Posts
***
Don't you hate it when someone yammers on and on about the same topic, blah-blah-blah? Flogging a dead horse or "thrice to slay the slain".
You may want to avert your eyes because I came across some excellent information related to addressing residential speeding on a web site called Center for Problem-Oriented Policing.
Speeding in Residential Areas:
This guide addresses the problem of speeding in residential areas, one of the most common sources of citizen complaints to the police. It is often the chief concern of community groups, largely because of the perceived risks to children. Yet because speeding must compete with other problems for police attention, problems that may appear far more serious, the police often do not devote a lot of resources to it.
Speeding in residential areas causes five basic types of harm:
- it makes citizens fear for children's safety;
- it makes pedestrians and bicyclists fear for their safety;
- it increases the risk of vehicle crashes;
- it increases the seriousness of injuries to other drivers,passengers, pedestrians, and bicyclists struck by a vehicle; and
- it increases noise from engine acceleration and tire friction.
The summary of responses page is also worth a look (stop signs, often a popular response to speeding, are not very effective). They list six total responses:
1. Using traffic calming (speed tables and such);
2. Posting warning signs and signals. “Painting speed limits or “SLOW” on the road surface, in combination with posting roadside signs, can help reduce speed.”
3. Conducting anti-speeding public awareness campaigns.
4. Informing complainants about actual speeds. “Complainants do not always estimate vehicle speeds accurately.
5. Providing realistic driver training.
6. Enforcing speeding laws. “Long-term changes in drivers’ attitudes toward speeding depend on drivers’ perceived risk of being stopped.27 However, a considerable investment of resources is required to significantly increase the risk of getting caught.”
(To my surprise, the About Us page explains that, "The University of Wisconsin-Madison Law School’s Frank J. Remington Center is the academic home of the Center for Problem-Oriented Policing’s director, Michael Scott. Law students there also serve as research assistants to the POP Center.")
Doug
ReplyDeleteAll of the attention being given to speeding is fine, and the data suggests that it is a real problem at Maywood Park. The intersection at Maywood Road is obviously dangerous whenever pedestrians are present in the roadway. But a few BIG ISSUES are not being directly addressed by the excellent discussion and ordinance being proposed.
1. The Mayor is correct to push for sidewalks on Winnequah Road. If you consider Dean or Nichols, which are also main roads like Winnequah, the big difference is that pedestrians and small children on bikes are on the sidewalks on Dean and Nichols.
Recently, I discussed the yield signs that are mounted in the streets at crosswalks with an avid walker, who complained that cars are forced into the curb at the Winnequah crosswalk next to Healy St, since pedestrians are in the street there. I conceeded that most of these speed calming devices ASSUME that the street has sidewalks. If pedestrians are also in the streets, you have additional, conflicting issues.
Winnequah is too busy to lack sidewalks. To make Winnequah safe while keeping pedestrians and cyclists in the street with cars, we would have to slow down the traffic so much that it would cease to be a useful main road. In other words, the sidewalks make all the other things more palatable and safe. Without sidewalks, it gets hard to accommodate all the traffic, safely, with the kids, cyclists, strollers, pedestrians, etc.
2. How many newer citizens with young families are on the PSC? Does the PSC reflect the demographics and concerns of our city? As the former co-chair of this committee, I was frustrated by the lack of diversity of opinions on this panel. While the citizen members were all good and thoughtful people, it also seemed heavily dominated by individuals who resisted new ideas. I think the mayor needs to shake things up a bit at the committee level if Monona plans to thrive in the 21st century.
Most of the people who have moved to Monona in the past 5, 10, or even 20 years, have typically NOT moved here to escape Madison, or to avoid sidewalks. We mostly like the strong smaller community and excellent PUBLIC services which OUR responsive local government provides. We are not anti-government, and we have chosen to live in a community entirely surrounded by Madison. We like and demand many of the same excellent services that are provided in Madison, but I like to think that we do things better in Monona. But Monona cannot change, or improve, if our committees refuse to listen to the thousands of immigrants who (after 5, 10 or 20 years) now call Monona home.
3. Our main roads belong to and serve the entire community. It is the PUBLIC right of way, not the domain of only the few who choose to live along these streets. The recent battle for proper sidewalks at the north end of Winnequah illustrates the point. Citizens will typically resist change "in their front yard" which they might otherwise embrace as a benefit for the community. Just as we all have to drive along these main roads, we also have to bike or walk in the road if no sidewalk is there.
On these main roads, we need to push for a community-wide redevelopment that includes either "virtual sidewalks" (which would HAVE to prohibit all and any parking), or actual sidewalks, which will allow Monona to have a more family-friendly, pedestrian-safe community. This will increase property values, and allow us all to live more healthy and sustainable lives, by leaving the car at home more often.
I agree that it is difficult to make peds safe when they are walking in the road with cars, trucks, and bikes.
ReplyDeleteBut sidewalks as a stand alone project are expensive in addition to being politically difficult.
Public Safety's members are not, ahem, spring chickens. Mike V. is the youngest member, then me and Jim Bisbee. All but one member is male. Collectively they do, however, reside in pretty much all areas of the city.
Being old is not a bad thing nor is having lived in Monona for a long time. I am approaching the former and, at 25 years in Monona have to be considered a long-term resident by any rational measure.
But, I also that one's outlook changes as one ages. From no kids to kids in school to kids involved in sports, dance, etc., back to no kids. (I am now about 6 years removed from having a kid in elementary school. It's hard to remember exactly what that was like and it has probably changed anyway.)
So, yes, the PSC could use some younger members. If they were all under 40, I'd say it needed some older folks.
(A minor point, the Traffic Management Program is not an ordinance, it is a policy guideline.)
If you have issues with cutting and pasting text, a good trick is to paste it into notepad first, correct anything if needed, and then cut and paste into your post.
ReplyDeleteYeah, but then you get paste all over your notepad. Homemade paste is tasty however.
ReplyDelete