Twice a day I have to cross a freeway bypass on foot; I’ve been doing this for over seven years so I’ve developed a technique for (and an attitude about) dealing with heedless drivers on the bypass who seem unaware that they share the planet with pedestrians. So I was intrigued by a news item at Seed Magazine about something called psychological traffic calming. This European traffic arrangement seeks to enhance safety in some urban areas by removing the barriers between cars and pedestrians (traffic lights, lane markings, signs, curbs) rather than reinforcing them as you might expect. The idea is that if drivers realize they are in an environment that includes pedestrians, they will slow down and drive more alertly and carefully, whereas when they are on a nice wide well-marked street that’s set off from the sidewalks, they think of themselves as being in a car-only environment and don’t worry so much about the bipeds in their midst. Basically the idea is to give drivers visual cues about their surroundings that shift them into a different frame of mind, so that they are mindful of people on foot rather than whizzing by oblivious to them. The article mentions some evidence that drivers slow down when they’re in an urban environment designed like this, but it doesn’t give any statistics for accidents.
Psychological traffic calming is mainly a European phenomenon but is starting to attract attention in the US. I’d be interested in seeing this in action. My gut reaction is that it would give me the heebie-jeebies (I don’t trust drivers that much). On the other hand, it does make sense that the reason the drivers on the bypass I cross are often dangerous is that they’re thinking in highway terms, which do not include pedestrians.
This story is a bit off the beaten path for Thinking Meat, but I’ve got to admit that waiting to get across that bypass every morning and evening does give me time to ponder how vulnerable the human body is, and how provisional and contingent the continuance of life (although I also have time to wonder if I should start carrying a paintball gun).
According to ‘Pattern Language” the 1970’s book on abitat design, studies then showed that pedestrians are most comfortable if there is a curb between them and the traffic such that the vehicles cannot get to them (18″ was suggested.
As a driver, I sure wouldn’t want to trust my life as a pedestrian to the fact that the drivers were “aware” of pedestrians in their environment…too many of them seem _unaware_of_vehicles_ in their environment. And the vast majority are oblivious to anything not within 50′ of their vehicle (and sometimes much less–I’ve talked with drivers who were unaware of the fact that they _have_blind_spost_ and in fact several who told me flat out that that was not possible.
And city planners continue to design without thought, my city redid the downtown section of highway/main street which has about 1/4 mile of riverbank (120’ below) with a walk to be shared with pedestrians and bicycles. They then used 1/4 of the walkway to plant street lights and signage and gave the outside lane to bicycles, forcing pedestrians to find their way between two sets of much faster traffic while avoiding obstacles. While it may not have been designed as such, it is a remarkabley effective way to pursuade people not to walk.