New Haven Independent

Posted by: robn | September 4, 2008 1:11 PM

Its easily accomplished in 4 steps.

1) Mandate that the police department (all officers...not just traffic officers) enforce existing traffic laws, including those bearing upon pedestrians and bicyclists).
2) Install yield signs at crosswalks.
3) Bottleneck street widths with curb protrusions at intersections to slow traffic (this can be readily observed at the Omni block)
4) Repair road skirts and paint bike lanes on major roads.

Posted by: Webblog 1 | September 4, 2008 2:32 PM

Aldermen Erin Sturgis Pascale, of Fair Haven, and Roland Lemar would be better served if they first ensured the city streets were first of all paved, widened, and well marked.

These two always seem to put the cart before the horse with they're constant brain storms of mean less, toothless ordinances, without first laying the ground work for infrasture improvement. Currently, motor vehicle taxes are collected in the state for purported road repair, however, in New Haven no motor vehicle taxes are used from budget for this purpose.
Case in point, public works director John Proprof recently said that New haven has 225 miles of road and can only pave 4 miles a year, with only 1.7M provided by the state of Ct.

These two alders need to get busy insuring that motor vehicle taxes collected are properly used for roads, bike lanes and walking paths.

Stop the grandstanding Pascale and Lemar.

Posted by: David Streever | September 4, 2008 3:25 PM

Let's not forget about Elm City Cycling, which I think was also a big part of this happening!

Great work alders Lemar & Sturgis-Pascale--thank you for believing in this & working so hard toward it.

Posted by: Josh Smith | September 4, 2008 11:11 PM

Great job, alderpeople, activists, residents... everyone came together to bring this about, and hopefully it will pass and be a very real and binding group of laws that adds to the effect of all the bicycling- and pedestrian-oriented changes that have been moving forward in New Haven. It's about time we stopped focusing on moving cars through cities and started caring about moving people, no matter how they choose to get around.

If any of you can't see the momentum that is building for bicycling in New Haven right now, you're absolutely blind. Go out, buy a bike, learn how to ride safely and legally, and join our ranks. (Note: Riding on the sidewalk is illegal within city limits, and is extremely unsafe, especially when you get to intersections.) If you join our ranks -- and we're not leaving the streets anytime soon, so come on board -- we'll be glad to share the road with you. :)

Posted by: Fedupwithliberals | September 5, 2008 7:05 AM

Great job trying to protect people from themselves! Libs are great at not being able to look at the problems they create in trying to control human behavior without addressing it directly. Law of unintended consequences. When all these "traffic calming" measures are put into place, I hope that you will understand why the ambulance, police or fire department take an extra 5 minutes to get to you.

Posted by: robn | September 5, 2008 8:43 AM

FUWL,

Liberalism is about liberty, and theres nothing so taxing to liberty as being in a full body cast becuase some law-breaking speeding motorist ran your bicycle off the road.

Posted by: Fedupwithliberals | September 5, 2008 3:10 PM

ROBN

So, because one person gets into an accident, all of us have to be inconvenienced or have our property and lives put in jeopardy. Makes a lot of sense.

This is the kind of thinking that has destroyed every major city in the US. No one seems to learn from their mistakes. Why is it that NYC can function as it does with bike messengers and crazy cab drivers never hitting each other?

Posted by: Kevin Ewing | September 5, 2008 5:18 PM

FUWL,

I don't know where you're getting your NYC facts from but I can't recall EVER seeing a taxi there WITHOUT a bunch of dents. In the years I lived there I saw them banging into each other all the time. I also saw a bunch of bike messengers get run down. I had a friend who was undercover narc cop who said the most dangerous job in NYC was not his but bike messengers.

Sheer volume is traffic calming in NYC.

Posted by: robn | September 6, 2008 8:55 AM

FUWL,

It seems that your hangup has to do with the speed of police and fire deparment vehicles. The current system is not based upon the rapidity of all traffic, but is based upon drivers pulling to the skirt of the road when they hear a siren. As long as lane widths are properly designed for this I don't see traffic calming changing the speed of first responders. Do you?

Posted by: che15 | September 6, 2008 12:36 PM

You lnkow what? These laws are already in place, but knowone follows them. Pedestrians, cyclists, and motorists all feel as if they OWN the road. Here's an idea FOLLOW THE CURRENT LAWS. Get off your cell phones while you drive and walk. Dont ride the wrong way on your bicycle. Use crosswalks and better yet obey cross walk signs. Al cars, just SLOW the F down. And last to everyone who feels the need to ride there bikes in front of moving cars like they are some sort of indestructible being or walk in front of oncoming traffic thinking they are more powerful than a car. Well you are not. Just follow the current laws and act like human beings folks it would work out better than you might think

Posted by: anon | September 6, 2008 4:42 PM

Che15, that might work out better, but better is not necessarily good enough if we really want to promote safety, end injuries, make the city easier to walk around, promote retail districts, etc. Read a few studies on "walkable urbanism." Better is great, and it's great that the number of deaths on our roads has declined since the 1970s, but 42,000 traffic-related deaths and 350,000 hospitalizations (avg 10 days each) a year is still WAY too many.

Posted by: robn | September 6, 2008 5:18 PM

CHE15,

Agreed on most counts, but small physical impediments to speeding will certainly help the police enforce existing laws and won't do any harm to law abiding citizens.

Posted by: Fedupwithliberals | September 8, 2008 8:13 AM

ROBN

Yeah, right! Still doesn't speak to bollards, speed bumps and curves. When there's a bottleneck at the cleverly designed narrowed intersection, where are they going to go?

You place a lot of faith on educating people. I'm sure someone at some point in time had told that Yale med student not to run out into busy streets without looking both ways. Fat lot of good it did her.

KEVIN

Despite the danger, you don't see cops or bike messengers whining about their jobs. What a bunch of titty babies us New Haveners are!