Let’s Not Meet by Accident

by

photo sent in by Robert Thompson

Click on the photo for a larger view

 

Robert Thompson reported that at 7:30 a.m. this morning two folks met by accident at the corner of Broad and Esplanade.

Please slow down, the life you save may be your own.

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info below gathered by Charlie London

 

Learn more about ways to reduce speeding in Faubourg St. John in the link below

http://peds.org/?s=speeding

Much of the threat to pedestrians comes from speeding cars. Fortunately, you’ve got plenty of ways to encourage drivers to slow down. Take action!

  1. Spread the word. Neighborhood websites, e-newsletters, Facebook Pages and twitter are all great ways to reach out.
  2. Use yard signs to remind drivers to slow down. Pick up signs at DRIVE LIKE YOUR KIDS LIVE HERE — or use plywood or laminated poster-board to create your own. Keep it simple.  Short messages and big letters work best.
  3. Set the pace. Driving at or below the speed limit forces others to do the same.
  4. Park your car in the street, and ask your neighbors to do the same. Narrow travel lanes prompt drivers to slow down.
  5. Install radar signs that show drivers how fast they’re going.
  6. Reduce speed limits. If the speed limit where you live is over 30 mph, ask transportation agencies to change it.
  7. Take back your street. Walk, ride a bicycle, sit on the front porch — and put some toys in your front yard.   Reminding motorists that streets are for people encourages them to slow down.

Bump outs like this one make crossing the street safer for pedestrians. And, in the middle of the street is a brick section with a gradual rise on either side. This helps slow traffic.
Bump outs like this one make crossing the street safer for pedestrians. And, in the middle of the street is a brick section with a gradual rise on either side. This helps slow traffic.

How a Dutch neighborhood pioneered an innovation now sweeping the globe

TRAFFIC CALMING HAS SWEPT THE WORLD over the past 20 years. It’s based on the rather simple idea that cars and trucks don’t have exclusive ownership of our streets. Streets are shared public space also belonging to people on foot and bicycles, in baby strollers and wheelchairs. Reminding motorists of this fact, traffic calming uses design features such as narrowing roads or elevating crosswalks to slow traffic and assert pedestrian’s right to cross the street.

This idea has altered the literal landscape of urban life in the Netherlands, Scandinavia, Germany and Australia as people move about their cities with more ease and pleasure—and it’s now taking off in other parts of the world.

bumpout1THE ORIGINS OF THIS INGENIOUS IDEA CAN BE TRACED TO DELFT, NETHERLANDS, where residents of one neighborhood were fed up with cars racing along their streets, endangering children, pets and peace of mind. One evening they decided to do something about it by dragging old couches, planters and other objects out into the roadway and positioning them in such a way that cars could pass but would have to slow down. Police soon arrived on the scene and had to admit that this project, although clearly illegal, was a really good idea. Soon, the city itself was installing similar measures called woonerfs (Dutch for “living yards”) on streets plagued by unruly motorists.

One can only imagine the response of city officials if these neighbors had meekly come to city hall to propose the idea of partially blocking the streets; they would have been hooted right out of the building. But by taking direct action, they saved their neighborhood and changed the face of cities around the world.
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