Speaking of incentives and roads and speeds

Dennis Jaffe has a piece in Arlington's Commuter Blog about revving up the "Street Smart" campaign to get drivers to not kill pedestrians...

My comment:

These programs tend to not be very well focused. What is the negative behavior? How can it be changed? How do you communicate messages to achieve the behavior change?

"Street smart" is like saying "don't litter."

That message doesn't resonate with people who are litterers.

Instead, Texas' "Don't Mess with Texas" anti-litter program focuses on where litter happens, why, and who, and develops focused behavior change campaigns.

Phil Mendelson's proposal to increase street speeds on DC roads is exactly the wrong direction. He's gonna be hearing from me--I worked on his campaign... See "Councilman urges mayor to look at speed limits," from the Washington Times.

The problem is that cars are engineered to go very fast. And road building specifications are designed to allow cars to go very fast, regardless of the environment in which the roads are in.

Change how the roads are engineered. Use different materials, such as Belgian Block, to make drivers feel less comfortable driving fast. Then roads will be engineered to better yield speeds appropriate for urban streets and neighborhoods.

Monument Avenue, Richmond, Virginia.

See "AAA Questions D.C.'s Photo Radar," from WTOP from 2005, and note how the article states that speeds have dropped since the cameras were installed.

So a street like H Street NE or Florida Avenue NE is engineered to accommodate speeds in excess of 80 mph, even though the speed limit is 25 mph. The streets have this speed limit because they are "residential" or "commercial" streets where pedestrians are expected and encouraged, theoretically, to habituate.

I understand that drivers don't like to get ticketed. But most "arterials" in residential and commercial districts need to have speed limits no greater than 25 mph.

This is from Philly, "Car Crashes into House; 2 Injured," but illustrates the point, a car crashing into a house in the city. Ironically, the video starts with an ad for buying a car and its great handling capability...