Roads Are More Dangerous Than Ever
Since America has single-mindedly spent the past century doing everything it can to reduce congestion, ease motor vehicle travel, and maximize motor vehicle speeds, it should be no surprise to anyone that our roads are more dangerous today than they have ever been for bicyclists and walkers — not to mention our less skilled drivers.
The conventional traffic engineers of all cities in the US have claimed that over the past 100 years up to this day, their focus has been to make our roads safer. Since that 100-year safety effort has resulted in the most dangerous roads ever, all conventional traffic engineers should have their licenses revoked for malpractice. After all, such engineers have used roadway designs that have strongly contributed to killing millions.
As an aside, a plausible argument can be made that driving is safer for skilled motorists, but this in no way excuses the fact that roads are more deadly than ever for people walking or bicycling. Not to mention the fact that such motor vehicle-centered design is largely responsible for the minuscule number of walking and bicycling trips engaged in by Americans.
Of course, one can plausibly point out that it is not the fault of engineers. They are simply following the orders of their supervisors, their elected officials, and their fellow citizens – all of whom have demanded they reduce congestion, ease motor vehicle travel, and maximize motor vehicle speeds for the past century.
I’m increasingly convinced that in transportation, we have passed the point of no return. There is no turning back once we’ve gone significantly in the direction of enabling excessively high-speed, inattentive motor vehicle travel – which we have obsessively done for a century. The world we have created makes it impossible (impractical) for the vast majority of us to get around in any way other than private motor vehicle. Indeed, it is so difficult to travel by walking, bicycling, or transit that even mild measures to promote non-car travel inevitably seem like an existential threat to nearly all citizens of a community. This means it becomes political suicide for any elected official to push for effective measures to move us away from extreme car dependence.
The car is the enemy of the city. Providing for easy car travel is a self-perpetuating downward spiral that leads to barbaric levels of road deaths, financial bankruptcy, and crappy cities.
Who needs enemies when we have ourselves?