I disagree with the narrator’s comments about driving this intersection on a bicycle. It does not require one to be “hardcore.” It requires one to understand traffic — a function of education. But until such education is accessed by more people, this will appear to be a difficult intersection to travel.

Technorati Tags: bicycle advocacy, bicycle education, cycling, pedestrian safety, traffic design, walking

Hmmmmm…

Technorati Tags: pedestrian safety, traffic design, walking

Some advocates are willing to do almost anything to increase participation — including putting novices in danger.

There’s a “but”: It appears rather clear that the more people who ride bicycles in a given area the safer it is to ride a bicycle on the road (convincing novices that the riding in traffic is already safe requires education). A new study recently published in Environmental Practice reinforces the safety-in-numbers thinking and adds a bonus: More people on bicycles makes the traffic system safer for all road users.

There’s another “but”: It appears that bicycle lanes play a minor role in encouraging people to ride bicycles (hoo-ray for that). This new study suggests that narrow streets, a dense grid pattern, and traffic calming are the real keys in the American context (or, in the case of this study, the California context).

Today I want to discuss one of the findings: intersections per square mile. The study shows that safer, high-cycling cities have more intersections per square mile than do less-safe, low-cycling cities. Safe, high-cycling cities in the study averaged 114.2 intersections per square mile suggesting a dense grid pattern. The following graphic illustrates common street patterns. It’s easy to see why grids have more intersections and why grids would tend to calm traffic.

Now let’s take a look the square mile at the heart of downtown Springfield (defined by me as the area surrounding Park Central Square).

That’s a rough estimation using Google Maps. By my (very rough) count using this map, downtown Springfield has 127 intersections in this square mile. Further, the speed limit is 20 mph on most of the roads you see there (exceptions include Grant, Jefferson, Kimbrough, Benton, and Chestnut Expressway).

The four safest cities in the study share something else with Springfield, but the study does not mention it — and I think it is important: The safest cities are all home to universities — Berkeley, Chico, Davis, and Palo Alto. On this Springfield map, MSU is just off the southeast corner, and OTC and Drury intersect the map to the north and northeast.

I’m only discussing grid density now. But this begs the question: Why, then, has Springfield not achieved the kind of bicycling numbers as, say, Davis, California? We have active advocacy (STAR Team) and a cooperative (even enlightened) public works department and police force. We have encouragement and education programming. While facilities such as bicycle lanes play a minor role according to the study, we have some of those, too. That square mile area has several bicycle lanes plus a growing greenway.

I think one important reason we’re not seeing the kinds of bicycling numbers as those California cities is because there are damned few employers of the kind that attract the creative class (notice the income data in the study). Yes, we have entertainment — mostly at night. Yes, we have a growing number of lofts. Yes, MSU is moving into more and more downtown buildings (e.g. Park Central Square Office Building, Jordan Valley Innovation Center, Brick City). Yes, there are banks and churches and stores and restaurants and other small businesses. But there are precious few large employers who employ highly-skilled, creative people of a kind that MSU, Drury, and OTC attempt to produce.

In short, the reasons to bicycle downtown right now are largely confined to after business hours (re: my first post today).

Our urban challenge (one of many): Encourage more employers of the creative class to move downtown. MSU’s movement into downtown is a great start. Now others must follow. Tax breaks help bring employers. Can we, however, save these breaks for employers that bring high-wage creative jobs to town instead of employers who bring low-wage, low-benefit jobs to town.

Our Urban Challenge Series:

• First in a Series
• Getting Started
• Green Density
• Networks
• Barriers
• Free Parking
• The Good Life
• Cost of Living
• Build It First
• Make It Awesome
• The Euro Thing
• Middle of Nowhere
• Young Professionals
• The Big Disconnect
• Where to Live

Technorati Tags: bicycle advocacy, bicycle commuting, bicycle culture, bicycle infrastructure, bicycle politics, bicycle safety, cycling, pedestrian safety, Springfield Missouri, traffic design, transportation, Transportation Planning, urban design, urban development, Urban Planning

Go for a walk.

Here’s a list of the top ten cities for pedestrian fatalities/injuries (with my knee-jerk observations):

1. Orlando: Big, wide traffic sewers and a critical mass of old folks behind the wheel.
2. Tampa: Ditto.
3. Jacksonville: Ditto.
4. Miami: Ditto.
5. Riverside, Calif.: A sea of asphalt — multi-lane roads and parking lots.
6. Las Vegas: What role does alcohol play here?
7. Memphis: Hmmmmmm…
8. Phoenix: Old folks and traffic sewers.
9. Houston: Concrete as far as the eye can see.
10. Dallas: The flyovers are stacked so high that some of them appear taller than the buildings.

Want to live?

Ride a bicycle — even in those 10 cities.

Here’s the part of the USA Today article that really interests me:

Other findings include:

• African Americans suffer a pedestrian death rate of 2.39 per 100,000 people — more than 70% higher than the rate for non-Hispanic whites (1.38).

• Hispanics ages 65 and older have a fatality rate twice that of African Americans, and 173% higher than for non-Hispanic whites.

• Hispanic children die in pedestrian accidents 40% more often than non-Hispanic white children.

Those are racial/ethnic statistics, but I’m willing to bet they are also socio-economic statistics, i.e. the poor are over-represented because they have fewer transportation choices.

So, yes, there is a civil rights argument to be made for making our streets safer places for all citizens — no matter what transportation choices they choose to make or are forced to make.

Interesting and related from Commute Orlando: Driving, Developmentally, Turns Us Into Children.

Further reading:

• Transportation and Civil Rights
• U.S. Department of Transportation civil rights information
• Federal Transit Administration and ADA
• A Civil Rights Roadmap for Transportation Equity

Technorati Tags: pedestrian safety, traffic design, walking

Read extensive information about these stats at MOBikeFed.

Those red lines tell an interesting story — pedestrian injuries are associated far more with altercations with motor vehicles than bicyclist injuries. If we actually believed the “cheap insurance” argument, most of us would wear a helmet while walking, too. And in the shower. And, most especially, while driving a car. More information about brain injuries here.

Technorati Tags: bicycle safety, pedestrian safety