Smart Cities Dive – Pittsburgh unveils its first pedestrian safety action plan
Yinz goin’ dahntahn? Breathe a little easier if you are going sans auto. With pedestrian deaths reaching a 30-year high in 2019, Pittsburgh joins other forward thinking cities in implementing a comprehensive pedestrian safety plan. The goals of the program include: (1) zero deaths or serious pedestrian injuries on city streets; (2) no resident must spend more than 45% of their income on housing, transport, and energy; and (3) all sub-1 mile trips are easy and enjoyable without an auto. As it currently stands, these goals are lofty, but I applaud the high benchmarks set by the city. We are not going to get livable, pedestrian-first cities with half-measures.
The plan also included a crash analysis, which revealed that, unsurprisingly, fatal crashes tended to occur on wider, higher speed roads. No wonder a persistent urban legend/dark joke at the University of Pittsburgh (my alma mater) was that free tuition was provided to any student struck by a campus shuttle: Forbes and Fifth avenues, which bisect the campus, are 3 and 4 lanes, respectively, and straight shots which encourage drivers to “beat” the traffic lights. Hopefully Pittsburgh’s pedestrian safety plan will remedy this nightmare combination of fast, multi-lane traffic and constant stream of phone-glued Pitt students.