Hoboken, NJ reduces annual traffic deaths to zero
Hoboken, NJ reduces annual traffic deaths to zero
In Hoboken, Mayor Ravi Bhalla has worked to redesign city intersections, install bike lanes and slow traffic. The result? Six-plus years of no pedestrian fatalities.
The mayor of Hoboken, NJ came in with a vision of reducing traffic deaths to pedestrians and cyclists. He instituted several strategies of traffic calming, increasing pedestrian visibility, reducing city wide street speeds to 20 mph with schools and parks down to 15 mph. Within a few years of road improvements and redesigns their pedestrian traffic deaths to zero for several years.
The article does note that half of the streets have bike lanes, they've put buffers between pedestrians and cars, and continue to redesign intersections with a focus on safety instead of just focusing on car speed/throughput.
The bike lanes suck though. They are next to the street, instead of behind the parking and next to the sidewalk. As a result, on the main street in Hoboken (Washington street), there are always cars double parked in the bike lane during the day or drinking hours of the night, because parking in that city is horrendous. It's common to see an entire block or two full of cars double parked in the bike lane, making it unusable. Also, they redid the bike lane with textured hexagonal bullshit so using any wheels smaller than e-scooter wheels (skateboard, roller skate) is just a super rough ride.
Great that he stopped pedestrian casualties, but he severely harmed personal non-car transit.
because parking in that city is horrendous
There's no such thing as horrendous parking. There is only too many people showing up by car when they ought to be walking/biking/riding transit instead.
He still added bike lanes that weren't there before no? How is that harming personal non-car transit? Maybe go to city council meetings and ask that double parking in bike lanes be enforced. I would certainly think the city wants to make money from fines.
Also how many people are riding around on rollerblades? The "hexagonal bullshit" makes the bike lanes distinct and noticeable increasing awareness and also gives tactile feedback if a driver starts driving on the bike lane. Yeah it sucks for skateboarders but the tradeoffs are worth it, especially because again, how many skateboarders are there really? Some municipalities don't even allow skateboards in bike lanes because the drastic speed difference between them and bikes tends to cause issues.
Could the bike lanes be better? Absolutely, they could be actually protected bike lanes like you pointed out but don't let perfect be the enemy of good, they don't "suck". And 0 pedestrian deaths over the span of a few years is very very good.