A transportation network is a complex thing. Millions of people walking,biking, and driving in all directions, brushing past each other in various weather and light conditions. Even if everyone is doing their very best, and sadly, they aren't always, there's bound to be some serious accidents. Making things worse is that most cities, especially in North-America, are way too car-centric and treat pedestrians and cyclists are second-class citizens. This makes things more dangerous than they have to be...
In a perfect world this wouldn't be impressive, it would just be normal. But we aren't there yet, so kudos to Portland and all the urban planners, activists, and every day commuters who have worked hard day in and day out to make the streets safer for everyone.
But it's not the case everywhere.
Portland is one of the shining examples of what can be done to make the streets as safe as possible for everyone. One notable fact is that in 2013, there hasn't been a single cyclist fatality in the city. Michael Andersen at Bike Portlandwrites:
There were several serious collisions, covered here on the site, including one major hit-and-run that remains unsolved. But the number-one reason Portland is the country’s best big city for biking is that this is, compared to any other large U.S. city and lots of the smaller ones, an extremely safe place to ride a bicycle.This isn’t a new feat for Portland: the city also avoided any bike-related fatalities in 1999, 2000, 2002, 2006, 2008 and 2010.
In a perfect world this wouldn't be impressive, it would just be normal. But we aren't there yet, so kudos to Portland and all the urban planners, activists, and every day commuters who have worked hard day in and day out to make the streets safer for everyone.
Elected officials and urban planners everywhere need to study success stories like Portland, but also Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Groningen, Houten, etc, and import these best practices to their cities.
To celebrate a great 2013, check out some of the great things that Portland has been doing to improve the city:
Via Bike Portland, Grist
Posts
Way cool! We have already had more than a handful bike fatalities this year where I live. :-( Hopefully some day it'll get to be more like Portland, too.
ReplyDeleteBtw, don't know if it's my computer, but somehow the first few words of every line in the post is missing. Like there's a spacing error and the post is bigger than the posting space and the left side of it is getting chopped off? I'm using Chrome.
Cheers,
Stefanbike
Good to know that there hasn't been a single bike accident in Portland city since 2013. What great news for cyclists!
ReplyDeleteIts the result of bike rules and regulation that Portland have i think these type of rules must be implemented rest of the world to avoid accident.
ReplyDeleteAppreciaate you blogging this
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