Driving and Walking in the City

No Accident: Traffic and Pedestrians in the Modern City ( John Rennie Short; Luis Mauricio Pinet-Peralta, Pages 41 – 59, Mobilities, Feb.1, 2010)

Also discussed here: No Accident! Traffic and Pedestrians in the Modern City (Eric Britton, World Streets, May 14, 2010)

Today’s article comes thanks to the World Streets blog which reprinted much of an article from the journal Mobilites by Short and Pinet-Peralta. It looks at the enormous cost of a culture that places a much higher priority on car and speed than on walking and cycling. While many view the present state as too far down the road (so to speak) to change course, by simply putting a significant and higher priority on pedestrian’s needs, at least there is some hope of changing an unsustainable direction. Three strategies are suggested which involve taking traffic away from residential areas and planning around health and environmental objectives.



Key Quotes:

“The epidemic of traffic accidents of cities in developing world is noted.. The creation of a more pedestrian-friendly city is proposed”

“The modern city is designed largely around the use of motor vehicles despite the inherent risks in machine-body coexistence”

“urban restructuring of the city streets as pathways for automobiles with pedestrians shunted to the sidewalks has a high human cost”

“Across the world almost over 10 million people are crippled or injured each year, and approximately 1.2 million people are killed every year due to road accidents, approximately 3,250 people every day”

“When a car hits a child it is often treated as an accident, when a child hits a car it is considered vandalism”

Strategies away from a car-oriented society toward a vehicle-pedestrian shared culture:

• Organizing traffic away from residential areas, limiting inner city and business area traffic flow, and encouraging alternative modes of transportation that focus more on health benefits and non-motorized road users;
• Continuing public information programs targeting high-risk groups and vulnerable urban populations;
• Integrating urban planning and development and public health to design built environments that promote healthier lifestyles rather than safer behaviors.

Related articles

• Traffic Accidents Caught On Shandong Surveillance Cameras (chinasmack.com)
• How Safe is Life for Children in the Suburbs? (pollutionfree.wordpress.com)
• On Being a Safe Pedestrian (socyberty.com)
• Entry #1: Pedestrians first when no traffic light! - Vancouver, Canada (travelpod.com)