Zero Traffic Fatalities--could this work in Chicago, too?

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Permalink Reply by Gene Tenner on May 13, 2014 at 9:40am

Thanks for posting. It could work here over time, if the commitment is sustained from the top down.

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Permalink Reply by Lisa Curcio on May 13, 2014 at 11:16am

Sort of a corollary, but not really ( ;-) )  If I have to drive to a place to which I would normally take an expressway because it is most direct, and the traffic is very backed up but moving, experience shows that it is still faster to take the slow expressway direct route than to try to go around it on city streets where there are closely spaced stop signs and stop lights.  And there are seldom serious crashes on slowly moving expressways.
 
Jeff Schneider said:

On my city to suburb work commute, I go a significant distance at high speed (~ 40 mph), but also spend a very long time waiting at signal lights.  My AVERAGE speed is only about 13 mph.  I would get home just as quickly (or slowly) driving steadily at much lower speed.  It would be safer for everybody (drivers, cyclists, pedestrians), and less fatiguing for drivers.  Maybe we'd all be in a better mood, too.

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Permalink Reply by Alex Z on May 13, 2014 at 11:47am

Interesting--I have the opposite impulse, which is that I want to avoid the highways around here at all costs. Whether it's the stress of going fast with cars changing lanes all around you or the slog of sitting bumper-to-bumper, I almost always prefer to drive on a road where at least you get some change of scenery. :)

(I'm overstating a bit; of course when I had to drive to Naperville in November, I took the highway.)

Lisa Curcio 4.1 mi said:

Sort of a corollary, but not really ( ;-) )  If I have to drive to a place to which I would normally take an expressway because it is most direct, and the traffic is very backed up but moving, experience shows that it is still faster to take the slow expressway direct route than to try to go around it on city streets where there are closely spaced stop signs and stop lights.  And there are seldom serious crashes on slowly moving expressways.
 

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Permalink Reply by Erica Goodwin on May 14, 2014 at 10:09pm

I love it when I bike past traffic jams (Especially since I'm not even that fast.) and hate it when cars blow through stop signs and run me off the road.  I think it could work here though. So many people in Europe bike and with shared bikes,"Divy" in almost every city we're getting closer. And yes, we should be more like Europe and take more naps and vacation. : )

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Permalink Reply by Anne Alt on May 15, 2014 at 7:04am

At times of day when the expressway is likely to be congested, I tend to feel the same way. Part of it is having flexibility to change routes if I encounter a problem, as I would if I was on a bike. Getting trapped in congestion is the worst, and it's a big reason why I generally prefer bikes to cars.

Seems like frustration in congested, trapped situations motivates a lot of driver behavior that's hazardous to peds and cyclists. The question is how best to nudge folks beyond that to take the next step and choose alternatives to cars when it's feasible, and find ways to make alternatives more feasible in their lives.

Alex Z said:

Interesting--I have the opposite impulse, which is that I want to avoid the highways around here at all costs. Whether it's the stress of going fast with cars changing lanes all around you or the slog of sitting bumper-to-bumper, I almost always prefer to drive on a road where at least you get some change of scenery. :)

 

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