Pedestrian Safety

Larry Felton Johnson has accepted the responsibility for pedestrian safety in East Atlanta.

But I finally acknowledged what I’ve known for a long time, that the most efficient means for the citizen of a neighborhood to have a positive impact is to help out in the local community group…

While I have no real objections to attempts to engineer pedestrian safety into the built environment via traffic calming schemes as long as noxious unintended consequences are avoided, I don’t believe for a second that engineered solutions are the overall answer to the problem.

The solution as I see it is broad education of drivers concerning the law combined with strict enforcement.

That sounds like a good idea. As far as engineered solutions go, the mid-block crosswalks in New York City seem to work well, from a traffic perspective. Walking in the City is mainly a matter of exercising prudent care: if your path will not intersect that of a car, cross; or, in crossing, alter your path or velocity. Move it, buster.

Somehow I don’t think permitting pedestrians to fire at oncoming traffic would be acceptable, but it might cause drivers to be more cautious.