NH Register: Pedestrian Safety Measures Advance Slowly

Copy of article from nhregister.com:

News > New Haven

Pedestrian safety measures advance slowly

Thursday, November 12, 2009

By Mary E. O’Leary, Register Topics Editor

NEW HAVEN — Jason Stockman dreads having to cross College Street and North Frontage Road as he heads from his research lab at Yale University to his downtown apartment.

With no pedestrian signal and cars jockeying to turn onto Route 34 or heading for the entrance to Interstate 91 and Interstate 95 south, walkers are not the top priority.

“It’s extremely treacherous. The crossing distance is very large, and cars are turning at a high rate of speed. I’m crossing at all hours of the day and night, which makes it worse,” said Stockman.

It’s one of a dozen dangerous crossing points around Yale-New Haven Hospital that the hospital agreed in 2006 to improve by splitting the estimated $3 million cost with the city. State Traffic Control approval has come through for eight of 12 intersections, which took a year to design.

Vincent Petrini, spokesman for Y-NH, said its $1.2 million commitment for the traffic signalization upgrade is ready to be tapped as soon as all approvals are in.

“It’s unfortunate that these projects take so long. It’s not just a routine project,” Stockman said of the high number of pedestrians in the Yale Medical School area and the death of medical student Mila Rainoff in 2008, which mobilized safe street advocates across the city.

For Stockman, who walks or bikes the city as much as he can, findings of the Transportation for America report on the most dangerous cities for pedestrians and low federal investment in correcting that comes as no surprise.

The bottom line is, walking on streets designed for speeding cars is deadly, with 76,000 Americans killed crossing or walking along a street in the last 15 years.

The report, done in conjunction with the Surface Transportation Policy Partnership, found the four most dangerous metro areas for walking are in Florida, including Orlando, Tampa, Miami and Jacksonville, but that doesn’t mean Connecticut doesn’t have a problem.

A total of 11.8 percent of traffic deaths nationwide in 2007-08 were pedestrians; in Connecticut it was 12.6 percent. That translates to 21 fatalities in the Hartford area, 15 in Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk, 19 in New Haven-Milford and six in Norwich-New London.

Despite a 30 percent increase in total federal transportation money to states from 2005-08 under federal transportation law, only 1.7 percent was spent on pedestrian projects, or $1.67 per person. The average spent in New Haven-Milford was slightly less: $1.55 per person.

“That was one of the most shocking numbers for the advocates,” said Ya-Ting Liu, spokeswoman for the Tri-State Transportation Campaign, which is lobbying the federal government to designate at least 10 percent of Highway Safety Improvement Program money for programs that prevent these kinds of fatalities.

An active cycling community in New Haven has made considerable progress here in getting safe street policies adopted with traffic calming fixes added in a number of neighborhoods.

But ultimately, “it’s a matter of funding and the feds control how it is spent,” said Mark Abraham, one of the activists and a steering committee member of the Connecticut Livable Streets Campaign.

Petrini said the hospital has increased the number of shuttles it runs to cut the number of cars coming into the area, while its new loading dock will take truck traffic off North Frontage and South Frontage roads once the Smilow Cancer Hospital is fully operational in April.

Meanwhile, Stockman has advice for walkers at College Street and North Frontage Road. “Make eye contact with the drivers,” to ensure they see you, he said.

Mary E. O’Leary can be reached at 789-5731 or moleary@nhregister.com.

National Report Shows Connecticut Under-Invests in Pedestrian Safety despite Available Federal Funding; Advocates Urge ConnDOT to Make Pedestrian Safe

1,000 Friends of Connecticut
Connecticut Bicycle Coalition
Connecticut Association for Community Transportation
Connecticut Livable Streets Campaign
Elm City Cycling
Greater Bridgeport Transit Authority
Regional Plan Association
Tri-State Transportation Campaign
The Yale Medical Campus Traffic Safety Group

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 9, 2009

Contact: Ya-Ting Liu
Tri-State Transportation Campaign
212.268.7474 / yating@tstc.org

National Report Shows Connecticut Under-Invests in Pedestrian Safety despite Available Federal Funding; Advocates Urge ConnDOT to Make Pedestrian Safety a Priority

A new national report by Transportation for America and Surface Transportation Policy Partnership ( http://t4america.org/resources/dangerousbydesign/ ) finds that although 12.6% of total traffic fatalities in Connecticut were pedestrians in 2008, the state spends less than two percent of available federal transportation dollars to make roads safer for walkers, joggers and bicyclists.

The timely report comes in the wake of five pedestrian fatalities and two near-fatalities in the last two weeks in Manchester, Farmington, West Hartford, Hartford and New Haven. These are tragic reminders that roads designed for speeding cars, without provisions for the safety of people on foot or bicycle are killing both pedestrians and motorists.

Advocates said pedestrian traffic deaths are preventable if the state makes minor changes to transportation policies and funding practices.

“While Connecticut has made strides to become more pedestrian and bike friendly over the past year, residents still face significant danger every time they set foot on Connecticut’s roads,” said Ryan Lynch, senior planner and Connecticut coordinator for the Tri-State Transportation Campaign, a non-profit policy watchdog organization. “Recent and tragic pedestrian fatalities only reinforce the need for Connecticut Department of Transportation to target resources to make roads safer for all users, including drivers, walkers and cyclists.”

The advocates called on Connecticut Department of Transportation (ConnDOT) to:

• Prioritize pedestrian safety.
• Create and fund Safe Routes to School, Safe Routes to Transit and Safe Routes for Seniors programs.
• Designate at least 10% of federal Highway Safety Improvement Program (HSIP) money and 10% of federal Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality (CMAQ) funding for programs that prevent traffic injuries and fatalities.
• Implement and expand the Complete Streets legislation passed in 2009.

“In diverse and thriving cities like New Haven, the majority of residents do not drive to work every day. A growing number of Connecticut residents are making the decision to get around their cities and towns on foot, by bicycle or by transit simply because it is so much more convenient than driving. It has been clear for many years that state and federal governments must dramatically recalibrate their transportation investments so that our streets, crosswalks and sidewalks can better serve residents of all ages and abilities,” said Mark Abraham, a Steering Committee member of the Connecticut Livable Streets Campaign.

“As health professionals and students, we believe any sensible effort to stem the rising tide of the obesity, heart disease and diabetes epidemics must consider how to encourage physical activity on the streets of our cities and towns. We applaud the efforts of state and local officials in recognizing the importance of pedestrian safety, but as the Transportation for America report demonstrates, more needs to be done and done urgently,” said Natalie Spicyn and Jonathan Romanyshyn of the Yale Medical Campus Traffic Safety Group.

“One factor that discourages more individuals from using transit is that in many locations walking to and from a bus stop is unsafe, unpleasant or impossible,” said Ron Kilcoyne, General Manager/CEO of Greater Bridgeport Transit Authority.

"Although cycling and walking are generally safe and pleasant ways to travel around our cities, urban infrastructure, traffic volumes, and high rates of aggressive and inattentive driving present significant challenges, both actual and perceived, to many street users including children, the elderly, the disabled, and novice or inexperienced cyclists and pedestrians," said Bill Kurtz of Elm City Cycling.