Making Streets Safe for Austin Planners

A few months ago, a colleague was walking in Downtown Austin when he was hit by a car that turned into him while he was crossing an intersection as the pedestrian light told him to do. Unfortunately, the driver of the car started turning on the green light but didn't look to see if there were pedestrians crossing.  After I heard about the accident and heard that my colleague had sustained an injury, I realized in my 9 years with the City of Austin there have been 9 injury-inducing pedestrian and bicycle accidents of City planners. Nine.  This is an incredibly high number.  Broken bones, dislocations, sprains, concussions, and contusions.  I've worked for a couple of other employers and never experienced this kind of injury rate.

Several of the bicycle accidents were caused by an obstruction in the road while a one was caused by wet road conditions.  However, five of them were caused by drivers who were not paying attention or driving aggressively.  One was a hit and run that left a co-worker with a few injuries including a concussion.

Planners consider it their jobs to create safe environments for all means of getting around.  All of our injured planners have made contributions to safer streets by working on plans and programs that have made important contributions to our transportation network in Austin.  These are people who live for what they work for:  creating safe and enjoyable environments for all means of transportation but particularly walking and cycling.  Their injuries are even more motivation to do our jobs of creating more walkable communities.

I've been fortunate not to be one of these victims but I've had my share of close calls.  Too many to count actually. A couple were real close where only sheer luck prevented me from getting hit.  I mostly ride the bus to work which includes about 2 miles of walking to and from the bus stop.  Not that I haven't made mistakes but a pedestrian making a mistake will cause a lot less damage than a driver.   I'm going to highlight a few types of near misses and mistakes I've observed.  I have been jumped in the queue by cars turning right and left and running red lights.  Cars aren't my only problem. Cyclists often come up behind me and don't announce themselves, which really makes me angry when there is a nice bike lane for them to be using.  And I see more than my share of pedestrians crossing mid-block; sometimes within feet of a crosswalk.  Again, that makes me angry.  But, hey, we all have to be patient.

Patience is the point of this article.  Whatever way you are traveling please be patient, pay attention and follow the rules of the road.  Consider this: the next time you drive aggressively or allow yourself to be distracted, you may be jeopardizing the life of someone who wants to make streets safer for people including you.