Read the entire article here: Stan Garnett and Sue Prant: Broad, interdisciplinary approach needed to make streets safer
Excerpts from the article follow:
The recent worrisome increase in serious motor vehicle collisions in Boulder County has had tragic consequences for our community and deserves a community-wide response.
This is a trend that directly affects public health, frightens families off many of our municipal, county and state roads, and unfairly endangers the most vulnerable people on the roads.
We particularly encourage all those responsible for road design to build, modify and maintain roadways to maximize safety for all users, including motorists, bicyclists and pedestrians. As they do so, they can be guided by two basic goals: make motor vehicle collisions less likely, and make them less deadly when they do occur.
Cities across the country are adopting more modern traffic engineering standards that take into account the reality of, and even encourage, bicyclists and pedestrians sharing the streetscape with automobiles.
Through improved roadway design that improves visibility and reins in unsafe speeding, we can make collisions less likely and save lives even when people do make mistakes.
Vision Zero communities also work to change the culture of acceptance about serious motor vehicle crashes, the idea that these things “just happen.”
The victims of traffic violence and their families know that most motor vehicle crashes are avoidable, and feel very strongly that the rate of traffic violence is unacceptable.
So should we all.