In a discussion with CBC Radio’s Gloria Macarenko talking about British Columbia’s new speed cameras, I noted that traffic congestion is actually good for you, as it mitigates carbon emissions with slower speeds. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) also found that slower speeds reduce the number of crashes, using Boston as an example.
I have already written about the terrible decision of the Provincial Government, who despite the unanimous motion from the Union of British Columbia Municipalities decided that they would not allow cities to designate residential zones as 30 km/h. Instead, municipalities will have to sign each and every street with expensive signage, showing once again that the rights of vehicular drivers trump those wishing to live in connected, walkable and bikeable communities.
Even New York City is testing “neighbourhood slow zones”, reducing speeds to 20 mph (30 kmh) on roads within neighbourhood areas.
Philadelphia is now designing “slow-speed corridors” and has over 20 neighbourhoods applying for that designation. Portland Oregon has brought speeds down to 20 mph (30 kmh) in their residential streets. Other cities are following suit, as slowing speeds contributes to the Vision Zero philosophy of increasing safety benefits to all community users.
The more a street or road is designed to accommodate speed, the broader they are and the less bendy they are. They are inhospitable to live next to, and research shows that higher speed roads only gain their occupants an additional 48 seconds for every 1.2 kilometers.
The City of Edmonton has also instituted 30 km/h zones in residential areas and a 40 km/h maximum for arterial roads . They also have an online “Estimated Time of Arrival” tool online for drivers to see that their overall driving time is not really changing.
There is also a psychological discussion too about slower speed~the faster drivers travel, the less they are aware of the environment they are moving through. Richard Sennett talks about pre-automobile streets where congestion was accepted as normal. He notes that it was the development of streets designed like boulevards that began the idea that lack of congestion was associated with the right to speed.
It is the concept of the driver’s right to uncongested freedom of movement at speed that has been a 20th century construction, now accepted as an entrenched given.
That’s where the Province of British Columbia got stuck.
Instead of visioning cities as having the right to lower speeds across the board in neighbourhoods to create more sociable spaces and community cohesion, the Province chose not to question the driver’s right to their accepted expectation of how roads are supposed to be all about the driver.
This is not about delaying motorists. This is about making city streets useable for other forms of transport besides a vehicle. If autonomous vehicles were also programmed to go at 30 km/h in neighbourhoods, they would be predictable obstacles for cyclists and pedestrians to get out of the way of, and also make transit, and active transportation more appealing.
It is simply time to change the paradigm that speed and vehicular travel matter more than the rest of neighbourhood residents and other road users. It is the 21st century.
Photo by Lucas Ettore Chiereguini on Pexels.com
