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More Lazy Anti-Pedestrian Commentary

I could write this post every day, but here’s another piece, this time from San Francisco, equating pedestrian death rates with careless pedestrian behavior — and no other potential causal factor (i.e., speeding, drunken, distracted drivers running on sidewalks, violating rights of way, etc.).

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This entry was posted on Monday, October 26th, 2009 at 4:06 pm and is filed under Pedestrians, Traffic safety. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

6 Responses to “More Lazy Anti-Pedestrian Commentary”

  1. Roger Says:

    If you notice people become dumber in areas where there is more Government.

  2. doctorjay Says:

    I like how the author says:

    “Designs by engineers cannot force us to pay attention.”

    It’s obvious that the “us” he’s referring to are the pedestrians, not the car driver who hit and killed an elderly woman.

  3. Dan Says:

    Well, I guess you discovered that CW Nevius is the worst columnist for a “major” newspaper in the US. Nevius also has this curious inclination to hate everything about San Francisco, despite being the top city columnist. Ugh.. Really, he, and the paper, should never be pointed to as an example of anything.

  4. Adam Says:

    An ugly piece. Far more irresponsible and antisocial than I expected from your summary of it.

    Did anyone else miss the glaring gap between his admitting SF is “a densely populated city whose geography encourages walking” and essentially saying ‘people from out of town come here and drive impolitely’?

  5. George Says:

    Pedestrain ruins a drivers evening, dents and stains his car. The driver was looking at the green light to make sure he was legal.

    Roundabouts won’t work in a city with a grid layout?? Check out Carmel Indiana.

  6. Kate Says:

    Sometimes you wonder if people ever listen to their own voices:

    “In 2007, 24 pedestrians were killed. In 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2008, the average was about 13. Those numbers could be even higher if San Francisco’s narrow, quirky streets didn’t keep the speed down.”

    Got that? The writer says very clearly that what keeps speed down is narrow, quirky streets. SFO pedestrians might benefit from more of those and less of this:

    “. . . a five-year bicycle and pedestrian program. It includes money for “bulb out” islands at intersections, countdown crossing lights, bike lanes and wide, clearly marked crossing lines. The program was released in July and projects are expected to roll out through 2013.”

    Hans Monderman, where are you?

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Traffic Tom Vanderbilt

How We Drive is the companion blog to Tom Vanderbilt’s New York Times bestselling book, Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do (and What It Says About Us), published by Alfred A. Knopf in the U.S. and Canada, Penguin in the U.K, and in languages other than English by a number of other fine publishers worldwide.

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