Eighteen months ago, an Antiplanner policy brief scrutinized the recent increase in pedestrian traffic fatalities and concluded that much of that increase was due to risky behavior. Most of the increased fatal crashes took place at night and involved pedestrians entering or crossing streets outside of designated areas. Much of the increase also involved either pedestrians or drivers who were under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
Click image to download a four-page PDF of this policy brief.
The policy brief concluded that road diets, complete streets, and similar planning fads were the wrong solutions as they didn’t address the real problems. Policies such as Vision Zero, which advocate wholesale reductions in speed limits, threaten the timely distribution of goods and movements of people, thus harming urban economies, without necessarily addressing the real causes of traffic fatalities. Continue reading
