Pedestrianism

Old pedestrian street sign
Originally uploaded by rllayman.

Today's District Extra section has an article and sidebar about pedestrians and street fatalities. I'm surprised that the statistics show that more people walk to work in Baltimore than in DC. From "Taking Steps to a Pedestrian-Friendly D.C.":

On average, 550 walkers are hit on District streets each year. And although progress has been made in reducing fatalities, which reached 25 in 1993, officials are aiming for zero.

It's an important goal in a place that ranks second among U.S. cities in the proportion of commutes done on foot. The 2000 Census found that walkers account for 11.8 percent of journeys to work in Washington. Baltimore is higher, at 13 percent. New York, a prime pedestrian city, has only 10.4 percent walkers.

When commutes that involve walking to public transit or bicycling are added in, almost 47 percent of trips to work in the District are fully or partly by foot or bike, city officials said.

Speeding is a major concern, because a vehicle's speed "is the most critical factor" in determining whether a hit pedestrian will live or die, said George Branyan, pedestrian program coordinator for the D.C. Department of Transportation.


Of course, while the speed limit on most streets is 25 mph, most of the streets are engineered for speeds in excess of 50 mph, we have a problem.

We need alternative ways to get people to think about streets differently, about the impact of cars on people and spaces.

From the Road Witch project in the UK.

The article also has a sidebar on the city's Pedestrian coordinator.

Index Keywords: walking