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Latest Threat On NYC Streets: Pedestrian Refuges

I’m not sure who actually watches local television news at this point in historical time — I’m picturing a bored Circuit City salesman in front of a wall of LCDs — but it’s just as well, based on the drivel they seem to be serving up, via Streetsblog (which does a nice job of dissecting the usual red herrings of emergency response). It’s shocking that a New York City news outlet can be so pedestrian-blind.

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This entry was posted on Saturday, November 6th, 2010 at 2:43 pm and is filed under Pedestrians, Risk, Roads. 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.

7 Responses to “Latest Threat On NYC Streets: Pedestrian Refuges”

  1. fred_dot_u Says:
    November 6th, 2010 at 3:43 pm

    Another example of motor vehicle centered reporting. No mention at all of how this makes crossing for pedestrians that much safer. So many statements in that news piece that were distorted and biased to serve the report focus, but that’s how today’s media works. Make it dramatic, sell those advertising minutes.

  2. Robert Says:
    November 6th, 2010 at 4:44 pm

    Tom,

    My profession is as an active transportation consultant working for an organization called PedNet. Mainly, I travel around the United States helping communities start walking school busses and other encouragement programs.

    I’m convinced that there is a generation gap when it comes to believing that supporting non-motorized transportation is a worthwhile cause. I see it in the media, politicians, educators and everyone else. Change does not come easy to some people.

    Have you seen this in your research?

    BTW, Marcia Kramer is 62 years old. The anti-ped improvement folks she was interviewing also looked to be in their 60’s. The engineer who she was interviewing looked to be half their age.

  3. Roberta Says:
    November 6th, 2010 at 6:16 pm

    Robert: I’d have to agree. Many of the people I meet in their 60’s and up in North America seem to have completely forgotten that it is possible to get around without a car. The impact this is having and will continue to have on traffic as these drivers age is one that scares me, as a cyclist.

  4. Jack Says:
    November 7th, 2010 at 8:43 am

    As someone in the 55+ age category, the continuing failure of the public and its elected officials to recognize how their motorized visions of their neighborhoods continues to lower the quality of life has been a dominate trend for decades, The tragedy is that these older civic leaders fail to see anything better than large FREE parking lots and the importance of on-street parking. The fallout is that fewer and fewer residents are willing to walk and/or cycle to nearby destinations and the young generation expects to be driven two blocks to school.

    The mindset of reporter Kramer is way too common in the Midwest (xChicago). No wonder the region continues to suffer as young talented professionals choose other places to live.

  5. nick Says:
    November 7th, 2010 at 10:26 pm

    How do local news reporters spend their days? Typically, driving from story to story. It shouldn’t be surprising that they have a windshield perspective.

  6. doug Says:
    November 8th, 2010 at 12:26 pm

    I love (hate) how she intones, “The firetruck loses valuable seconds” at the traffic island as it inches slowly to what is literally a wall of stopped traffic, balring its horn. Stupidity.

  7. SLH Says:
    November 13th, 2010 at 10:13 am

    No mention that perhaps eliminating so many parked cars could help. hmm.

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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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