How can we make our streets safer?

We have the typical, let’s say traditional, conflicts over speed differential or traffic volume. You add cars or take away lanes, there is an increase in conflict. We have emerging interests in, let’s say, alternative transportation. For example, bicycles, scooters, e-bikes, unicycles, etc.

There are already conflicts on the roads typically used for cars, so adding other transit forms can add to that. Add pedestrians, distracted driving, even more people, and you have potential for tragedy. We’ve seen it happen, but tragedies on the road or in public spaces are nothing new. In fact, our roads are safer now than when the automobile first competed with trolleys, horses and pedestrians.

Luckily, we don’t have to worry about horses too much, but there is evidence of shared use on certain hiking trails that have posted signs about who yields to whom. The key term is shared use. The roads we travel upon are common space, not resources to be hoarded, but rather managed in a way that makes sense for all.

Cities founded before the advent of the car are typically more walkable, however, areas around San Francisco actually had some pretty nice public transit infrastructure eliminated as the automobile and cheap gas became king. We are still fortunate to have Caltrain and BART to ease road congestion. There is also a burgeoning movement toward more protected bike lanes to allow more comfort with that form of transportation. The difficulty can lie in when those lanes take up parking or traffic lanes that were being used by cars, which is still the predominant form of transportation. Still more difficult is deciding what to do about e-bikes and scooters, which can move more rapidly and sometimes used by children who don’t have a driver’s license or a full understanding of the rules of the road. And then there are driverless vehicles, which will only grow in number.

While many of our cars have made it easy for us to space out while driving, we aren’t there. Distracted driving is a real problem. Too often, drivers are paying more attention to their screens than the road, and that can cause problems with other drivers as well as pedestrians and bicyclists. We need a commitment from our police that traffic laws will be enforced, and not just through sporadic action paid for by state grants. This is a potential crisis and should be treated as such. Distracted drivers should be ticketed.

We need more education on e-bikes, especially for young people under 16. These devices are great, they move quickly and provide autonomy for kids while saving a car trip for parents. For the most part, these e-bikes are used properly. But sometimes they are not, and that’s the times that stick out for people. Still, we need education for kids about how to use them, and enforcement for when the riders break the law.

Of course, common sense and personal responsibility can help too.

We also need a balanced approach to creating safe routes for people seeking to use bicycles, e-bikes and scooters while also ensuring car traffic can flow properly. In that approach, we should also revisit whether our speed limits should be lower.

Slower traffic is safer and slow traffic that also keeps flowing is safer and better for everyone. We must proceed with cures for traffic congestion like revising the State Route 92/Highway 101 interchange. As traffic snarls there, surface streets see impact from those trying to find a better way, and that creates new conflicts with other cars, but also pedestrians and bicyclists.

And we need to assess the role of driverless vehicles in our county. We need to determine their roles, as taxis or personal car, and whether they will be a potential solution for the transition from public transit to a destination, known as the last-mile problem.

So which of these will lead to safer streets? All of the above, with an eye on compromise, personal responsibility and common sense. Until then, pay attention and be safe.