Dear Eartha,
I really enjoy getting around my neighborhood by walking or riding my bike. I love that I’m getting some fresh air while also not burning fossil fuels. But some parts of town lack sidewalks and lanes for safe walking and riding. How can we make transportation safer for pedestrians?
—Eager to Walk
Dear Eager,
Yes, let’s walk and bike—six feet apart for now. Safety on the scale of systemic change comes in the form of citizen action. And that’s where an international organization called Vision Zero, started in Sweden in 1997, takes us to the next level.
The Vision Zero Network asks citizens of the world to consider this: If one plane crash is one too many, why are thousands of pedestrian deaths caused by unsafe city traffic tolerated? On the rise around the world pedestrian deaths are caused by distracted drivers. The creation of safe streets happens by working together systematically – all of it aided by folks’ awareness during the COVID pandemic as more of us, with our children and loved ones, take to the streets, parks, and open air. Vision Zero’s premise has more of us demanding that our city streets become safer.
Walk Bike Nashville recently hosted a forum on the Vision Zero plan for Middle Tennessee, modeled after Portland and Seattle. Designers and engineers, with input from citizens, are being asked to envision and create cities where pedestrian safety is a priority. Methods to slow or eliminate traffic include roundabouts, narrow street design, closed off areas (such as the Beale Street blocks in Memphis), as well as signage, sidewalks, and reflectors embedded in asphalt.
Data collection is another tool to get car drivers to slow down. In their ‘Impossible Crossings Project,’ Walk Bike Nashville studied the top 50 pedestrian crash locations and published the results to draw attention to the problem. A city begins to change from car-centric to walk/bike-centric by talking to citizens, law enforcement, and seeking a culture of safety through design and engineering solutions. In East Tennessee, groups such as Bike Walk Knoxville and Knox County Safe Routes to Schools Program are coming up with their regional solutions.
A member of the Nashville Vision Zero panel said, “It’s okay to get mad about pedestrian deaths.” Too often the parts of town with the poorest citizens, often underserved and underrepresented, have the most dangerous crossings. Many factors are involved: use of buses, more traffic lanes on highways, and funding diverted to wealthier sections of town. Go ahead, get mad. Support your local organizations who are working to make city streets safe for all citizens. Keep biking and walking because you’ve become aware and invested. And that’s a good sign.
Takin’ it to the streets, as always,
Eartha
Eartha answers your questions about the Environment.
Dear Eartha is penned by Rita Bullinger.
She is a writer and columnist living in Nashville, TN.
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