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I'd be interested to see a source about comparative pedestrian safety. I'd be literally shocked if small suburban streets weren't safer than almost any other op

I'd be interested to see a source about comparative pedestrian safety. I'd be literally shocked if small suburban streets weren't safer than almost any other option.

kspaans 7y ago
Here is Scarborough, an eastern suburb (with the suburban neighbourhoods you'd expect) in the City of Toronto. > Incidents in Scarborough have accounted for more than 46 per cent (or 19 of 41) of pedestrian deaths this year, despite the eastern borough containing just 23 per cent of the city’s population and about 26 per cent of its road kilometrage. https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2018/12/07/toronto-appears-to-have-hit-a-one-year-high-in-pedestrian-and-cyclist-fatalities-over-40-per-cent-of-those-deaths-happened-in-scarborough.html https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2018/12/07/toronto-appears-...
- Misdicorl 7y ago
  This is certainly damning. However, it seems like all the incidents are happening on the interconnection suburban roads, not the inner neighborhood roads. Faint praise to be sure; walking and biking as a mode of transportation should be safe and encouraged.
TulliusCicero 7y ago
> I'd be literally shocked if small suburban streets weren't safer than almost any other option. Depends on what you mean by 'small suburban streets' I guess. If you mean in small suburbs, I would find that surprising, if you mean the street itself being very narrow then yeah maybe. But relatively few American suburbs have actually narrow streets. To most Americans, "there's only barely enough room for parked cars on both sides plus 2 lanes of moving traffic to pass each other" means it's narrow. Random reference I just saw: so far this year Seattle has had 10 traffic fatalities, 4 of them on foot vs 5 with vehicles, despite walking being far less popular than driving in Seattle (which is not nearly as walk-friendly as NYC).

I'd be interested to see a source about comparative pedestrian safety. I'd be literally shocked if small suburban streets weren't safer than almost any other option.

kspaans 7y ago

Here is Scarborough, an eastern suburb (with the suburban neighbourhoods you'd expect) in the City of Toronto. > Incidents in Scarborough have accounted for more than 46 per cent (or 19 of 41) of pedestrian deaths this year, despite the eastern borough containing just 23 per cent of the city’s population and about 26 per cent of its road kilometrage. https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2018/12/07/toronto-appears-to-have-hit-a-one-year-high-in-pedestrian-and-cyclist-fatalities-over-40-per-cent-of-those-deaths-happened-in-scarborough.html https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2018/12/07/toronto-appears-...

Misdicorl 7y ago
This is certainly damning. However, it seems like all the incidents are happening on the interconnection suburban roads, not the inner neighborhood roads. Faint praise to be sure; walking and biking as a mode of transportation should be safe and encouraged.

TulliusCicero 7y ago

> I'd be literally shocked if small suburban streets weren't safer than almost any other option. Depends on what you mean by 'small suburban streets' I guess. If you mean in small suburbs, I would find that surprising, if you mean the street itself being very narrow then yeah maybe. But relatively few American suburbs have actually narrow streets. To most Americans, "there's only barely enough room for parked cars on both sides plus 2 lanes of moving traffic to pass each other" means it's narrow. Random reference I just saw: so far this year Seattle has had 10 traffic fatalities, 4 of them on foot vs 5 with vehicles, despite walking being far less popular than driving in Seattle (which is not nearly as walk-friendly as NYC).