LINK SHEET
CARFREE CITIES
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As beautiful as Venice
Carfree
cities offer a solution to the vexing problem of the urban automobile
while also providing a better quality of life, reduced energy consumption,
and improved long-term sustainability. Carfree cities could be as beautiful
as Venice, and the pleasant public spaces provide an ideal setting to
foster a sense of community The USA spends hundreds of millions of dollars a year to improve road safety. While this investment is clearly making roads safer for drivers, little is being done to improve the safety of pedestrians. Between 1986 and 1995, 6,000 pedestrians were killed and 110,000 injured by automobiles each year. Pedestrians account for 14% of traffic deaths, yet only 1% of federal highway safety funds are spent on pedestrian safety. The other 99% are spent to remove obstacles to traffic flow, which tends to increase average speeds and further endanger pedestrians. Traffic calming, on the other hand, improves pedestrian safety - the Seattle traffic calming program reduced pedestrian accidents by 75%. Source: Carfree Times, Issue 4, Fall 1997; From a press release on 8 April 1997 by the Environmental Working Group as posted on the Congress on the New Urbanism list LINKS
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