6:16 PM: We’re at Southwest Community Center, awaiting the start of the final stop on the citywide tour for Mayor Mike McGinn‘s “road safety summit” (explained here). Seattle Channel is not livecasting this, a rare occurrence; we’ll publish updates as it goes. The mayor’s just about to step to the podium. We’d estimate the crowd at more than 50.
6:24 PM: The mayor says Councilmember Tom Rasmussen will join the meeting shortly. “What prompted me to put together the road-safety summit is, it’s become clear to me … people feel very strongly about how we use our roads, how we share our roads, how others use the roads … I’ve heard bicyclists complain about drivers, drivers complain about bicyclists” (and so on), he opens. “No matter how you get around,” there are “tragic deaths” on our city’s roads. He tells the story of the Greenwood crash that left a teenage boy injured for life. He says engineering, education, enforcement, and empathy are needed to address the problem. Yes, we can change, he insists, citing the dramatic shift in how smoking in public is treated – 30 years ago, this room might have been full of people smoking, ashtrays on the tables in front of them, and that is now illegal and unheard of. “We CAN change,” he says. But he says, “I don’t have all the answers” – he believes the community does.
6:32 PM: Dr. David Fleming, who runs Seattle-King County Public Health, takes the podium. He says traffic injuries and fatalities are a public-health issue. He says car fatalities have dropped 25 percent in recent years, but bicycle and pedestrian fatalities have stayed about the same. He explains why he uses the term “traffic crashes” versus “traffic accidents” – because crashes are not things about which nothing can be done. (Editor’s note – that’s part of our style guide, too.) “Fundamentally, these deaths are the result of actions that are under our control, and that we can do something about, and that’s why we are here tonight,” Dr. Fleming says. There’s not “one solution,” he cautioned, but instead, a “more robust toolbox” should and could be developed. He adds another “E” to the list above – “expectation,” with everyone engaging in the behaviors that will make a difference. And yet “defensive driving” matters, he says, since you need to anticipate that someone else might not meet your “expectation.”
The end result of efforts to change and improve, he says, could be “safe and vibrant streets.”
6:41 PM: Rick Sheridan, SDOT communications director, now at the podium, explaining what people at tables are being asked to do for the next 15 minutes or so, before reporting back to the full group.
(Our as-it-happened coverage, after the jump)
Each table has a city facilitator, he points out. He also asks that if you’re sitting with people you already know, please mix it up. The questions are the same as on the mayor’s website:
1. What do you think are the highest priority safety problems to solve on Seattle roads?
2. What do you think are the most important things to do to make Seattle roads safer?
3. We often talk about what government can do to promote safety. What are the ways that groups and individuals can promote safety?
So, with that, we go around the table. George Allen is our moderator. He says he did the same thing at the earlier Northgate summit. (The mayor is roving around the room.) We’ll take notes from our table, question by question:
HIGHEST-PRIORITY SAFETY PROBLEM? and MAKING SEATTLE ROADS SAFER: (The group we’re with naturally segued between the two.) Cell phones, says one man. Obeying that law and others, says another. There don’t seem to be any consequences, he adds. “Better lane markings,” a woman suggests. Moderator George then brings up the bicyclist-vs. driver tension. Education might ease that, one participant offers. Can crashes be avoided, realistically? wonders another. Pressed for his suggested solution, he says “better transit” would make a difference. Another suggestion: More crosswalks, and people stopping for those who cross the street. But, comes the counterpoint, “this (graph) says most deaths are in marked crosswalks.” Meantime, the widespread knowledge of the “speed van” has a deterrent effect, one person notes; you’re not sure if it’s up and running but you know someone who got a ticket as a result, so you decide not to take your chances while going down that stretch.
Moderator George brings up the cars vs. bicycles issue again. Should bicycles be licensed? he asks. Maybe – some say – but what about the 6-year-old who has a bike? Another suggestion – if they break the law, bicyclists should perhaps pay a lower fine, “since they’re not as much of a risk to others.” Or is the bicyclist? asks another – what if they cause a crash by running a light? (There is a brief side tangent in which it’s revealed not everyone is fully familiar with the laws, and a solution to that is suggested – maybe signage that reminds people about the laws.) Another suggestion: Cars and bicyclists show “old-fashioned courtesy” to each other. What about bike lanes and road diets? One person at the table is not a fan of them. How was life in West Seattle when the Viaduct was closed? George asks. It was great, says a person who identifies himself as a bike commuter. (Then a side discussion about exercise breaks out.) Next, George brings up ‘neighborhood greenways.” The bicycle commuter says that the more convenient you can make it, the more people will commute by bicycle.
Another person joins our table. He too is “an avid cyclist.” He says, “If you’re on the road, you have to behave like a car.”
WHAT CAN NON-GOVERNMENTAL GROUPS AND INDIVIDUALS DO TO PROMOTE SAFETY? Bicycle lights, helmet-wearing, and fluorescent pedestrian vests have come up so far. “What about making (people) sign a Be Polite Act?” is one semi-knowing response that draws a chuckle around the table. How about reminders about the laws, in places like athletic clubs and universities? (Note – as of 7:30 pm, we’d up our estimate to more than 60 people here. Just noticed Councilmember Rasmussen is here, too. Sheridan is asking everyone to wrap up conversations and collect the table’s ideas, to be announced to the entire room shortly.)
7:35 PM: Time to report. The mayor says “Let’s be really bold and be done at FIVE TILL EIGHT” (as opposed to the scheduled 8). He’s suggesting everybody summarize in a minute and a half per table.
FIRST TABLE: *Need to be able to pay for road maintenance (mentioning later, a levy or some other $ structure)
*Education – defensive driving/cycling/walking, understand expectations/environment
*Better street lighting
*Talk to your elected officials, bypass the departments (“Ya hear that, SDOT?” the mayor smiled over at where their managers stood.)
*Public-service announcements on TV/radio
*Embedded strobe lights in crosswalks
*Education about stop lines in roads
SECOND TABLE: *Speeding is the highest-priority safety problem
*Improve road visibility
*Road maintenance, “many are in abysmal condition”
*Level of coexistence with bicyclists “is not what it could be”
*Online advice on routes
*Speed bumps in neighborhoods, understanding the process
THIRD TABLE: *Educate all who drive/ride/walk “on who knows the right of way”
*Aggressive driving
*Road design issues – intuitive design, rumble strips to warn of crosswalk ahead
*Distracted driving
*Enforce cell-phone laws
*Bike clubs do their own self-policing
*Block Watches band together to cut back blocking shrubbery
FOURTH TABLE: *Road repair
*Need sidewalks where they do not exist now
*Speeding “is huge”
*Impaired/distracted driving
*Education – retest on driver’s-ed issues, knowing the rules, your equipment
*Better funding from government to neighborhood organizations to make streets safer
FIFTH TABLE: *Safer throughways
*Viable pedestrian channels
*Public-service announcements “fostered by local government so citizenry can have that conversation” about safety
SIXTH TABLE (the one we’re at): *Distracted driving (texting, cell phones)
*Roads need better markings
*Education/awareness campaign
*Road diets with a clear boundary between vehicles and bicyclists
*Overpasses/underpasses “to separate people”
*Better eye contact and waving between pedestrians, cyclists, car
*Put transponders in bikes – if a bicyclist runs a red light, get a little cyber ticket (lower cost than cars)
*Personal responsibility
SEVENTH TABLE: *Aggressive, reckless drivers are a pervasive problem
*Drivers should be held accountable
*Making for the City of Seattle, driving tests (online, in the library?) mandatory if you get a ticket
*Help communities get involved in construction of safer pedsetrian
EIGHTH TABLE: (A high-school student spoke for this table) *Aggressive driving
*Shared space
*Better and more incentives for car pooling
*Same for light rail
*Teach street rules and street-smart stuff in schools
*Advertise public-service announcements
*Take a test about safety while
*Seattle Night Out should do something about road safety
*Know your neighborhood – walk around it
*Make it fun to walk around your neighborhood
*Use social media to advertise
NINTH TABLE: *Roadways too narrow
*Traffic laws not obeyed
*Enforce the speed limit
*Remove bike lanes from arterials and put them in neighborhood greenways
*Better maintenance, license bicyclists
*Safety booklets/boards at bike shops
*Take personal responsibility
TENTH TABLE: *Aggressive drivers
*Lack of street lights
*Freight
*Free right-on-red turns
*Impaired driving
*Enforcement
*More visible signs
*Educate yourself and others
*Advocate for policies that put safety first
7:57 PM: Councilmember Rasmussen, who chairs the council’s Transportation Committee, is speaking now (and apologizing for being late – it didn’t get onto his calendar, he explained, but got a “where are you?” call and hurried as fast as he could). He thanks the crowd for helping build a safer city. … And now the mayor, wrapping up, saying he was struck by the commonalities between the tables’ lists – and some things he hadn’t heard before, like testing, or having more people help (like Block Watches). Then he veers off to remind people to check the storm drains on their streets, with all the rain supposedly moving in. “Have a safe ride home,” he concludes.
POSTSCRIPT: According to the city website, the next step in this process, though it wasn’t announced here, is a meeting at City Hall on December 12th to discuss … “next steps in the process.”
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