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

December 23, 2021December 28, 2021

Year In Review 2021

Bad News First

(Don’t worry: we’ll have the good news tomorrow.) 🎄

Thanks to our friends at Streetsblog USA for great journalism reporting every day.

Here were the five biggest bummers on the Streetsblog beat last year, and a few thoughts on what we can take away into next year.

Traffic violence on the rise…

…And legislators were slow to respond

Bad news for pollution — even during a pandemic

EV-mania instead of mode shift

An infrastructure fight with disappointing results

As always, love to hear your thoughts.

Onward.

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.

There Are No Accidents

A stunning personal story about how a tragic car crash changed a life, starting with the realization that there are no accidents. “…over 35,000 people die every year in the United States from traffic violence. Every two years, more people die in our streets than the number of Americans killed during the Vietnam War.”

Misfortune changed this young man’s life. But he knows (as do we at APCSC) that the problem is solvable. He observes in his city: “We continually see elected leaders prioritize publicly-subsidized parking ahead of safe streets. Some publicly shame folks who get around using a bicycle. They wait to improve safety until after people are hit and killed. And most importantly, they often do nothing. They aren’t just killing bike lanes. But we know they can do better because sometimes electeds show leadership. APCSC knows that our Mayor and City Council are showing real leadership. Stay tuned for the Walking and Bicycling Master Plan, and design and implementation all over the city to make it safe for everyone to get around with slower, and fewer cars on our streets.

sA Better Street

By Owen Pickford October 23, 2018

“This misfortune irreversibly changed my life, the lives of everyone in that car, their families and their friends. I reacted by imagining life as capricious. Death and suffering seemed to be arbitrary “accidents” caused by human error. Life forced this on me every time I got in a car. With no effort at all I could be killed or kill someone else.

But seventeen years later, I feel much different. My friend’s death was not an accident. All of the 35,000 deaths each year in our streets include painful personal stories like the one I’ve recounted. These deaths are not accidents. Traffic violence is caused by public policy. It’s the result of our collective decisions about street design, speed limits, and land use. We know how to minimize crashes but we fail to care. ”