This dude came from the far travel lanes, making a left turn at a flashing yellow arrow that says, "hey dude, if you can find a gap to turn through, go for it!" Which means he's looking up the road for a gap he can gun his roadtank through, and not at a little kid on a bike doing her best to follow the instructions on that tiny sign that, at this moment, are telling her to cross the street. Don't worry kid, I'm sure that guy will see tiny you and stop, even if it means he might get t-boned.

We've created a world in which it's patently unsafe for a kid to walk or bike to school on their own anymore because we refuse to force people in cars to take an ounce of responsibility for anyone's welfare but their own. We refuse to inconvenience anyone in a car so that a little kid might have safe passage across a street. We install BS 'yield to pedestrian' signs so our local governments can point fingers at drivers when they run someone down, rather than actually making intersections safe.

We are fed PSAs to remind us that 'safety is a shared responsibility,' and then we watch while absolutely no one steps up to take their share.I am sick and tired of watching our roads get deadlier and deadlier for people who aren't driving, while our approach to transportation improvements in most cases is more of the same.Some places are working hard to fix our broken system (h/t #ChapelHillNC for giving it a go). But it's a race against time. 40,000 people will die on our roads this year.

Odds are, you'll know and love at least one of them. Or maybe you'll be the one to kill them.

We need Safe Streets Now.

@DrTCombs Yes, making streets safer helps drivers too. Years ago I hit someone crossing the road. It was dark, it was raining and she was not on a crosswalk. Luckily she ‘only’ broke her arm, but it could easily have been a lethal accident. I was fined, as a driver I was held responsible according to Dutch law. The same would have happened is she would have been riding a bike. Which is fair, because I was in a 1,5 ton steel cage and she had no protection at all.

@DrTCombs This made me wonder if marked crosswalks have a measurable effect on safety. Yes! "on multilane roads with traffic volumes greater than 12,000 vehicles per day, having a marked crosswalk was associated with a higher pedestrian crash rate (after controlling for other site factors) compared to an unmarked crosswalk" https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/research/safety/04100/04100.pdf

@Lyle @DrTCombs that sounds like a higher number of pedestrians use the marked one, unless the crash rate is per number of crossings

@DrTCombs ask the road agency to program the signal for a leading pedestrian interval. This gets people moving into the crosswalk a head start and more visible before the signal turns green for drivers.

@enobacon @DrTCombs Or even better: give pedestrians an exclusive slot so they can cross safely. It is about sharing the road, right?

@jeroenvanbergen @enobacon This is what I've been hoping for. If you tell me it's my turn to go, then it should be my turn to go. Not my turn to share with things that can kill me.

Otherwise, what's the point? What's the point in waiting for a walk signal that doesn't provide me any more safety than going whenever I see a gap in traffic?

@DrTCombs @enobacon Exactly. The physics are very simple: if two objects are not at the same time in the same space they cannot collide. So separating in time or space helps to avoid collisions. If the separation depends on rules it is a lot less safe when compared to real separation in time/space.

@jeroenvanbergen @DrTCombs @enobacon We've been getting more LPIs in Seattle, and they are working well. When I'm waiting for the light in a bike lane, i can get a head start by following the LPI. (Yes, bikes are allowed to follow pedestrian signals here.)

@daihard @enobacon @DrTCombs It really makes sense to do it like that. I find it really interesting how you can make small steps in getting from ‘cars only’ to mixed use.

@jeroenvanbergen @daihard @enobacon LPI is an improvement, but it's far from perfect for 2 reasons:

1. we still allow RTOR, meaning that anyone who wants to turn right across the path of crosswalk users can do so regardless of the LPI

2. if a user comes up on the walk signal while it's active (and this is a busy road, so the walk signal is active for a long time), they don't benefit from the LPI. You have to be at the intersection at the exact moment the walk sign comes on for the LPI to help

@DrTCombs @jeroenvanbergen @enobacon I agree on both points. Turning on red must be banned IMO, at the very least at busy intersections.

@DrTCombs @jeroenvanbergen an LPI would give you a few seconds of head-start to yourselves but traffic Eng are reluctant to delay cars more, unless you can get more pedestrians to compete with car counts (yes the signal phase would induce this demand if adequately situated in a safe network etc...) I have seen a red light phase on a right-turn-only lane for the length of the crosswalk cycle but it gets a green with an adjacent left phase, & not posted no-turn-on-red so technically not exclusive

@DrTCombs I have a Cycliq on my bicycle too, love it. Have a whole collection of cars going in and out of driveways as if the sidewalk never existed.