Why Pedestrians are a Priority in Europe - and not so much in North America

Europe Stifles Drivers in Favor of Alternatives(Elisabeth Rosenthal, New York Times, Jun. 27, 2011)

Also discussed here: Europe Stifles Drivers in Favor of Alternatives(Herald-Tribune, Jun. 27, 2011)

The focus of today’s review is a discussion about changes taking place in many European cities that put the convenience of pedestrians higher than that of drivers. The result is that much fewer households see a need for - or even own - a private vehicle, relying on walking, cycling and public transit for their mobility needs. In an environmental context, it also explains why and how European cities will see air pollution levels and greenhouse gas emission targets reached much sooner – or face significant fines for breaching those levels.



Key Quotes:

“..cities [in Europe] welcome new shopping malls and apartment buildings but severely restrict the allowable number of parking spaces. On-street parking is vanishing. In recent years, even former car capitals like Munich have evolved into “walkers’ paradises”..Carless households [in Zurich] have increased from 40 to 45 percent in the last decade, and car owners use their vehicles less, city statistics show”

“Closely spaced red lights have been added on roads into town, causing delays and angst for commuters. Pedestrian underpasses that once allowed traffic to flow freely across major intersections have been removed..Driving is a stop-and-go Experience..That’s what we like! Our goal is to reconquer public space for pedestrians, not to make it easy for drivers…Zurich’s planners continue their traffic-taming quest, shortening the green-light periods and lengthening the red with the goal that pedestrians wait no more than 20 seconds to cross”

““In the United States, there has been much more of a tendency to adapt cities to accommodate driving..Here there has been more movement to make cities more livable for people, to get cities relatively free of cars.”

“Built for the most part before the advent of cars, their narrow roads [in Europe] are poor at handling heavy traffic. Public transportation is generally better in Europe than in the United States, and gas often costs over $8 a gallon, contributing to driving costs that are two to three times greater per mile than in the United States”

“European cities also realized they could not meet increasingly strict World Health Organization guidelines for fine-particulate air pollution if cars continued to reign”

Related articles

• Europe Stifles Drivers in Favor of Mass Transit and Walking - NYTimes.com (mbcalyn.wordpress.com)
• Across Europe, Irking Drivers Is Urban Policy (empressoftheglobaluniverse.wordpress.com)
• A move back to cycling (and other alternatives) in cities (surfabike.wordpress.com)
• Reclaiming Our Cities: Just Say No To Cars (underpaidgenius.com)
• Driving: An Addiction (texasgreenreport.wordpress.com)
• The Impact of Pedestrian Zones on Urban Air Quality (pollutionfree.wordpress.com)
• Boston ranked as safest for walkers among US cities (boston.com)
• Report: Streets Pose Mortal Threat to Pedestrians (wired.com)
• Kitsap, Washington pedestrians faring better than most (kitsapsun.com)
• T4America: Just Like Plane Crashes, Pedestrian Deaths Are a National Issue (dc.streetsblog.org)
• Jarvis: Fighting for the city's soles (windsorstar.com)
• Road User Hierarchy (croydoncyclist.wordpress.com)