After a close friend was killed by a motorist, Fair Haven Alderwoman Erin Sturgis-Pascale vowed to change street culture so these “accidents” wouldn’t happen again.
Monday, in the culmination of what has become a surging, citywide safe streets movement, she found widespread support for her quest.
A Complete Streets proposal, introduced by Sturgis-Pascale and East Rock Alderman Roland Lemar, met unanimous approval from the aldermanic Legislation Committee at City Hall Monday night.
The proposal would create a Complete Streets Steering Committee to guide the development of a policy to ensure equal, safe access for all motorists, cyclists and pedestrians; a design manual to implement it; a process to include community members in the planning; an educational campaign; and traffic enforcement.
Click here to read the proposal.
Pascale said she’d like to see the city’s streets evaluated not by the number of lanes or traffic lights, but by other measures. “Are our streets being used for people to socialize? Are our children playing in the streets safely? Are they able to ride their bicycles? Are we welcoming people with disabilities? Are we protecting our seniors on our streets?
She said, like many people, she became passionate about the issue as a result of scary and tragic personal experiences. She highlighted “a shocking diversity of traffic-related assaults, from the mundane to the really tragic.” These included her cat being run over the first week she moved into the city; being the victim of two hit-and-run accidents; being hit by a car while cycling.
“I saw a pedestrian get hit ten feet in front of me, and it created an image I will never forget,” she said. “And lastly and most importantly, my very good friend and colleague was killed on Easter Day in 2006, and I was devastated. It was so senseless and so violent.” She said reducing transportation-related injuries and deaths would lead to many positive outcomes, including stronger social networks, cleaner air, and a boost for local businesses. Click here to listen to her full statement.
The legislation coincides with the emergence of grassroots citywide href=“http://www.newhavenindependent.org/archives/2008/06/westville_block.php”>Safe
Streets Campaign. The DeStefano administration, meanwhile, plans next month
to href=“http://www.newhavenindependent.org/archives/upload/2008/09/oct%2019th%20launch%20advisory.doc”>launch
a “Street Smarts” campaign to inform cyclists and drivers alike about the
rules of the road.
Lemar praised city officials for enthusiastically jumping on board the safe streets bandwagon, and grassroots groups such as the Safe Streets Coalition and Elm City Cycling that have been organizing around the issue. (Pictured are ECC members Rob Rocke, Bill Kurtz, Tom Harned and Erica Mintzer, some of whom are also active with the Safe Streets Coalition.)
Aldermanic president Carl Goldfield, who cycles in from Beaver Hill, emphasized the importance of defensive driving, walking and cycling. “When you’re driving through the city, whenever you come to an intersection, slow down and make sure everyone has stopped. And I learned, through almost getting killed walking through Edgewood Park, whenever I have the walk signal I never assume everyone is going to stop. I had some woman step on the gas, trying to beat the light, and I almost got creamed.”
CAO Rob Smuts (pictured outside the aldermanic chambers) testified and said the DeStefano administration takes the issue very seriously, and is promoting education and enforcement – and engineering solutions where possible. He said engineering changes are tough, because the city is dealing with a legacy of 370 years of infrastructure and most streets are completely built out. But he mentioned the roundabouts put in on Woodward Avenue to slow down traffic, barriers to discourage drag racing on River Street, and a plan being put in place to deal with that problem on Long Wharf Drive, where a bystander to a drag race was killed in August.
As for enforcement, Patrol Division head Captain Robert Lanza testified that Chief James Lewis has committed to providing more personnel to the traffic detail, despite the department being short-staffed. He said the number of tickets issued for moving violations (more than 10,000) is up 35 percent this year over the same period (January through August) last year, and accidents are down five percent. “It seems we’re having a culture of motor vehicle chaos, more than we ever have. It’s everyone in this room, it’s everyone who drives too fast, and tries to get under that red light. It’s not just a small population of people you can target; it seems to be almost a cultural thing.”
Smuts emphasized that this will be a sustained effort, not just a flash in the pan. On October 19, the mayor will roll out a new traffic safety education campaign.
Every one of the two dozen people who testified spoke in favor of the proposal, each emphasizing something a little different.
The Rev. Dr. E.J. Moss (pictured) called for “equity and parity in use of the streets.” He scolded jaywalkers for acting like they own the street, ignoring the rights of other users; he excoriated dirt bikes and ATVs driven on city streets (and called for their confiscation); and he called for more bike lanes.
Alycia Santilli (pictured with her husband Ethan Hutchings) testified that both of them had been hit in the past few months by motorists while riding their bikes. She said in both instances the drivers were at fault, but they insisted the cyclists should be riding on the sidewalk and they also said they didn’t see them cycling in broad daylight. (Click here for their story.)
Kirsten Bechtel is a pediatric physician who works in the Emergency Department at Yale New Haven Hospital. She spoke in support of the legislation, pointing to the fact that crashes involving motor vehicles are the leading cause of death of children under 18 years of age. She said a recent multi-year study showed that in New Haven, the rate of pediatric pedestrian injuries was twice the national average. “For 2007, 13 percent of all accidents evaluated at Yale New Haven Hospital involved pedestrians struck by vehicles, and that was an eight-fold increase over 2006.”
This reporter, while riding home from the hearing, experienced first-hand the dangers a cyclist confronts in a “culture of motor vehicle chaos.” As I cycled north on Orange Street just past Audubon, a car drove steadily toward me, then turned into a driveway right into my path, barely missing me. When I stopped to ask him, “Didn’t you see me?” he said no, despite the fact that I had front and rear lights on and reflectors on both wheels. He said he’d been blinded and disoriented by bright lights behind him. A couple of miles farther, on Whitney Avenue at the Hamden line, I was riding in the street in the right-hand lane, with very little traffic (instead of the long, uninterrupted sidewalk with no pedestrians on it, which is where I usually ride). Suddenly several cars overtook me, and one of them swerved into my lane to zoom past another car on the right.
As they used to say on Hill Street Blues, “Be careful out there.”
Cant the BoA increase fines so they are really really punitive. That will bring in some cash to pay police overtime so they ticket offenders. The Register this morning says the police overtime budget is already blown for the year. We all know nothing will get done if theres no cash flowing to the men in blue. Donuts are so so expensive now.