Fall 2000
Making Valley Streets Safer for Walking
In the summer issue of Livable Places News, we documented the
financial dividends that occur when we build neighborhoods and downtowns
where people find it easy and appealing to walk. However, there
is another important consideration – perhaps more important
than the economic one. It is the health and safety of the pedestrian.
Cars kill more people than strangers with guns (at a ratio of
1.6 to 1) according to 1997 research. And for every pedestrian that
is killed by an automobile, 20 more are injured – a total of
110,000 across the United States every year. Young children are
particularly vulnerable. Being hit by a car while walking is the
second leading cause of death for California children. Statewide,
nearly 5,000 young pedestrians are injured every year.
Anyone who has suffered the humiliation of traffic school has
learned that the higher your speed, the worse the accident. The
probability of a pedestrian being killed is 3.5% when a vehicle
is traveling at 15 miles per hour, but increases more than tenfold
to 37% at 31 mph and 83% at 44 mph.
Because travel speeds are correlated with street widths, making
roads wider – and easier for drivers to go fast – can
create a health hazard. A recent study in Longmont, Colorado, revealed
that the safest street was 24 feet wide. The most dangerous street,
statistically, was the 36-foot wide street typically found in new
subdivisions. The majority of pedestrian deaths occur on such neighborhood
streets.
Local governments have a unique opportunity to make streets safer
by encouraging narrow streets in developing subdivisions and carrying
out traffic calming “retrofits” to slow traffic on existing
streets.
Making New Streets More Narrow
 Several
Valley communities have adopted standards for narrow streets in
new development. The cities of Escalon and Turlock both allow “skinny
streets.” The Fresno Growth Alternatives Alliance, a joint
effort of the business community, farm interests, and building industry,
advocates for narrow streets in its landmark document, Landscape
of Choice. The LGC is currently working with the Alliance on developing
model smart growth codes for Fresno County. Information about this
effort is available by calling Steve Hoyt at the LGC, (916) 448-1198.
Calming Existing Streets
“Traffic calming” refers to techniques and devices used
to slow traffic.
One of the most effective traffic calming devices is the traffic
circle. The installation of traffic circles, also known as roundabouts,
has reduced accidents by 94% in Seattle and 50% in Portland, Oregon.
Narrowing the road through extending curbing at street crossings
is also a very effective traffic calming strategy. Not only does
this make streets more attractive, it has reduced accidents in Vancouver,
British Columbia by 75%.
A number of San Joaquin Valley communities have used curb extensions
to increase the walkability of their downtowns, among them are Visalia,
Taft, Hanford, Lindsay and Bakersfield.
Opposition to Narrower Streets?
In general, there is citizen support for both narrow streets and
for traffic calming. Multiple community image surveys carried out
in San Joaquin Valley communities have revealed that participants
consistently give low marks to images of wide streets and high marks
to narrow, tree-shaded ones.
However, in spite of their public support, city and county fire
officials often oppose narrow streets because they feel such streets
slow the ability of a fire truck to quickly respond to an emergency.
The unfortunate result is that streets are more-often-than-not built
too wide, compromising the safety of pedestrians and bicyclists.
In some communities, traffic calming projects have proceeded over
the objections of the fire department. However, when fire officials
are left out of the planning process, measures which could accommodate
the needs of both the pedestrian and the fire truck are never even
brought to light.
Increasingly, fire departments and residents are learning how
to work together. Portland, for instance, has had considerable success
in creating win/win solutions for the interests of both. Narrow
Streets and the Fire Department, a new video now available from
the Local Government Commission, features interviews with fire chiefs
in communities where cooperation is occurring, to everyone’s
benefit.
The LGC also has several guidebooks available: The Citizens’
Guide to Traffic Calming — a useful tool in helping citizens
choose traffic calming options — and Street Design Guidelines
for Healthy Neighborhoods — a guide providing actual dimensions
for pedestrian-friendly streets. To order, call Karen Cole, LGC,
(916)448-1198. Also helpful is Dangerous by Design: Pedestrian Safety
in California, by the Surface Transportation Policy Project, available
at http://www.transact.org.
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