I walked over 1,500 miles in 2023. If I paid consideration to drivers in addition to they paid consideration to me, I’d be useless by now.
I’m alive right this moment as a result of when I’m strolling (or biking) round Seattle, I anticipate the actions of drivers. I’ve realized to foretell when a driver will run a pink gentle; roll by means of a cease signal; careen right into a flip with out slowing down; or take a proper on pink whereas solely wanting left. I discover when a driver is gazing their cellphone, not me. I can inform when one’s going too quick to cease earlier than the crosswalk. I do know when a driver is about to veer into the bike lane. This stuff occur day by day and make no mistake: These drivers would hit me if I wasn’t all the time one step forward of them.
However I shouldn’t need to do all this prognostication. I don’t weigh 3,700 kilos (in regards to the dimension of a Toyota Rav4). Nobody has ever died as a result of I ran into them strolling. No damaged legs, both. Nobody’s household has needed to spend an anxious night time within the hospital as a result of I used to be my cellphone.
New Seattle Metropolis Councilmember Bob Kettle lately cited cyclists in bike lanes as a serious pedestrian security concern of his, referring to the “physics” of a fast-moving bicycle. Kettle is correct that cyclists have an obligation to look at for pedestrians; on roads designed for vehicles, cyclists and pedestrians compete for meager area. However whereas I’ve walked sufficient to have a number of shut calls with bicycles, they don’t demand anyplace close to the vigilance vehicles do.
Not solely do I discover cyclists to be fairly conscious of pedestrians (they’re accustomed to dodging vehicles too), however the physics are a lot completely different: A type of ubiquitous Lime bikes weighs 72 kilos and might’t go over 15 mph due to Seattle rules. Do not forget that 3,500-pound Rav4? That’s nothing. A Ford F-350 can weigh as much as 8,133 kilos and has a high pace of 100 mph. It’s taller than me too. The physics should not in my favor.
Lately, a pair of grotesque, intentional hit-and-runs grabbed public consideration and that of the mayor. Rightfully so. However the dramatic nature of those occasions (and the truth that they have been caught on video), belies a a lot bigger and sadly quotidian drawback. Based on Washington State Division of Transportation knowledge, 13 pedestrians have been struck and killed by vehicles in Seattle in 2023; no less than one other 210 have been injured. In King County, 49 have been killed. As for cyclists, one was killed and no less than 175 have been severely injured by vehicles in Seattle final 12 months. Seattle buildings — unable to dodge dashing vehicles — are sitting geese: The Seattle Instances’ David Kroman famous that, in 2022, “a automobile or truck crashed right into a constructing in Seattle on common each 3 ½ days — greater than 100 instances.” These numbers ought to embarrass and dismay the mayor, council members, and different native officers. However even these don’t seize what it’s wish to stroll or cycle in Seattle.
Mayor Bruce Harrell referred to the hit-and-run crashes on Aurora Avenue as “focused vehicular assaults on pedestrians“ and referred to as them “disturbing.” When day-after-day strolling in Seattle yields one other shut name, one other mildly apologetic shrug from a driver who merely couldn’t hassle to look each methods, the excellence between “focused” and inadvertent ceases to matter. It’s all disturbing, and the underside line is identical: My security is as much as me.
The easy factor I need native leaders to know is that there can be many, many extra deaths and accidents if pedestrians like me weren’t so good at predicting the long run.
In a secure, simply, and proportional system, we wouldn’t need to. Streets can be designed to gradual drivers down, make pedestrians extra seen, and separate pedestrians and cyclists from lethal vehicles and from one another.
