| March 2006 |
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Human Toll Compels Drive With Care Initiative Where There’s Speed, Death Follows March Conference First Step in Driving Initiative A Long, Healthy Life Cut Short on the Street Moving Region Toward Healthy Streets Minorities Bear Heaviest Share of Injury, Death |
Moving Region Toward Healthy Streets
Look at the streets and roads of Northeast Illinois, and what do you see? Traffic crashes, injuries and deaths, congestion, traffic jams and stress, reckless driving and road rage, paved-over green space, lack of street trees, scarcity of pedestrians and bicyclists, communities divided and isolated by highways. It doesn’t have to be this way. On March 22, Chicagoland Bicycle Federation will host the third annual Healthy Streets Conference to sort out concrete steps for creating Healthy Streets through the Drive With Care initiative. The behavior of motor vehicle operators is the primary factor in
the safety and comfort of bicyclists and pedestrians on shared roadways.
Crosswalks and bike lanes are not safe when motorists are speeding
or driving recklessly. The Healthy Streets Campaign aims to calm
shared public roadways to the point where the safety of more vulnerable
users is guaranteed. Given the extent of reckless driving in our society, this seems daunting. But there is a proven formula. Public space should discourage reckless driving through design. There should be a high probability of fines for illegal behavior. And negative behavior should generate a guaranteed negative stigma. Healthy Streets are places where students chat on their walk to
school, where the elderly enjoy the shade of a tree, where a mother
and daughter ride bikes together, where it is safe for children
to run and play. Healthy Streets encourage safe, convenient, and
physically active transportation. Our goal is to make physically active transportation safe, convenient and fun. The Healthy Streets Campaign aims to win a balanced transportation environment that more wisely allocates resources and space to encourage walking, bicycling and public transit; and recreates streets to better serve all aspects of community life. In 2003, 7311 people were reported injured while walking or cycling
on the streets of Chicagoland, and 168 were killed. These
numbers have remained roughly constant since the mid 1990s.
Bicycle and pedestrian fatalities make up almost 25 percent of all
traffic-related deaths in the region. In 2001, speeding was a contributing factor in 30
percent of all fatal crashes, and nationally, 12,850 lives were
lost in speed-related crashes. Unhealthy streets breed stress. Drivers who sit in traffic get angry. Frustration leads to aggression. At its worst, this problem escalates into "road rage." Aggressive driving behaviors include following too closely, speeding, unsafe lane changes, failing to signal intent to change lanes, and other forms of negligent or inconsiderate driving. The trigger for many aggressive drivers is usually traffic congestion, coupled with an aggressive state of mind. An estimated one-third to one-half of all fatal crashes involve aggressive driving. Northeast Illinois is estimated to have about 350 deaths per year caused by aggressive driving (about one a day). These deaths may or may not include the roughly 160 bicyclists and pedestrians killed each year in the region. At the least, an explanation for these tragedies is partially rooted in a simple fact: there are too many motor vehicles on the road. The average person driving to work in Northeast Illinois sat in traffic 56 hours in 2002, a full 10 hours more than the national average. Congestion is more severe, lasts a longer period of time, and affects much more of the transportation network in 2002 than it did in 1982. The economic cost of congestion in our region comes to $4 billion a year – a cost that has grown 13 percent a year for nearly two decades.
Design Tools Streets can be made healthier by changing the way they are designed. The radius of the corner at an intersection is a good example. A tight radius requires motor vehicles to slow down when turning and decreases the pedestrian crossing distance. This makes it easier and safer to cross the street. Improvements to the street network are also possible. A short-cut path that links local streets across a barrier can encourage walking and cycling by providing a safer and shorter route. There are limitless design changes that can be made to reduce vehicle speeds, increase pedestrian and cyclist visibility, and achieve a variety of other Healthy Street outcomes. Planners and engineers are now learning to use a full set of design options to build streets that accommodate all users. Enforcement Tools Streets can be made healthier by increasing the expectation of enforcement of traffic laws. Automated photo enforcement pays for itself through fines and dramatically reduces crashesand increases red light and speed compliance. The city of Chicago, which installed the first of 10 red-light cameras in November 2003, sees positive results. The existing 20 cameras reduced red-light running by 40 percent at some intersections. The city plans to add 60 additional cameras by the end of 2005. In addition, traditional police enforcement is effective when employed regularly and used to target problem areas. Social Marketing Tools Streets can be made healthier through social marketing. Anti-drunk driving marketing began in the early 1980s and, coupled with enforcement, saw a 46 percent reduction of drunk driving by 2001. Drunk driving was transformed from something people thought was humorous to something that was socially unacceptable. The Healthy Streets Campaign is committed to similarly stigmatizing all reckless driving. There are many possible messages and many effective ways to deliver them. State of the art marketing tools complement design and enforcement tools to encourage behaviors that yield Healthy Streets. A good example is Britain's “Kill Your Speed, Not A Child” anti-reckless driving campaign (see illustration). Healthy Streets initiatives at the local level can benefit from backup support at the regional level. A regional or national social marketing campaign aimed at reckless driving can impact the motorist behavior that enforcement is never going to catch. This effort would make responsible, attentive driving the social norm and stigmatize reckless driving. Coupled with regional or national sharing of best practices for design and enforcement techniques, this program can make an impact while multiplying the impact of other local initiatives. The Healthy Streets Campaign is pulling together community, law enforcement, and political leaders to share local and international best practices in design and enforcement, and to win key policy changes. To participate in the Healthy Streets Conference on Drive With Care March 22, go to www.biketraffic.org or telephone the Chicagoland Bicycle Federation Events Hotline (312) 427-3325, ext. 251.
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