Local conservative columnist gets funny about pedestrians as speed bumps

ABOVE: Nope, it's not turn three at Indy - - it's a residential subdivision street with a park path(!) opening right onto it. Because a right angle turn would SLOW US DOWN too much.

Not so funny, from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

Pedestrian deaths up in 2007

Milwaukee police get funds to target more speeders, drunken drivers

By LINDA SPICE
[email protected]

After a year that saw 17 pedestrians killed in the city, the most per year in a decade, Milwaukee police are targeting more dangerous drivers with the help of $50,000 in state grants.

"We're going to be out there. Experienced motor officers are going to be on this. They are good at what they do. They arrest drunk drivers and they arrest speeders," said Officer Scott Beaver of the department's Accident Reconstruction Unit. He said Friday that the extra attention will start this weekend.

Alcohol or excessive speed were factors in several of Milwaukee's 17 fatal pedestrian accidents last year. The 17 deaths were the most in the last 10 years, according to state traffic records. Milwaukee recorded 34 total traffic fatalities last year, a figure that does not include freeway fatalities.

Eleven of the total fatal crashes in 2007 involved intoxicated drivers, Beaver said. Of the 17 pedestrians killed last year, six were intoxicated when struck, Beaver said.

Meanwhile, local columnist Patrick McIlheran cracks wise about our inalienable right, I guess, to drive fast and unabated:

Patrick McIlheran: Parking-lot rules good for roads?

Warning: Nervous driving is heading our way.

This is all the rage in Europe, the way traffic "calming" speed bumps were decades before they started ticking us off here. Now, European bureaucrats are paying towns to rip out the bumps as well as traffic lights, stop signs, crosswalks, curbs, parking places - pretty much any traffic regulation. U.S. planners are admiring it.

The point is to make drivers nervous so they slow down. "Generally speaking, what we want is for people to be confused," said a deputy mayor of Bohmte, Germany.

Following a Dutch guru of what's called "shared space," the town makes traffic on the highway that is its main street mingle - cars, trucks, bikes, people wandering in front of Mercedes SUVs. Now, apparently, drivers crawl through at 15 mph, heads swiveling madly lest they hit something.

.... In fact, we've all had some recent experience with shared space. This would be your typical mall parking lot, Saturday morning before Christmas. How did you like that experience of mindful driving?

I can tell you at Brookfield Square last weekend, the theory certainly held. We were all negotiating, the cars, the clots of teenagers, the snow, the don't-give-a-damn Olds Cutlasses - all negotiating for shared space by eye contact, brake-stomping panic and emphatic, unidigital gestures.

What a funny guy! See, those silly, backwards Europeans and their silly, backwards public space can best be compared to, get this, our wonderful American mall parking lots! He cracks himself up!

I'll tell you this: When I'm out on a run on Drexel or 51st Street - - and you HAVE to use those roads for short stretches if you want a decent 5- or 6-mile loop or if you want to access the Oak Leaf Trail - -  give me the NERVOUS (attentive) driver over the RELAXED (auto-pilot) driver any day of the week. (As I look into the windshields of oncoming cars, the vast majority consist of a just a driver, ear attached to a cel phone. And to the guy I flipped off with both hands as he crested Drexel hill IN THE PEDESTRIAN/BIKE lane so he could pass a car turning left; sorry - the thought of impending death got the better of me before I leapt into the ditch to avoid being squished. And kudos to you for managing to flip me off in return before thinking of your brakes or steering out of the pedestrian lane.  Way to stick up for yourself; don't let the big, bad runner intimidate that four wheel drive Dodge Ram!)

Franklin's roads - - like those of so many sprawled suburbs - - are built for speed; pedestrians, kids, and bikers be damned. Soon, I'm sure, they'll add banked corners as well.

"Warning" indeed, Mr. McIlheran

[See also "Goat paths" and "cow paths": Suburbanites walk and bike at their own peril]

Here's an inspirational vehicle-pedestrian interaction video from India that I found at BoingBoing.net:

Comments

[Terrence Berres]

I notice that "shared space" as described is the opposite of "Complete Streets" as illustrated in your post a few weeks ago:
http://fullyarticulated.typepad.com/sprawledout/2007/12/from-the-comple.html

[John Michlig]

The Dutch connotation of "shared space" (which is described above) is indeed much different than what is viable here.

Mr. McIlheran appears to mock American attempts at traffic taming and shared public space by inferring that we would attempt the full-on the Dutch method.

[Terrence Berres]

He could infer that from your response to his post.

Speaking of much different, so far I haven't had the problems with Drexel Avenue that you seem to have.

[John Michlig]

By "my problems with Drexel Avenue," do you mean the nearly-hit-by-oncoming-truck in-the-pedestrian-lane problem, or my can't-restrain-myself-from-tossing-an-obscene-gesture problem? :)

Or, as the joke goes:
PATIENT: "Doctor, it hurts when I move my arm like this."

DOCTOR: "I have the cure. Don't move your arm like that."

In other words: Are you out there running as well? I hope you're not suggesting that the answer to my problem is to invest in a treadmill or health club membership!

[Terrence Berres]

Well, I've lived within a couple blocks of Drexel for a couple decades, and I've walked, run and biked on it some during that time without incident. I assume the drivers aren't playing favorites. Maybe we're just exploring the limits of anecdotal evidence.

As for gestures, you were the altar boy; next time try offering it up.

[John Michlig]

Could be a matter of frequency: I'm out there every two days in all kinds of weather, so I'm bound to run into (pardon the pun) more instances like the one I describe.

I didn't even mention the perfectly serene-looking soccer moms who go bombing through the subdivisions (speed limit: 25) at 40 mph minimum. (And how they look at me with a mystified expression as they brush by, having noticed me at the last second - "What are you DOING outside of a vehicle?")

Why are they going so fast? Because the street is engineered to make you feel secure at high speed. And that's ridiculous in residential areas - - the product of ENGINEERS who have long since taken over for thoughtful designers.

I had to go look up the Catholic connotation of "offer it up" (found at the "Happy Catholic" blog) - - it wasn't in common usage when I was at St. Mike's, but it's familiar.

And now that I'm reminded of what it means, you are absolutely right: Better to "offer it up" than deploy the middle finger. But the flesh is often weak ...

[Bryan Maersch]

John

You know that I live a block away from Drexel as you like to jog on our street.

I use to attempt to go bike riding on the Oak Leaf Trail between Drexel and Puetz when that's all there was to the trail.

There were several times I was afraid for my life and my children's just trying to get to and from the path. Now they have a parking lot on Drexel for you to take your bike to via car of course. In addition,

I have also experienced a car trying to pass another on Drexel coming straight for me, if I had not stopped and swerved into the emergency/bike lane, it would have been a head on collision, right past this was a Franklin Police car with a woman officer looking down reading something and she missed the whole thing.

[John]

Hey - I don't jog; I RUN! :)

Indeed, Drexel is a barrier for anyone who wants to traverse it without a vehicle. My daughter isn't allowed to cross it.

And I'm sure you share my view that anyone who doesn't see the sad irony in having to build a PARKING LOT for the walking/bike path isn't paying attention.