Protect pedestrians and bikes from cars -- an op-ed from the NY Daily News

This might be urban-specific -- even NYC specific. But I admire the author so much that I'm posting it even if it's not relevant to everyone. The authors's husband, a long-time cyclist, was running in Central Park when a cyclist veered into the runner's lane and hit him. The runner died a few days later from his injuries.

Soon after, a woman was killed by a cyclist in Central Park. The anti-cyclist sentiment, especially in the tabloid papers, was predictably unpleasant. In light of two tragic deaths, it is very hard to hear the usual cyclists' whine of "cars are worse."

This woman (also a cyclist) has done a very good job of addressing the issues of pedestrian and cyclist safety in a proper context.

http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/h...icle-1.1993612

Beautifully done column. Thanks, Pam.

Thanks so much for sharing, and kudos to the author for her good sense and articulate views. I don't think it's urban specific at all. I see the same phenomenon in small to medium sized towns. Non-motorized traffic is even rarer in smaller towns, and there are far fewer facilities for them. Most of the businesses in the town nearest me are accessible on foot only by trudging through ditches, around walls, and across five lanes of traffic without a crosswalk. I wouldn't even consider riding a bike on that street, and I'm about as committed and unfazed by traffic as vehicular cyclists get.

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Originally Posted by OakLeaf

I don't think it's urban specific at all. I see the same phenomenon in small to medium sized towns. Non-motorized traffic is even rarer in smaller towns, and there are far fewer facilities for them. Most of the businesses in the town nearest me are accessible on foot only by trudging through ditches, around walls, and across five lanes of traffic without a crosswalk. I wouldn't even consider riding a bike on that street, and I'm about as committed and unfazed by traffic as vehicular cyclists get.

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You're right -- I was thinking of the extreme crowding in Central Park. But the problem of auto-centric design is the same regardless of population size/density.

When my late mother went through a long illness (she lived in Tennessee) I wanted to walk to the hospital or the grocery store for stress relief and exercise -- it was only 1-1.5 miles But it was difficult because of the ditches, walls, etc as you mentioned. I wouldn't even contemplate cycling the same road I was trying to walk.

The column was excellent. The comments... the same, as always. Suburbs are also less walkable. I used to live in the Chicago area and, in Skokie, there was a mall area that was scary if you attempted to walk between different "blocks" of the mall (no sidewalks, just parking lots). It felt safer to drive. It makes you wonder what plan commissions in different towns are thinking of when the approve those plans.

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Originally Posted by pll

The column was excellent. The comments... the same, as always. Suburbs are also less walkable. I used to live in the Chicago area and, in Skokie, there was a mall area that was scary if you attempted to walk between different "blocks" of the mall (no sidewalks, just parking lots). It felt safer to drive. It makes you wonder what plan commissions in different towns are thinking of when the approve those plans.

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That is my personal pet peeve - malls or stores who have huge parking lots, and virtually no facilities to get pedestrians safely to the door. Even if you do drive, getting from your car to the door could be hazardous, and forget about arriving on foot. Something is very absurd about a situation where the safest way of transporting yourself a few hundred feet is by getting into a big metal box with limited visibility and endangering everyone else.