Slow ain’t in the American vocabulary, baby!
And that plays a role in why about 35,ooo to 40,000 Americans die in traffic every year.
This figure shocks no one because, frankly, we 1) don’t give a shit, and 2) think that it won’t happen to us because “I’m a better driver than others” (read this because you are not).
OK, perhaps some of us do give a shit. The U.S. has tried to use engineering to make roads and cars safer (while also making roads that encourage speed). What if, instead, we tried to slow traffic by making cars share space with other road users? What if, instead, we discouraged speed?
Check out this examination of the differences between Dutch and American approaches to safety. Also check out the response at Commute Orlando.
Speed kills.
Yet, sometimes we give in.
Comments 6
I think it’s more than just people loving speed. It’s the social expectations that assume the ability to travel in a car, fast. People schedule their business appointments, errands and activities with the expectation that they will be able to get there in a car, fast. Thus to cycle or take public transport instead of car would require rethinking of one’s entire schedule.
Posted 09 Dec 2009 at 6:28 pm ¶Lovely… There are all kinds of things that make up car culture and the culture of speed. Another: the car as a status symbol — the faster and/or more powerful the higher the status. Just try to drive Corvette slowly
Posted 09 Dec 2009 at 6:35 pm ¶That sounds a lot like using pedestrians as traffic calming devices.
Myself, I think the key is to restore the notion that it is a privilege to drive on a local street, not an entitlement, and that free parking at local stores is an unexpected bonus rather than a hidden tax on those that don’t USE that wasted space. I think it is different on large inter-city highways that are not so well suited to nonmotorized transport.
Posted 09 Dec 2009 at 7:12 pm ¶I’ve always been quite conflicted by this type of discussion.
Being a cyclist, I don’t really like fast (>40mph) vehicles next to me. But being a very happy driver with many car-crazy friends, I don’t really believe that speed kills.
Distractions: yes.
Speed in dense areas: yes.
Speed on a freeway: not so much.
I have driven often in the Netherlands, Belgium, and Germany (and at great speeds on the German autobahn) and I was continually impressed with how *good* the drivers are. I am completely shocked every time I come back from a trip to Europe and hop on to 635.
As with cycling, I feel that lack of proper driver education is the real killer. Our “right” to drive has superseded any sort of real driver education.
Posted 09 Dec 2009 at 10:28 pm ¶I agree with Elliot about driver education. That is a huge factor. It’s not speed so much as inappropriate speed, lack of skill, attention and personal responsibility.
Another deficiency is aggressive enforcement. That’s required to bring this run-away train back under control.
We have virtually no social structures in place to insist upon or reinforce proper behavior. It is well known that the cops won’t bother to pull you over for less than 10mph above the speed limit anywhere but in a school zone. So motorists drive 10-15mph over everywhere but in a school zone.
Speed is just one element. The core problem is self-centered lack of concern for the integrity of the community or the safety of other individuals in the system.
The car-safety technology is part of this. Make it safer for the person in the box with no consciousness of how the box touches people outside it. The safer the person in the box feels, the more dangerous he becomes to the people outside it.
Posted 09 Dec 2009 at 11:14 pm ¶Eliot et. al. — This (Keri’s comment) is why I say, and am comfortable saying, speed kills. The box has been engineered to encourage speed, to make speed feel safe under many conditions. While I generally try to avoid over-generalizing, this is one generalization I’m generally comfortable making
I also want to resist any notion that any of us are so skilled that we can drive these things safely at high speed. One might also generalize: Hubris kills.
Posted 10 Dec 2009 at 8:18 am ¶