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US Cities Are Becoming More Dangerous for Cyclists and Pedestrians

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Re: US Cities Are Becoming More Dangerous for Cyclists and Pedestrians

#11

Post by justinph »

This article fails to mention one of the biggest factors, which is the increased prevalence of SUVs and Trucks. These oversized vehicles have higher grilles and increased mass. The higher grille means injuries that on a car would have been a leg injury where the pedestrian ends up on the hood are abdominal injuries where the pedestrian can be pushed under the vehicle. The increased mass also means longer stopping distances.

Source: https://www.freep.com/story/money/cars/2018/06/28/suvs-killi...

Re: US Cities Are Becoming More Dangerous for Cyclists and Pedestrians

#12

Post by xefer »

I noticed they mentioned the speed reduction "Boston, for example, has reduced the city speed limit from 30 miles per hour to 25 mph." Cambridge across the river followed suit soon afterward, but having lived there for decades I can't say I've noticed one iota of difference in the speed cars travel. 25 mph is still ridiculously fast in most of the tight neighborhood streets. Really the speed limit should be reduced even further to 20 mph and even 15 in some areas accompanied by much stricter enforcement. It's not uncommon to see cars hitting 40+ going down some of the straighter roads that emanate out of the major squares.

I am a daily all-weather bike commuter and to be honest have not had a problem with cars. I don't really mind the concept of SOVs- we use one ourselves; it's just that they need to be much more tightly controlled at least in these neighborhoods.

Re: US Cities Are Becoming More Dangerous for Cyclists and Pedestrians

#13

Post by wlesieutre »

maxsilver wrote: post #9

The safest infrastructure are ones that split pedestrian / bicyclist / motor traffic as much as possible, for obvious reasons. But that infrastructure has fallen out of favor as of late. "Complete streets" are the new fashion trend, and are significantly more dangerous, by combining these forms of traffic altogether and just sort of hoping it all works out. But, "complete" streets are super cheap, and give the illusi…

What, you don't like to share a narrow lane with no shoulder right up against a concrete barrier that you'd better not go over because the other side is a 20 foot drop down to train tracks?

https://i.imgur.com/0cxvaJM.png

At least they put up a no parking sign.

EDIT: Not to mention this photo shows the one and only bike symbol on the block. Given how worn off it is I assume most drivers have no idea this is the "bike route."

Re: US Cities Are Becoming More Dangerous for Cyclists and Pedestrians

#14

Post by afpx »

I’ve noticed that many new road projects near me haven’t included pedestrian crossings. Or, when included, the pedestrian crossings have been poorly-designed.

A view of a map of recent pedestrian deaths [1] seems to confirm this. Many of the deaths seem to be on major roadways that separate two densely populated areas. And, I’ve personally witnessed many more people crossing highways, lately (sometimes, even mothers with small children walking on the shoulder!)

Unfortunately, as the authors research shows, many deaths are in low-income areas. I suspect that low-income people aren’t well-represented when these roadways are designed. And, in particular, two new interchanges near me (that also lack pedestrian crossings), were also known to be areas where many (generally low-income) pedestrians cross, but none of those residents were at any of the planning meetings.

[1] http://www.governing.com/gov-data/transportation-infrastruct...

Re: US Cities Are Becoming More Dangerous for Cyclists and Pedestrians

#15

Post by junga »

maxsilver wrote: post #9

The safest infrastructure are ones that split pedestrian / bicyclist / motor traffic as much as possible, for obvious reasons. But that infrastructure has fallen out of favor as of late. "Complete streets" are the new fashion trend, and are significantly more dangerous, by combining these forms of traffic altogether and just sort of hoping it all works out. But, "complete" streets are super cheap, and give the illusi…

>The safest infrastructure are ones that split pedestrian / bicyclist / motor traffic as much as possible, for obvious reasons.

Can you provide a source for this? (especially concerning the separation of bicyclists and motor traffic)

Re: US Cities Are Becoming More Dangerous for Cyclists and Pedestrians

#16

Post by gpvos »

justinph wrote: post #11

This article fails to mention one of the biggest factors, which is the increased prevalence of SUVs and Trucks. These oversized vehicles have higher grilles and increased mass. The higher grille means injuries that on a car would have been a leg injury where the pedestrian ends up on the hood are abdominal injuries where the pedestrian can be pushed under the vehicle. The increased mass also means longer stopping dis…

It does mention that "reducing the height of front bumpers" is needed.

Re: US Cities Are Becoming More Dangerous for Cyclists and Pedestrians

#17

Post by JimiofEden »

joekrill wrote: post #8

Interestingly (and obviously anecdotal) I've found the opposite has been happening in Philadelphia. And the main driving (no pun intended) factor, I think, was the introduction of our bike share program (Indego). Drivers were so much more hostile to bicyclists before these were introduced. We now have more dedicated bike lanes, which helps immensely. We've introduced signs and indicators ("sharrows") that indicate to…

Having lived in Philly for the last decade or so, I've noticed that it's never very dangerous to be a biker or a pedestrian here. I only know of two incidents where people I know have been struck, and usually in not too terrible ways. It especially helps that bike lanes are plentiful, most of the non-residential parts of the city are pretty damn easy to navigate, and within city limits people don't really drive too crazy.

Sure you get the one off case where people are being assholes for the sake of being assholes, but for whatever reason you can't really get away from that no matter where you are.

That being said, if you're in another car or anywhere near I76, then you better believe it's every man for himself, and may the traffic gods have mercy on you.

Re: US Cities Are Becoming More Dangerous for Cyclists and Pedestrians

#18

Post by dsfyu404ed »

xefer wrote: post #12

I noticed they mentioned the speed reduction "Boston, for example, has reduced the city speed limit from 30 miles per hour to 25 mph." Cambridge across the river followed suit soon afterward, but having lived there for decades I can't say I've noticed one iota of difference in the speed cars travel. 25 mph is still ridiculously fast in most of the tight neighborhood streets. Really the speed limit should be reduced e…

The city wide speed limit was irrelevant in both cities to begin with because in 99.99% of places you couldn't get up to that speed or if you could it would be uncomfortable (narrow streets, poor visibility, etc).

Conditions where one can even go 25+ for more than a couple hundred yards are rare and basically limited to main roads in low traffic conditions (i.e. late at night). These roads already had good bike lanes and the one cyclist riding in said lane at 1am is unlikely to be bothered by the one car that's also around going 30-40 in a separate lane (or I'm not at least).

Re: US Cities Are Becoming More Dangerous for Cyclists and Pedestrians

#19

Post by techiferous »

joekrill wrote: post #8

Interestingly (and obviously anecdotal) I've found the opposite has been happening in Philadelphia. And the main driving (no pun intended) factor, I think, was the introduction of our bike share program (Indego). Drivers were so much more hostile to bicyclists before these were introduced. We now have more dedicated bike lanes, which helps immensely. We've introduced signs and indicators ("sharrows") that indicate to…

> Drivers were so much more hostile to bicyclists before these were introduced.

I'm not sure that driver attitudes are the primary cause of cycling deaths. Lack of visibility might be one, though.

Re: US Cities Are Becoming More Dangerous for Cyclists and Pedestrians

#20

Post by jbarberu »

Having recently moved to Florida from Sweden, I was shocked at how biker/pedestrian hostile it is here. I naively thought I'd be able to live a more active lifestyle because of the nicer weather, but instead I'm driving a car everywhere as I wouldn't feel safe on a bike.

It seems to be a pretty vicious cycle of the infrastructure being hostile to biking so nobody does it, nobody is biking so the roads are optimized for driving.

I've lived here for little over a year now and I've been _almost_ hit a couple of times while crossing the road at the crosswalk, and a few times at parking lots with drivers not looking back before reversing. I've also seen a dead cyclist in the intersection just outside my apartment complex :(

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