Paint on a Road: the Good, the Bad, and the Colorful
The road violence in South Florida continues
Just two weeks ago we were mourning the deaths of two bicyclists on Rickenbacker and as I was writing this newsletter last week we mourned the death of another in Davie while watching the horrific video of another driver deliberately drive onto the bicycle lane in Fort Lauderdale hitting others. Then we saw another video hit social media of a driver blatantly driving in the bike lane along Rickenbacker.
Let me reiterate that bicycling itself is generally safe considering the numbers of people riding and the frequency of riding in South Florida and throughout the state. Our roads and drivers are the problem. This was evident on the Rickenbacker Causeway two weeks ago. And in just a couple days, Miami-Dade County leadership finally did something about addressing the dangerous conditions of that road design.
It was later reported that Miami Police determined the driver of the jeep was “inattentive” and “asleep or fatigued” while driving. According to the report, the driver realized he was in the wrong lane and swerved back to his prior lane without verifying it was safe. In doing so, he killed Yaudys Vera and Ogniana Reyes. With proper road design and bicycling infrastructure, this driver would not have been able to do that or would not have been put in a situation where it happened. But beyond a few citations, police have seemingly called it a wrap.
"It's still under investigation but it's most likely something that is carelessness rather than anything that had to do with alcohol or anything to that effect," Miami Police Officer Michael Vega said. “He wasn’t under the influence. It looks like this is just a terrible accident.”
No mention of speed even though there was pretty extensive damage to the front end of the SUV.
Then Florida’s own Warren Sapp tweeted this video of a driver deliberately driving in the bike lane in Key Biscayne with bike riders all around.
But then a few days later we watched as a driver drove into riders in the bike lane along Fort Lauderdale beach. This was both an infrastructure issue and an example of road violence with a driver using the car as a deadly weapon. Using cars and trucks as a weapon has been a growing trend and that norm has been research and written on by Professor Gregory Shill.
Some of the horrific video is shared below from WPLG Local 10 and includes video from one of the riders, Scott Mccracken, that was injured and came forward. A GoFundMe site has been set up for his medical bills.
Regardless of whether some of these riders were causing issues on the road before this incident or not, no driver has any sort of right to use their vehicle as a weapon like it was here. And it’s clear from the video, the painted lines on the road did nothing to protect any of these riders from drivers going into their lane and hitting them.
Then, on Thursday morning, we heard reports of another bicyclist killed in Davie while crossing Nob Hill Road at State Road 84 at 5:40 a.m. No other information has been release by the time this newsletter is going out, but this streak of tragedy and death on South Florida roads won’t end until elected leaders start taking road safety and infrastructure seriously.
Miami-Dade looks to tunnel its way out of traffic
A study by the Miami-Dade Transportation Planning Organization was just completed evaluating emerging technologies in creating tunnel corridors around the county. So far it appears the evaluation only identified a variety of potential transit corridors, first identifying 25 and then narrowing it down to 13, which would include the Flagler, Kendall, Ludlum, and Miami Central to Design District corridors. If the county is interested, the next evaluations would include environmental impact, concept designs, vehicles required, and so on.
It wasn’t so long ago that the mayors of Miami and Fort Lauderdale were proverbially sliding into Elon Musk’s DMs trying to get a Tesla tunnel built in their respective city. Things have quieted down since then, but this update seems a little more realistic and thought out. The tunnels contemplated in this evaluation would be public transit, though the vehicle type wasn’t considered except that it would be electric.
Many of the metropolitan areas of Florida are plagued by traffic and adding more roads isn’t the answer. In the meantime, we’ll wait on the Miami-Dade TPO to see if it will continue evaluating the much needed transit tunneling.
E-Scooters are rebranding themselves as climate warriors
When Covid-19 hit, one of the industries heavily impacted was that of shared e-scooters. Most of the companies had to completely cease service, and many cities stopped allowing e-scooter businesses to operate in a wide-ranging effort to stem the pandemic. Bloomberg reports that now e-scooter companies are looking to rebound and rebrand as “a vital aspect of climate policy.”
As the graph shows, e-scooter companies took a big hit during the pandemic. With people and jobs moving as a result, though, the companies are looking to capitalize on the change in transportation routines and options.
From the article:
Lime, [Lime Chief Executive Officer Wayne Ting] says, should only gain more traction as it becomes clear to people that replacing large, privately owned gas-powered cars with large, privately owned electric vehicles won’t be enough to address the climate crisis. “We have to fundamentally change our transportation system,” Ting says.
Rising gas prices and loosening of Covid restrictions have lead to many riders coming back to e-scooters. Those same companies have also worked during the pandemic to find ways to extend the life span of their scooters and make them more sustainable. With replaceable batteries, Lime’s scooters can now last fives years in the field.
E-scooter companies have also expanded their operating field. Whereas Lime operated mostly in North America in 2018, their operations in Europe greatly exceed those and are also now reaching into other parts of the world.
I agree with Ting. Our transportation system needs to fundamentally and drastically change if we are to make any gains in mitigating the effects of climate change. We need to get away from cars and trucks, but in the process also working on making are transportation routes safer for those using e-scooters, bicycles, transit, and even walking.
Let’s get painting!
Turns out road art is not only beautiful but saves lives. A new report from Bloomberg Philanthropies, analyzed crash rates and driver behavior at areas before and after traffic calming art was laid down. The result was pretty remarkable considering the only change was the art and no other infrastructure was changed.
As reported on by Streetsblog, crashes involving pedestrians and other vulnerable road users decreased by 50%, with a 37% decrease in the crashes with head injuries and a 17% decrease in the total crash rate (including driver on driver). That was just looking at the Historical Crash Analysis.
The Observational Behavior Assessment that researchers also conducted recorded a 27% increase in drivers automatically yielding to pedestrians.
We’ve seen this asphalt art before down here in Florida. In 2014 the intersection of Las Olas and SE 1st Avenue was painted in Fort Lauderdale, and as did St. Petersburg at the intersection of Central Avenue and 5th Street, with Tampa looking to join in.
Paint isn’t enough for our bicycle lanes, but it clearly helps in our intersections. And now we know we have a proven weapon in the arsenal of tactical urbanism that local planning organizations and transportation departments can’t argue against as we work to take back our roads.