Chicago has unveiled plans to make the streets of the Windy City a lot safer for pedestrians. The reduction of car accidents will be accomplished through an extensive pedestrian safety plan that has nearly 250 recommendations. The report highlights a varying number of techniques that will be employed in an around Chicago including countdown timers at crossings, pedestrian islands, chicanes and midblock curb bumpouts.
All the recommendations in the report were generated from citizens living in the city who will be helping their home town join the likes of New York and Portland who have plans in place to reduce pedestrian fatalities. Chicago held several public meeting in downtown were recommendations were taken about how to correct the problems pedestrians faced. The report had some interesting remedies including using data on accidents to identify two accident prone streets and four intersections that will be repaired every year. The safety report also looks at tackling the problem by educating drivers and using the police to nab dangerous drivers, and improve safety rules for taxis.
According to statistics, 50 pedestrians are killed every year in Chicago because of car related accidents. Chicago Department of Transportation Director, Gabe Klein, wants to reduce this number in 10 years to zero. Klien told the Chicago Tribune that, “We want pedestrian safety to be at the forefront of everything we do. Everyone in the city is a pedestrian.”
Chicago will be using the toolkit provided in the report to deal with their pedestrian casualty problem. The city can utilize the many solutions according to the ground reality of the street or side walk. For example, they can use roundabouts, including road diets, speed breaker and pedestrian only signals. There are other solutions that deal with other methods like offering more pedestrian connectivity and tools for dealing with snow and construction.
With cities like Chicago and New York implementing formal safety plans it is likely other smaller cities will follow if the results of the projects are positive.
Source: Street Blog
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