The Bicycle Coalition’s and Thomas Jefferson University’s Vision Zero Philadelphia conference was Wednesday, and Philly Voice has done a great job of running down what happened throughout the day. “Vision Zero policies seek to eliminate all traffic-related deaths by improving infrastructure, implementing new safety technologies and boosting education and enforcement. They have been adopted by cities across the country, including New York, San Francisco and Washington.”
The Philadelphia Inquirer wrote about the conference, too, and our greater effort to make Philadelphia’s streets safer. “Vision Zero Philadelphia, hosted by the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia and Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, brought together city planners, elected officials, cops and staff from nonprofits. They talked about better education for drivers, tougher enforcement for traffic-law violators, and infrastructure changes, such as reduced speed limits and better street lighting. Ideas were plentiful, but Goren said that money is not.”
The Inquirer also had a piece today about the most dangerous intersections for pedestrians. Vision Zero is just as much about pedestrians as it is about bicyclists and other road users.
Generocity covered the event, too. “Putting a human face on social impact issues can be a powerful way to raise awareness and effect change, a topic that was discussed during the “Human Cost of Crashes” panel at the recent conference.”
#VisionZeroPHL was trending on Twitter basically all day Thursday. Here are some pictures from the conference.
https://t.co/APhHyz7H8q Pres&CEO Peter Kissinger at #VisionZeroPHL “Refuse to accept even on road death” #AAAPhilly pic.twitter.com/5L3jtYD7Va
— AAA Philly News (@AAAPhillyNews) December 3, 2015
Councilwoman Cindy Bass’ Vision Zero bill—which would add a $5 fee on motor vehicle registration and put the extra money into street safety—passed committee earlier this week.
And hey, a shoulder line was recently striped on Washington Avenue. Over the last year and a half, we’ve been pushing for the city to come up with a comprehensive plan for the Avenue. And as we noted this summer, we wanted something to be done to make the street safer now. While re-paining the shoulder isn’t a solution, it is the beginning of something resembling a start.
Mayor-elect Jim Kenney has been hosting town halls all week. And the people are demanding safer streets.
The Science Center at 3737 Market Street put up an illegal “No Bike Parking” sign, which was first posted in the Women Bike PHL Facebook group. We put up a blog about it, then Technically Philly’s Juliana Reyes contacted the Science Center. And now it’s down. Raise People are allowed to park their bikes anywhere on public property that doesn’t block pedestrian and wheelchair access.
Next City did a cool write-up on the Manayunk Bridge Trail. If you’ve still got questions about the trail, check out our Manayunk Bridge Trail page.