This week, the New York City Department of Transportation published a major report that for the first time explored over 7,000 auto crashes that resulted in pedestrian or injury death. Describing the report as "equal parts safety manual and urban portrait," an article in the New York Times highlighted some of the findings, which certainly resonated with my experiences walking in Johannesburg. My earlier post about the difficulty crossing the street in designated crosswalks rings true in the Big Apple too: expressing surprise at the findings, the article reports, "Jaywalkers were involved in fewer collisions than their law-abiding counterparts who waited for the “walk” sign," though pointing out that "they were likelier to be killed or seriously hurt by the collision."
Looking at the report itself, there are extremely important findings that any city should carefully note. Pedestrians are incredibly vulnerable: they accounted for over half of traffic fatalities and were over 10 times more likely than a motor vehicle occupant to die in a crash. Driver education is lacking: most drivers did not know the city's standard speed limit. And speed kills: crashes involving pedestrians and vehicles were twice as deadly if unsafe speeds were involved. Jo'burg city officials would be wise to look to this report and understand that this deadly combination of pedestrians + vehicles + unsafe speeds is an everyday occurrence here too.
One of the most interesting conclusions of the report was the financial bottom line: traffic crashes are costing New York City $4.29 billion (yes, billion with a B) a year. In addition to the lives lost and disabled, there is a real cost that cities pay for emergency services, clean-up and more. Understanding this toll helps to justify allocating resources for research to conduct local studies to understand the nature of Jo'burg's crashes, education of drivers and pedestrians, and enforcement of traffic laws. New York should be applauded for conducting this critical research, but more importantly, creating an action plan to address the results and improve the safety of its streets through smarter planning. Perhaps the greatest lesson of this landmark NYC study is that a city can either spend money averting pedestrian deaths or dealing with the aftermath, and that really isn't a tough decision at all.
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Saturday, August 7, 2010
Tarred, (un)deterred?
The good news is that I got a new job. It’s an exciting one that fits well with my unique mid-PhD situation and promises a whole big office full of new smart people to meet. Working from home has been good for paying the bills and having lots of time for ridiculously long walks, but bad for isolation. Now the new job may bring about what everyone has said is inevitable: getting a car.
The problem is that my new office is at Helen Joseph Hospital in Westdene, but I also will need to make frequent trips to a clinic up in Fourways. From Killarney to Westdene to Fourways…yep, I’ve pretty much got Jo’burg covered. I was psyched to find a bus to Fourways, but getting there from Westdene is another story. I haven’t made up my mind yet, and certainly I’ll try out a few bus options before I make any big purchases, but it’s not looking like a perfect bus route is going to miraculously appear.
To get to Helen Joseph yesterday for a meeting, I took a taxi in the morning for R110 ($15) one-way – clearly not a viable long-term option. When I left, I purposefully tried to avoid anyone noticing that I was headed out of the parking lot on foot, discreetly stopping at the end to swap my classy heels for my walking flats. This is one aspect of being a car-free Jo’burger that is unfailingly frustrating: when people hear that I walk or take the bus, they balk. This follows with declarative sentences starting with “You can’t…” Actually, I can! I do! Just because you never have doesn’t mean that it’s not possible to get from point A to point B by foot or by bus. People’s faces divulge that they assume that I’m naïve or somehow misinformed to make the choices that I do, when in fact, I spend a lot more time considering my trips than the average Jo’burger.
The walk back was just so-so. Fortunately, it was a Friday, the weather was great, and I was feeling giddy from a new job offer so I didn’t really notice the 8.5 km (5 mile) distance. But let’s just say that the walk wasn’t one of Jo’burg’s finest: dusty dirt paths instead of pavement, traffic lights out, roadworks with fresh tar that I’m still scrubbing off my legs! All and all, an hour and a half (each way) walk to work is pretty impractical.
I had just missed a Metrobus by about 30 seconds, so that was promising, if not bad timing. More interesting was the Rea Vaya station under construction right outside the hospital! This new bus rapid transit (BRT) system garnered tremendous praise during the World Cup, which was especially gratifying given the horrific events that occurred during the planning and construction stages. While the idea of zipping to work rapid-transit style excites me, a system is only as good as the locations it serves, and I’d still have to make tricky connections in town to access the Rea Vaya.
Maybe all the Jo’burgers who had their first public transportation experience on the Rea Vaya during the World Cup now will understand how how urgently it needs to be expanded to serve broader locations. Previously Saxonwold residents had objected to a proposed Rea Vaya Oxford Road expansion – a public transport improvement that would have a hugely positive impact on my life, as well as countless others – and I wonder if the glowing reviews during the World Cup changed anyone’s mind. Scores of people are relying on the BRT every day as safe, efficient transportation between Soweto and the CBD, but others view it as a charming novelty of the World Cup: just a memory of those vuvuzela-filled happy days and proof that South Africa fulfilled its promises. I say let's keep it, let's use it, and by all means, let's expand it so that it can really live up its potential as an essential public transportation system in this city that so sorely needs new options. Then South Africa will show that it not only delivers world-class transportation systems because Sepp and the boys are watching, but because its citizens deserve the best.
The problem is that my new office is at Helen Joseph Hospital in Westdene, but I also will need to make frequent trips to a clinic up in Fourways. From Killarney to Westdene to Fourways…yep, I’ve pretty much got Jo’burg covered. I was psyched to find a bus to Fourways, but getting there from Westdene is another story. I haven’t made up my mind yet, and certainly I’ll try out a few bus options before I make any big purchases, but it’s not looking like a perfect bus route is going to miraculously appear.
To get to Helen Joseph yesterday for a meeting, I took a taxi in the morning for R110 ($15) one-way – clearly not a viable long-term option. When I left, I purposefully tried to avoid anyone noticing that I was headed out of the parking lot on foot, discreetly stopping at the end to swap my classy heels for my walking flats. This is one aspect of being a car-free Jo’burger that is unfailingly frustrating: when people hear that I walk or take the bus, they balk. This follows with declarative sentences starting with “You can’t…” Actually, I can! I do! Just because you never have doesn’t mean that it’s not possible to get from point A to point B by foot or by bus. People’s faces divulge that they assume that I’m naïve or somehow misinformed to make the choices that I do, when in fact, I spend a lot more time considering my trips than the average Jo’burger.
The walk back was just so-so. Fortunately, it was a Friday, the weather was great, and I was feeling giddy from a new job offer so I didn’t really notice the 8.5 km (5 mile) distance. But let’s just say that the walk wasn’t one of Jo’burg’s finest: dusty dirt paths instead of pavement, traffic lights out, roadworks with fresh tar that I’m still scrubbing off my legs! All and all, an hour and a half (each way) walk to work is pretty impractical.
I had just missed a Metrobus by about 30 seconds, so that was promising, if not bad timing. More interesting was the Rea Vaya station under construction right outside the hospital! This new bus rapid transit (BRT) system garnered tremendous praise during the World Cup, which was especially gratifying given the horrific events that occurred during the planning and construction stages. While the idea of zipping to work rapid-transit style excites me, a system is only as good as the locations it serves, and I’d still have to make tricky connections in town to access the Rea Vaya.
Maybe all the Jo’burgers who had their first public transportation experience on the Rea Vaya during the World Cup now will understand how how urgently it needs to be expanded to serve broader locations. Previously Saxonwold residents had objected to a proposed Rea Vaya Oxford Road expansion – a public transport improvement that would have a hugely positive impact on my life, as well as countless others – and I wonder if the glowing reviews during the World Cup changed anyone’s mind. Scores of people are relying on the BRT every day as safe, efficient transportation between Soweto and the CBD, but others view it as a charming novelty of the World Cup: just a memory of those vuvuzela-filled happy days and proof that South Africa fulfilled its promises. I say let's keep it, let's use it, and by all means, let's expand it so that it can really live up its potential as an essential public transportation system in this city that so sorely needs new options. Then South Africa will show that it not only delivers world-class transportation systems because Sepp and the boys are watching, but because its citizens deserve the best.
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