Thomas Hawkins and Ruth Steiner: Do more to protect the lives of people walking and cycling In the decade from 2003 to 2012, people driving automobiles in Alachua County killed 61 people walking and 32 people riding a bicycle. These 93 dead friends and neighbors amount to a driver killing someone walking or riding a bike more often than once every 40 days. For comparison, this violence kills more than fires, drownings or gun accidents. In fact, more than 19 percent of all people who die in car crashes in Alachua County were walking or riding a bike when killed. But the carnage of people walking and biking hurts more than the counted victims. Their families, friends, classmates and co-workers suffer. Even drivers come away from fatal crashes emotionally hurt, no matter whether they are physically harmed. This violence warrants major social change in the attitudes and behaviors that precede traffic crashes. Nothing short of the public conviction that drivers striking people walking and biking is unacceptable can make travel safe for folks outside of cars. With that value, we may find the collective courage to promote the public policies and the belief in personal responsibility necessary to end this dangerous paradigm. Here are examples of outcomes that could follow a belief that walking or riding a bike doesnt amount to a consent to deadly battery. Engineering: We might design roads to be safe for walking and riding a bike. From failing to mark crosswalks to designing for deadly fast speeds, the way that we build roads makes walking and biking less safe. Gainesvilles conversation over whether to include bike lanes on Northwest Eighth Avenue is a clear example that many who drive value their perception of convenience over the very safety of their neighbors who get around on foot or by bike. Funding: Our investments in transportation reflect our values. I know many walking and bike-riding advocates who were overjoyed at the prospect that Gainesville and Alachua County would have spent a mere 5 percent of their respective shares of revenue from the transportation sales surtax on the needs of people walking and bike riding. Imagine if we spent 19 cents from each transportation dollar on these needs. That would at least match the rate at which people walking and biking are those killed in traffic crashes. Responsible driving: Most importantly, drivers might obey the laws that require them to slow down and to stop. For example, Florida law requires drivers to stop at red lights, even when turning right, and to stop at stop signs, not past them. Driving into crosswalks and onto sidewalks without first stopping and looking both ways is dangerous for folks who walk and bike. And, under Florida law, people may walk across streets anywhere except a stretch of road between two adjacent signalized intersections. Drivers must, by law, yield to people walking at all intersections — including intersections without a stop sign, signal or marked crosswalk. When driving, always stop for people walking across a street and never pass a vehicle that has stopped for people crossing the street. Also, Florida law requires people driving to yield at least three feet when passing someone riding a bicycle. If a lane is not wide enough for you to pass with three feet of space between your car and a person riding a bike, do not pass in that lane. Finally, the chance that a driver will kill a person goes up dramatically as the drivers speed increases. According to AAA, the average risk of death for a pedestrian reaches 10 percent at an impact speed of 23 mph, 25 percent at 32 mph, 50 percent at 42 mph, 75 percent at 50 mph, and 90 percent at 58 mph. Slower driving is safer driving. You should always consider speed limits to be just that: limits. Adhere to posted speeds and drive more slowly when conditions warrant. Community advocates are working to make Alachua County a safer place to get around. Join us. With conviction, we can do more than save the lives of nearly 100 of our neighbors each decade. We can create a community where all of us feel safe while getting where we need to go. Thomas Hawkins, former Gainesville city commissioner, and Ruth Steiner, who teaches transportation policy and planning courses at the University of Florida and conducts research on bicycle and pedestrian safety, wrote this column with Joseph Floyd of Get Active GNV; Chris Furlow and Kristen Young of Gainesville Citizens for Active Transportation; Allyson Gill of the Gainesville Cycling Club; Jason Haeseler; Tim Hayes of Swift Cycle; and Ethan Hudgins of Students for the New Urbanism.
Posted on: Wed, 03 Dec 2014 12:19:32 +0000