Posted on 01/19/2019 5:23:31 AM PST by reaganaut1
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Los Angeles, like cities nationwide, is transforming its streets. In July 2017 the city installed a “road diet” on a 0.8-mile stretch of Venice Boulevard in Mar Vista, reducing four lanes to two and adding bike lanes separated from traffic by parking buffers. The project is part of Mayor Eric Garcetti’s Vision Zero initiative, which aims to eliminate traffic fatalities in the city by 2025. Launched in 2015, Vision Zero is the most radical transformation of how people move through Los Angeles since the dawn of the freeway era 75 years ago.
By almost any metric it’s been a disaster. Pedestrian deaths have nearly doubled, from 74 in 2015 to 135 in 2017, the last year for which data are available. After years of improvement, Los Angeles again has the world’s worst traffic, according to the transportation research firm Inrix. Miles of vehicles idling in gridlock have reduced air quality to 1980s levels.
The international Vision Zero movement began in the 1990s in Sweden, where it apparently worked well. The Swedish government claims a 50% reduction in traffic deaths since 2000. Hoping to achieve similar gains, U.S. mayors from New York City to North Pole, Alaska, have adopted Vision Zero. Projects range from multibillion-dollar light-rail lines to retiming traffic lights for slower traffic. Road diets are key.
In neighborhoods across New York City, residents, community boards and local businesses have done battle with city officials over “traffic calming” measures imposed by city hall. Lane reductions, bike lanes, new meridians and other innovations designed to reduce vehicle speeds make it difficult for bulky ambulances and fire trucks to respond quickly to emergencies. And while pedestrian deaths have plummeted in the Big Apple under Vision Zero, deaths of bicyclists, motorcyclists and people in vehicles have ticked up.
(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...
Yeah, they lose a fair number of pedestrians with the way cars get speeding right in the City, have been trying to address that. Of course, Times Square is ground zero for their bike lane and pedestrian mall disasters.
From my observations over the years, NYC cabbies are the most skilled drivers I’ve ever seen; they fit through the smallest of spaces, and I don’t recall many hitting people that act as though the island of Manhattan is a giant pedestrian mall...
You’re right about getting a thrill ride while they weave through traffic particularly on the north-south avenues in Midtown. I am amazed how they don’t crash.
I commute by bike most days. I find that motorists are often much worse to each other than they are to me.
I would also say that my driving skill has become much better when I started to ride a bike. It makes me much more aware of situations that might turn out badly.
Learn to read traffic from the saddle of a bicycle and you will be a much better driver.
Another problem is our reluctance to revoke drivers licences. Somehow people treat driving as their God given right. Bad driving is like bad trigger discipline. Might not get you today but eventually you run out of chances.
P.S. Bike lanes suck
They install bike lanes to get some badge or level of prestige from the League of American Bicyclists. They usually include them in some big project where they are already grabbing more land. They are dangerous messes that are more about motorist convenience and less about cycling safety. Always some half ass attempt to say they tried instead of making it actually safer.
Inevitably people on bikes will use the sidewalk showing that they also recognize the danger.
ZeroVision is what most of us in this battle against on street infrastructure call it. They usually blame the victims for not wearing bright clothing or some other bullshit excuse.
They never question the condition of a vehicle or its driver, only the choices of the person under the sheet.
In my small city, on parts of a main internal thoroughfare two lanes were eliminated an transformed into bike lanes. It has not been much of a problem but I have never seen a bicycle there.
I concluded that the rather short section transformed was adequate to get some credit and maybe some money
It is possible that sight lines have been reduced for both drivers and pedestrians. Right hook collisions are common when drivers are anxious about the congestion and take chances.
Right on red provisions are also ped killers.
Go a step further and do away with the roads! No more vehicles! Just use these wide, paved areas around all the buildings for more Garcities for the homeless to poop in and gather rats and diseases! Civilization is so passé!
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