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Road Safety & Vision Zero Plan

"Jaywalking" Shouldn't Even Be a Thing

From link.

Streetsblog has a report out on a systematic pattern of racial and ethnic bias in who is ticketed for jaywalking in New York City. The site's Martin Samoylov and Gersh Kuntzman report:

Between Jan. 1 and Sept. 30 last year, cops issued 316 summonses for walking against a traffic light, or crossing mid-block, and 284 of them — or 89.5 percent of the tickets — went to blacks or Hispanics, according to the city’s own summons data, crunched by Streetsblog. Only 55 percent of the city’s population is black and/or Hispanic.
More than half of the tickets — 167, or 53 percent — were issued to people under 25, with 44 percent of the tickets going to people aged 18 to 25, even though that group comprises just 7 percent of the population.
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How many of you jaywalk? I'll wait.

How many of you do it on a regular basis? That's what I thought.

My hand was all the way up both times. Especially when I'm in a place like New York where streets are narrow and low-speed and pedestrians tend to outnumber drivers.
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Why Do We Ticket for Jaywalking?

We've heard this story before in a different context that has similar implications: routine traffic stops. This is a similar case in which enforcement of the rules of the road is used not in a way that has any clear relationship to actual public safety, but in a way that is targeted at those whose behavior is most often perceived to be deviant—for reasons that involve unconscious bias as well as goals (like surveillance or rooting out other crime) unrelated to speed enforcement.

Strong Towns has called for an end to the routine traffic stop. Not an end to speed enforcement itself, but to pulling over people whose behavior is well within social norms, chosen either arbitrarily or on the basis of visible characteristics like skin color.
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But Isn't Jaywalking Dangerous?

The NYPD defines jaywalking as crossing mid-block or against a traffic signal. Let's do a thought experiment. I want you to picture a place you've been where "jaywalking" is extremely common. People just step into the street and casually cross without giving it much thought.

I'm guessing you may be picturing something like this:
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vernon-raineil-cenzon-3TgtE86qGPk-unsplash.jpg

8159286809_7dbdaf147e_c.jpg

Doyers_Street_Chinatown.jpg


Alright. Now picture a place where jaywalking is rare; people who are walking rarely step into the street. Does it look more like this place?
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image-asset.jpeg


Which of the above options do you think depicts the kind of place that is more financially productive—that is, it is generating the concentrated wealth needed to pay for the infrastructure and services that keep it running?

Which set of photos depicts the kind of place that is more conducive to the success of small, local businesses?

Which set of photos depicts the kind of place where your young child or elderly parent would feel safest walking on the sidewalk?

Which depicts a place you're more likely to see on a postcard, or plan a vacation to?

Jaywalking isn't dangerous in itself. Fast-moving cars are dangerous. And in fact, just as people are the indicator species of a strong town, rampant jaywalking is most often a sign of a vital place and a successful urban street.
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Let's Design Streets That Are For Everyone

Many readers are likely familiar with the history of the concept of "jaywalking," but here's a refresher courtesy of Adam Ruins Everything about how the automobile industry invented and popularized the concept, in a deliberate effort to establish the idea that the street is for cars and everyone else is an interloper:
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That whole notion is at odds with the actual function of an urban street. Its primary purpose should not be to move traffic. Streets are platforms to build wealth. They provide access to people's homes and businesses, a place for the public to convene, a place for the city to present itself to the world. All of these are at odds with the notion of a street that is "for cars."

A high-speed road—whose purpose is to connect two productive places with minimal friction or complexity—is no place for people on foot. So sure, enforce jaywalking laws on high-speed roads.

But true city streets? We should go the opposite direction: make them truly a commons. Traffic should be kept to speeds too slow to harm anyone, through street design that makes it impractical and uncomfortable to go any faster.
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Sorry, Mr. Rob Ford.
 
More than 400 people were killed while walking or cycling on Toronto's roads over the last decade — and a new survey suggests a majority of residents don't believe city officials are doing enough to make streets safer.

The finding comes from a poll of roughly 800 randomly selected Toronto adults, commissioned by the David Suzuki Foundation and provided to CBC Toronto.

Close to 70 per cent of respondents believe the city "is not doing enough," while nearly 90 per cent say they're concerned about road safety, the results show.

The survey also found roughly 80 per cent of people back the city building protected bike lanes — including 75 per cent of those who say a car, not a bike, is their main mode of daily transportation.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toro...-make-streets-safer-survey-suggests-1.5436561
 
And of course:

toronto.ctvnews.ca

Newly installed speed camera becomes unusable after being covered in spray paint

A newly installed speed camera placed outside a Toronto middle school became unusable after it was covered in spray paint.
toronto.ctvnews.ca

And:

The city can currently only hand out warnings to motorists caught on the camera speeding. Provincial legislation requires the city to give motorists 90 days warning before tickets can be issued.
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The province is of course the worst.

AoD
 
And speaking of taking punishment seriously:

www.thestar.com

‘Lol he owes me a drink’: York Region prosecutor found guilty of fixing traffic tickets for cop boyfriend

Caterina Petrolo was convicted for breach of trust and attempt to obstruct justice in two cases that saw friends of York Region police Const. Richard Senior escape serious consequences for their traffic tickets.
www.thestar.com www.thestar.com

Full article available here: https://www.stcatharinesstandard.ca...-of-fixing-traffic-tickets-for-cop-boyfriend/

AoD
 
tiffer24 said:
The survey also found roughly 80 per cent of people back the city building protected bike lanes — including 75 per cent of those who say a car, not a bike, is their main mode of daily transportation.
Click to expand...

Yeah, well I'm pretty sure the number would be less if drivers realize they'll lose parking spots and lanes.
 
A male pedestrian has been seriously injured after being hit by a vehicle in Scarborough.

Emergency crews were called to the area of Kingston Road and West Hill Drive, just east of Morningside Avenue, just before 8 p.m. for reports of a crash.

Police said a man believed to be in his 60s suffered an injury to his head. He was transported to a trauma centre in serious condition, paramedics said.

The driver of the vehicle remained at the scene.

https://www.cp24.com/news/man-seriously-hurt-after-being-struck-by-vehicle-in-scarborough-1.4784409
 
wait, 6!? In what world is more than maybe 2 meetings needed? Set out work plan, analysis criteria, and project goals, get consultation on preliminary preferred option, and approved. Done.
 
I've been on committees for neighbourhood improvements (parks, the Bentway), and there are a lot of meetings. Definitely more than two!
 
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