed limits, and monitoring with speed cameras. #20isplenty.

There is a need for engineering, education, and enforcement – not by police – to keep streets safe for the most vulnerable road users, many of whom are Black and other people of color, and many of those are poor and must walk or ride bikes for transportation.

This website and blog are intended to be an educational tool for the community. We hope that supporters of Asbury Park Complete Streets Coalition will share the site, buy the book, and watch the webinar (a little over an hour) and spread the word about how we can make Asbury Park a safer, healthier city.

Right Of Way

Race, Class, and the Silent Epidemic of Pedestrian Deaths in America

248 pages
6 x 9

Angie Schmitt; Foreword by Charles T. Brown

“The face of the pedestrian safety crisis looks a lot like Ignacio Duarte-Rodriguez. The 77-year old grandfather was struck in a hit-and-run crash while trying to cross a high-speed, six-lane road without crosswalks near his son’s home in Phoenix, Arizona. He was one of the more than 6,000 people killed while walking in America in 2018. In the last ten years, there has been a 50 percent increase in pedestrian deaths.

The tragedy of traffic violence has barely registered with the media and wider culture. Disproportionately the victims are like Duarte-Rodriguez—immigrants, the poor, and people of color. They have largely been blamed and forgotten.

In Right of Way, journalist Angie Schmitt shows us that deaths like Duarte-Rodriguez’s are not unavoidable “accidents.” They don’t happen because of jaywalking or distracted walking. They are predictable, occurring in stark geographic patterns that tell a story about systemic inequality. These deaths are the forgotten faces of an increasingly urgent public-health crisis that we have the tools, but not the will, to solve.

Schmitt examines the possible causes of the increase in pedestrian deaths as well as programs and movements that are beginning to respond to the epidemic. Her investigation unveils why pedestrians are dying—and she demands action. Right of Way is a call to reframe the problem, acknowledge the role of racism and classism in the public response to these deaths, and energize advocacy around road safety. Ultimately, Schmitt argues that we need improvements in infrastructure and changes to policy to save lives.

Right of Way unveils a crisis that is rooted in both inequality and the undeterred reign of the automobile in our cities. It challenges us to imagine and demand safer and more equitable cities, where no one is expendable.”

July 14, 2020July 14, 2020

A City Without Cars – Could Asbury Park Do It?

This NYTIMES article, filled with great graphics and data has evoked many responses from readers, and inspired other opinion pieces like this from StreetsBlog.

What are your thoughts about minimizing or eliminating automobiles in Asbury Park? How do you envision our city in 2 years, 5 years, or 10? We know that real estate has been strong, even during the pandemic, and gradually we will see more condos built on iStar’s lots, meaning more people, and undoubtedly more cars, unless we start now to mitigate car use and parking availability. Within the past couple of weeks traffic we’ve seen traffic escalate back to pre pandemic congestion in the business district and waterfront. Drivers are speeding in every neighborhood in the city.

APCSC believes in a walkable, bikeable, livable Asbury Park where everyone, especially the most vulnerable can access every part of the city without the dangers associated with motor vehicles.

Read on…

I’ve Seen a Future Without Cars, and It’s Amazing

Why do American cities waste so much space on cars?

By Farhad Manjoo

NYT Opinion Columnist July 9, 2020

“Automobiles are not just dangerous and bad for the environment; they are also profoundly wasteful of the land around us, taking up way too much physical space to transport too few people. It’s geometry.

In most American cities, wherever you look, you will see a landscape constructed primarily for the movement and storage of automobiles, not for the enjoyment of people: endless wide boulevards and freeways for cars to move swiftly; each road lined with parking spaces for cars at rest; retail establishments ringed with spots for cars…”

What does it take to move 50 people?

50 cars: 55 square feet per person.

One bus: 9 square feet per person

50 bicycles: 15 square feet per person

Read it here:

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/09/opinion/sunday/ban-cars-manhattan-cities.html?referringSource=articleShare

November 18, 2019

World Day Of Remembrance: To Honor The Victims Of Traffic Violence

On World Day of Remembrance, we honor the victims of traffic violence. The third Sunday in November is about remembrance, but EVERY day is about action: we need to prioritize #safety over #speed & design our streets to protect the people most vulnerable to crashes.

More than 1.35 million people die on the road each year globally.

Road traffic injuries

Key facts

Approximately 1.35 million people die each year as a result of road traffic crashes.
The2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development has set an ambitious target of halving the global number of deaths and injuries from road traffic crashes by 2020.
Road traffic crashes cost most countries 3% of their gross domestic product.
More than half of all road traffic deaths are among vulnerable road users: pedestrians, cyclists, and motorcyclists.
93% of the world’s fatalities on the roads occur in low- and middle-income countries, even though these countries have approximately 60% of the world’s vehicles.
Road traffic injuries are the leading cause of death for children and young adults aged 5-29 years.

Our Lives Depend On It. The Future Of Transportation – It’s About Choices

The tools we need are right in front of us. If we have any hope of mitigating the effects of transportation on our health, climate, and our very lives, the solution is simple. Bikes and other micro-transit, and buses/mass transit are obvious answers, and the elevator has also enabled people in cities to do more in less space, while in suburbia buildings are limited to one or two stories, requiring that residents are dependent on motor vehicles to get to work or for any services. This article covers every aspect in detail of why we must cut dependency on motor vehicles, while the industry continues to create ways to get more cars on the roads. Besides the critical health impacts from emissions, “last year, 36,560 Americans died in car crashes, not including 6,283 pedestrians killed by cars.” The auto industry has anesthetized us to these statistics, but we can wake up.

The Hyperloop and the Self-Driving Car Are Not the Future of Transportation

The bus, the bike, and the elevator are.

By HENRY GRABAR

“The tools we need to change transportation are right there in front of us. It’s not the lack of bleeding-edge technology that has stopped us from building cities where a person can live without owning a two-ton, $25,000 vehicle, or from designing a high-speed rail network to sap carbon-spewing domestic air routes like the one between New York and Chicago (the nation’s first and third cities are no further than Beijing and Shanghai, which are now joined by a 4.5-hour train). It’s not for want of “innovation” that we aren’t turning parking into parks, or traffic-clogged arterial roads like New York’s smoggy crosstown arteries into multimodal streets. It’s not the deferred promise of automation that stops us from charging people for the full, ice cap–melting cost of driving. The future of transportation is not about inventions. It’s about choices.”

Read all about it:

https://slate.com/technology/2019/10/future-of-transportation-bus-bike-elevator.html?fbclid=IwAR0E0nfkjXQji2OY9pZO9xKSmjii1Fje-XRaiuzJ7L8XvKoYx2bHUYtTtzU

August 4, 2019August 3, 2019

#FATALFACTS

We can’t ignore this anymore. Scooters and bikes ARE NOT THE PROBLEM. These numbers are unacceptable. We’re working on solutions in Asbury Park. #toomanycars #slowthecars

Vehicle Deaths Estimated at 40,000 for Third Straight Year

For the first time since the Great Recession, the U.S. has experienced three straight years of at least 40,000 roadway deaths, according to preliminary estimatesreleased Feb. 13 by the National Safety Council. In 2018, an estimated 40,000 people lost their lives to car crashes – a 1% decline from 2017 (40,231 deaths) and 2016 (40,327 deaths). About 4.5 million people were seriously injured in crashes last year – also a 1% decrease over 2017.

Discouragingly, last year’s estimated 40,000 deaths is 14% higher than four years ago. Driver behavior is likely contributing to the numbers staying stubbornly high. The Council’s estimates do not reveal causation; however, 2017 final data show spikes in deaths among pedestrians, while distraction continues to be involved in 8% of crashes, and drowsy driving in an additional 2%.

“Forty-thousand deaths is unacceptable,” said Nicholas Smith, interim president and CEO of NSC. “We cannot afford to tread water any more. We know what works, but we need to demonstrate the commitment to implementing the solutions. Roadway deaths are preventable by doubling down on what works, embracing technology advancements and creating a culture of safer driving.”