Traffic Violence? Is That a Real Thing?

So there’s gun violence, domestic violence, gang violence – those are, sadly, real things.

Then there’s the concept that silence is violence – apparently things that rhyme are the same, like plants and pants (though grass pants would presumably be easier to hem.)

And then there’s traffic violence, which seems to be defined as anything bad that happens on asphalt or concrete, but I don’t think dirt because I don’t think the folks behind the term get out very much. 

The term seems to have been coined by the “Your Car is the Source of All Evil in the World”   – Streetsblog  family of websites about a decade ago to describe what had hitherto been called accidents or wrecks or crashes or mowing overs or anything of that ilk.

Unlike “birthing person,” “experiencing a state of being unhoused,” or “involved with the criminal justice system” (woman, vagrant, felon, by the way,) traffic violence has not quite caught on in the public imagination.

But for the hardcore “every lane should be a bike lane” people, it is a go-to descriptor of the horrors of being forced to exist in the 21^st century.

In January, a number of “safe streets” groups organized a die-in on the steps of Los Angeles City Hall.  Signs were carried, flowers were placed, and speeches were made.

According to Streetsblog LA  Street Racing Kills founder Lili Trujillo agonized that “growing traffic violence” is “100 percent preventable.” 

No, for by definition accidents are not 100 percent preventable, though you could get close  if you pry people’s steering wheels from their cold, dead hands because that’ the only way it’s going to happen.

Also, a very high percentage of pedestrian deaths on LA roads are caused by the pedestrian – it’s not a good idea to get high and wander into a street in the middle of the night, it seems.  But anti-car people maintain its still the cars fault, that traffic is to blame no matter what: if there was no car, the accident, sorry, incident of traffic violence, would not have happened.

LA Councilwoman Nithya Raman called the number of traffic related deaths a “public health emergency.”  She then called for everyone with a car to lockdown in their homes until the city reaches its “Vision Zero” goal of exactly no deaths related in any, way, shape or form to traffic.

Well, Raman didn’t really call for lockdowns, though one cannot help but feel that Raman and the people gathered at City Hall would absolutely love the idea. But the goal of Vision Zero really is not a single death on LA’s roadways.

Of course, that  goal is impossible but it does get trotted out quite often when discussing traffic system patterns and regulations and transit policy,  and, of course, was a cornerstone of the truly diabolical Measure HLA, a program inexplicably approved by voters in the March primary.

HLA  will impact hudreds of miles of roadways throughout Los Angeles, adding bike and transit lanes while eliminating car travel lanes.

For example, here’s a picture of a “center running exclusive” transit plan:

Notice anything missing?  A place for cars to drive.

In the run up to the vote on HLA, the city fire department came out strongly against the proposal saying it would slow emergency response times – you know, kill people.

But Streetsblog says that argument has been debunked and point to a study by Dutch Cycling Embassy (yes, it is really a thing)  proving there is no problem.  The study claims that having emergency personnel on planning committees, advocating for more bicycle use, and using smaller fire trucks all help mitigate the issue.

In fact, Streetsblog says emergency responders and those advocating for “traffic calming” do not. have to be be opponents .

Traffic calming helps first responders and, according to study co-author Shelley Bontje, make life better for everyone specifically because it does slow them down:

I think with a lot of things in life, we see the benefits of slowing down in terms of when slowing down in public space, there’s more attention or what’s actually going on in cities. [People want] a bit more slow travel for appreciation for public spaces, greenery, meeting other humans being able to have a conversation rather than being disturbed by a lot of traffic.

In LA and San Francisco, one supposes, slower streets mean you would have enough time to read the sign of the crazed lunatic standing on the sidewalk, so maybe that’s a bonus.  Of course, they would have more time to demand your money so that’s not a bonus.

In case you were wondering about how equity is involved in this project, just know that Streetsblog LA has an editor “covering the intersection of mobility with race, class, history, representation, policing, housing, health, culture, community, and access to the public space in Boyle Heights and South Central Los Angeles.”

Of course, the evil car culture not only kills people but hinders “mobility justice.”  

One of the partners in the “mobility justice” movement is America Walks, a $1.4 million a year (majority funded by taxpayers via government grants)  “non-profit” that advocates for – you guessed it – walking and how Vision Zero and ideas like smart and 15-minute cities can help people walk more.

End traffic violence and increase mobility justice by traffic calming seems to be overall thrust of many of the plans like HLA.  

Strip away the woke jargon and what you really find is yet another part of the effort to get people to stop driving cars, to live in more dense neighborhoods, and to let committees and planners and bureaucrats run everyone’s life.

As for Los Angeles, the one major previous experience with a “road diet” did not go terribly well, infuriating the community and contributing to the local councilman to deciding not to run for re-election.  

Now this fiasco will be city wide – that’s not a road diet, that’s a road anorexic meth addict.

And just about as helpful.