A modest proposal for keeping people outside of #cars alive by Dan Marshall @streetsmn
"I’d start with installing Great Big #Bollards at all bus shelters. The fact that we don’t protect #transit shelters tells us everything we need to know about modern American morality... Streetlights, signs and stoplights are all built w breakaway bolts to protect drivers and minimize vehicle damage when hit"
@CathyTuttle@streetsmn "It’s really not her fault that automakers have been turning out increasingly larger and heavier vehicles for several decades"
I beg to differ. It is 100% her fault. She is the one who chose to buy a gigantic Cadillac Escalade. She is the one demanding the product, she is the customer the car makers are serving. No one forced her to buy a Main Battle Tank as a grocery-getter.
The way forward is physically narrowing the streets by using "canal locks"—expanding the sidewalk space into the "parking lanes", and creating sidewalk level pedestrian crossings, so that there is only width for one car to pass through at a time, and cars have to traverse a "speed bump". This should be done at each intersection, and at least once in the middle of the block, at the mid-point, or more often for longer blocks.
Physical narrowing creates green spaces, shortens pedestrian crossing times, enhances disability access. Bollards and large planters should be employed to enforce the canal locks. The locks also provide a great place for bicycle parking and other public infrastructure, such as community notice boards.
@gcvsa@CathyTuttle@streetsmn if it has a bypass for people on bikes, maybe. Probably needs to be a modal filter to divert through traffic though, and definitely needs to be easier to bike to anywhere from anywhere for the politics to embrace any impedance to cars-everywhere-always, & without traffic coming the other direction (as there rarely is during rush hours), narrowing to 1.5 car widths does nothing to reclaim the space from cars. (1.05 car widths, maybe, if it's bollards as per vid)
@gcvsa@CathyTuttle@streetsmn speed bumps are also far more hostile to people on bikes than they are to speeding in 6000lb SUVs with plush couchlike seats and long-travel suspension. Since none of the distances people need to go are feasible on foot, the bike option is going to need to be very appealing for neighbors to leave the car at home and take a shortcut, let the kids bike to school, etc.
@enobacon@CathyTuttle@streetsmn I don't mean 18" wide speed bumps, I mean raised pedestrian crossings that are at least 6-8 feet wide, wide enough for two wheelchair users to safely pass each other.
@enobacon@CathyTuttle@streetsmn "What's the difference between a speed hump and a speed bump? A speed hump is typically 12 feet in length (in the direction of travel), between 3 and 4 inches in height, and is intended for use on a public roadway. A speed bump is much shorter, between 1 and 2 feet in length (in the direction of travel). A speed bump can be as much as 6 inches in height. A speed bump is typically found in a parking lot or commercial driveway, but not on a public roadway."
@enobacon@CathyTuttle@streetsmn
"Speed effects of a single or series of speed humps are greater than for any other traffic calming measure with the exception of route diversions that eliminate a particular traffic movement."
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