March 2003, #7

Let's Walk & Roll

Why Drive 25 (part 2)

A study was done in SF a few years back that compared the sense of community on blocks with Low, Medium and High traffic volume and speed. The researchers measured how many friends and acquaintances each resident had among people living on the same block.

They found, not too surprisingly, that the amount and speed of traffic on a street directly affected the number of relationships that a person formed with others on their block. To the point that people living on streets with heavy traffic averaged less than one friend on their block and half as many acquaintances as people on low traffic blocks. The study showed that traffic levels directly resulted in alienation of residents on high speed/high traffic blocks.

What does this have to do with speeding and 25 MPH? It is likely that most Alamedans, when asked, would say that they want a community where people can walk, bike, create bonds with their neighbors, have kids play together in the neighborhood, etc. And yet we are placing theis very community we hope for under threat.

The majority of speeders in Alameda line in Alameda, and we continue to increase our speed on residential streets. The 85th-percentile speed (the speed that 85 percent of vehicles are going slower than and 15 percent are going faster than) has increased 1-2 MPH on some of the city’s streets in the last 5 years.

As speeds continue to creep up, people have a growing concern for their safety just walking and biking through their own neighborhoods. Just this week, I was stopped while bicycling with kids in a bike trailer and asked by a motorist if I didn’t feel that the streets were too unsafe to ride on! As we all spend more and more time driving because it’s too “unsafe” to walk or ride the 4 blocks we’re going to school or to the store or to visit our friends, we spend more time simply waving to our neighbors as we drive past and a lot less time speaking to them.

Time and convenience are the two major factors when it comes to speeding: “How can I get to my destination with as little time as possible spent in the car?” What if we were to add the following question to the mix: “How can I get to my destination with as little adverse effect on my neighborhood and my surrounding community as possible?”

Many of the same people who complain about vehicle speeds in their neighborhood ARE the people speeding in their neighborhood. It’s time we all take a few minutes to slow down (what are we saving? 1 minute? 2?) and realize that life is better for ALL of us when we do so.

Jeff Swatman is the Alameda Police Department Traffic Sergeant. If you have questions regarding pedestrian/bicycle safety, please call him at 748-4508 extension 3342. John Knox White and Audrey Lord-Hausman work with Pedestrian Friendly Alameda (www.pedfriendly.org) and BikeAlameda (www.bikealameda.org).

Go Back