Finally, an update on an outdated document which can help prioritize people, especially the elderly

Hello readers,

Here’s wishing you all a healthy and happy holiday season and new year.

Feel free to scroll to the bottom to watch the BEST Christmas commercial EVER.  We need to stay strong for every reason, and active living is the best way to do it.

🚲 🚶❤️🎄

But I do hope you’ll read through…!

The MUTCD has finally been updated after more than 100,000 suggestions for revisions from experts and advocates across the nation.

However moderate the changes may have been, it’s a better update than it would have been if people hadn’t spoken up.

Many people have no idea that this outmoded document has been responsible for the engineering of US streets and roads for decades, optimizing motor vehicle speeds, and leading to injuries and deaths of nearly 45,000 people each year, both inside and outside of vehicles.

“On Tuesday, the Federal Highway Administration finally published the 11th edition of what’s come to be known as the “notorious MUTCD,” marking the first time since 2009 that the agency has updated its official guidance on how to safely utilize the signs, signals and markings that annotate U.S. roads. In the intervening years, U.S. road deaths have shot up 26 percent, with pedestrians and fatalities skyrocketing 82 percent over the same period.”

The most important thing is that advocates demand that our local leadership deliver good street design.

If we don’t speak up, it won’t happen.

Safe design has been not been permitted within the constraints of the last edition of the MUTCD. Hopefully the new version will prioritize the movement of people over vehicles.

Baby Boomers are rapidly increasing in our population, and the belief is that as we age we’ll need more healthcare, more facilities for elderly, and more nurses and health aides. This may all be true, but it doesn’t have to be. It’s an industry like any other and we don’t have to be enriching it at the expense of our own health as we age.

We should build cities for the elderly.

To improve quality of life for the aging isn’t just about care that keeps them alive. It’s not just about length of life, but quality of life. 

We need social settings that keep us all connected, active, and vital. People need to be able to move about their cities and towns – “active mobility”. It’s no secret that we can stay healthy and strong mentally and physically with regular daily exercise, and walking and biking are the easiest way to do it.

American city leaders should step up and design safe infrastructure, and public spaces to keep us all aging well.

Americans are aging. Cities that provide accessible, safe infrastructure to enable elderly to engage, also help them stay healthy.

Older people have the most to gain from equitable mobility options. And if cities ae designed for ages “8-80” they’re designed for everyone.

An aging population needs walkable, bikeable cities.

City leaders, and engineers, and planners incorrectly believe that elderly are  more dependent on driving, assuming that they are losing physical ability to bike or walk longer distances. WRONG. Older people way too often resort to driving because they’ve been relegated to live in facilities like assisted living, or senior housing, which are inconveniently located away from services or businesses.

We all typically lose our ability to drive long before we lose the ability to walk. 

“Only 60 percent of the American population can drive. Our automobile environments disenfranchise and endanger those who are physically unable or too young to drive, or too poor to own a car. The total number of non drivers is expected to increase dramatically as Baby Boomers age.”

Older Americans pedal for fun, health, transportation and to enjoy a stronger sense of community.

FACT: people can often ride a bike long into later years, even more easily than they can walk.

And here’s another benefit of bicycling for elderly:  Gift article NYTimes: Cycling can make walking more efficient.

We need to design city streets for active, equitable transport for all people outside of cars, especially the elderly.

People who find it difficult to walk can often ride a bike with ease. Elderly need safe infrastructure to get around on bikes. If streets are designed for people “8-80” they are designed for everyone.

Let’s all make a commitment to speak up in 2024 to bring about change in our own city of Asbury Park, to prioritize people, and end driving culture.

Stay strong for every reason.

Watch: The BEST Christmas commercial.

Let me know if you think so too. ❤️

Onward~

Polli Schildge, Editor apcompletestreets.org

 

We Want To Stop Speeding In Asbury Park!

What the heck is the 85th Percentile Rule?

We recently had a meeting in Asbury Park about the problem of speeding, and slowing drivers on our streets, a proposed traffic calming measure, specifically mini roundabouts, and how speed limits are determined.

Our Transportation Manager attempted to explain to the attendees what the 85th Percentile Rule is as they questioned why we can’t change speed limit signs. We just can’t. Or at least not without great difficulty.

In simple terms it’s an engineering calculation that the speed limit is determined by the actual speed that people drive. It’s hopefully soon-to-be edited Manual For Urban Traffic Control Devices, MUCTD.

The 85th Percentile Rule is horrible. It’s not about safety.

Hear me? IT’S NOT ABOUT SAFETY.  IT’S NOT ABOUT SLOWING DRIVERS.

It’s about expediting the movement of vehicles.

Here’s a simple, short video with great graphics with Transportation 4 America director Beth Osborne, who joined Wall Street Journal correspondent George Downs to explain why one controversial method for setting speed limits results in higher and higher speeds.

It’s also clearly explained in the excellent site for National Association of City Transportation Officials, NACTO. These folks get it.

The crazy thing is that traffic engineers and planning people don’t seem to speak the same language.

We have city planners who are hamstrung by these regulations, but we can get around them with creative solutions to #slowthecars like mini-roundabouts, speed humps, street narrowing…and we have the grant money do do it.

Let’s get on the same page about saving lives and saving the planet.

Onward.

 

 

 

 

CALL TO ACTION: NEED YOUR COMMENTS

REVISE THE MANUAL ON UNIFORM TRAFFIC CONTROL DEVICES! 
To our supporters: Many may not realize that there is a manual governing how our roads are designed, which is to prioritize the expedited movement of motor vehicles, NOT for the safety of people. It’s called the Manual On Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD). It’s outdated and related to, if not responsible for many of the problems on our streets today.
A large population in Asbury Park, and all over the US are  is directly affected by streets that are not designed for people. We need to change this. We need streets that are safe for the most vulnerable road users.
This graph from the last census shows the numbers of people who walk and bike to work – everyone deserves equitable mobility.
 
Please read about the initiative to rewrite the MUTCD and add your comment.  You can copy and paste the text below (or write your own comment) on the Transportation For America page, and click on “submit your comment” where you can also post on the Regulations.gov site.
MUTCD Revision:
Asbury Park Complete Streets Coalition supports America Walks. And I personally care deeply about my community, Asbury Park, NJ, and neighboring communities in the Jersey Shore area.The MUTCD is an obstacle to human activity by prioritizing the level of service for vehicular traffic, and must be completely revised to change the way roads and streets are designed.I join America Walks and other groups to ask that U.S. DOT perform a comprehensive overhaul of the MUTCD, centering on safety and equity. We need a rule book that is designed to support healthier, safer communities, that:
  • Ensures every urban and suburban signalized intersection has basic pedestrian infrastructure, like curb ramps, pedestrian signal heads that display “Walk” and “Don’t Walk” messages and crosswalks.
  • Sets speed limits based on safety, not based on how fast drivers can speed through our cities and towns.
  • Gives local residents a voice in what kind of infrastructure is needed.
  • Gives engineers flexibility to design streets that are safe enough for children, and all vulnerable users to navigate.I join America Walks in asking that FHWA reframe and rewrite the MUTCD, creating a path for guidance that aligns with the equity, safety, and sustainability goals of American cities, as well as those of the Biden Administration.
Thank you,
Asbury Park Complete Streets Coalition