Traffic calming
A list of traffic calming measures. Seattle employs a lot of traffic circles, a measure I've found to be very effective in reducing automotive speed.
In fact, Seattle is one of the nation's leading cities for traffic calming. As Derek noted during a recent road trip we took to Wisconsin, America excels at building roads--owned by automobiles--instead of streets--owned by the community, including pedestrians. As highways and large roads have gotten clogged with traffic, more and more automotive traffic has diverted into neighborhood streets, causing a rise in accidents in which neighborhood residents, especially children, are hit by cars.
Of course, not everyone is in favor of traffic calming. Among other things, emergency workers argue that traffic calming measures reduce response time to emergencies. It's certainly a more credible argument against traffic calming than this one.
In fact, Seattle is one of the nation's leading cities for traffic calming. As Derek noted during a recent road trip we took to Wisconsin, America excels at building roads--owned by automobiles--instead of streets--owned by the community, including pedestrians. As highways and large roads have gotten clogged with traffic, more and more automotive traffic has diverted into neighborhood streets, causing a rise in accidents in which neighborhood residents, especially children, are hit by cars.
Of course, not everyone is in favor of traffic calming. Among other things, emergency workers argue that traffic calming measures reduce response time to emergencies. It's certainly a more credible argument against traffic calming than this one.