Fast Facts on Speeding in Residential Areas: Moms Take Note

Some facts from Keep Kids Alive Drive 25. Their PSA says most people who speed are residents OR moms dropping off their kids at school. Come on Moms!!!

• On average, over 93 deaths occur each day from speeding vehicles. (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)
• 500 children under 14 years-old were killed while walking in what should be their safe haven - their neighborhood. (NHTSA)
• Each year over 4,000 sons, daughters, mothers & fathers were killed while walking in neighborhoods or crossing streets. (NHTSA)
• Each year 2.5 million people are injured in motor vehicle incidents. (NHTSA)
• The death rate on residential streets is over twice that of
  highways - measured per miles driven. (NHTSA)
• Speeding Triples the Odds of Crashing. (AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety)
• A pedestrian hit in a 30 mph speed zone is 3 times more likely to die than one hit in a 25 mph zone. (General Estimates Database of Police Reported Accidents-NHTS

Playing Out: Closing down streets so kids can play

This is amazing. In the UK two moms started something called Playing Out. They organized planned closing of streets to cars so kids can go out and play in them! And parents can socialize.

[vimeo http://www.vimeo.com/30483877 w=435&h=239]

"I think we don't do enough things as a community anymore and that makes me sad...we go into our houses shut the door and we are alone..it doesn't seem like it should be like that," says one woman from the video.

Another woman talks about how far much less TV is watched because of it. Really a forward thinking idea. The moms talked about the older kids playing with the younger ones.

New York City has a similar program called Play Streets.

When People Make Traffic Errors How Do You Respond?

Yesterday while waiting to take a right a young, high school student began to walk in front of me. She had the walk sign.

A woman started to turn into her.

The woman saw the girl and stopped half way in the intersection.

She had made a mistake.

A car was coming at the woman who made the mistake. She threw out her arm and hand mouthing sorry. She looked very worried.

The person driving at her sped at her and laid on his/her horn. Scaring the woman. Threatening her with, death or injury.

The car went around her and all was well.

But I wonder why do we threaten others when they make an error while driving? Why do  we help other humans when they drop something, if we see them fall we go to them and ask if they are all right. I see wonderful acts of humanity daily but mostly out of the car.

When we are driving if we see someone make a mistake we honk, we go faster, we flip them off. Acts of anger are quick to be displayed. But to error is to be human, right?

Honestly just a new thought. What are your thoughts about this?

I made a driving error two days ago. I was too relaxed on the 134 East and I was on a part I normally hadn't gone on before two lanes started to merge and suddenly I woke to full attention. I couldn't safely get over as a car was coming at around 80 to my left but the car behind me was mad at me. He wasn't slowing down enough to let me safely in between him and the car in front of him. I began beeping rapidly flapping a hand saying please let me in. He had his window down and he finally slowed a bit. I screwed up.

But just another example of being threatened.

I think humans need a mental health check about how we drive.

Why Do We Have Road Rage and Not Sidewalk Rage?

There is rage on our roads. (warning this is graphic)

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhmOzhPRxQs]

People are pissed.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRduBE8OoE0]

I'm not sure about what. But they are mad. I live in Los Angeles and I'm surrounded by acts of angry drivers almost daily. This video is pretty funny about how intense it is trying to park at a Whole Foods in LA. Ever parked at Santa Monica and Fairfax? Uh-huh.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2UFc1pr2yUU]

Road rage, according to Wikipedia,  is defined as : an aggressive or angry behaviour by a driver of an automobile or other motor vehicle. Such behaviour might include rude gestures, verbal insults, deliberately driving in an unsafe or threatening manner, or making threats. Road rage can lead to altercations, assaults, and collisions which result in injuries and even deaths. It can be thought of as an extreme case of aggressive driving.

And guess what the term was coined here in LA! Due to a rash of people shooting each other in their cars in the late 80's. So LA.

Here are a list of actions that fall under the category of road rage:

The following are common manifestations of road rage, via Wikipedia:

• Generally aggressive driving, including sudden acceleration, braking, and close tailgating.
• Cutting others off in a lane, or deliberately preventing someone from merging.
• Chasing other motorists
• Flashing lights and/or sounding the horn excessively.
• Yelling or exhibiting disruptive behavior at roadside establishments.
• Driving at high speeds in the median of a highway to terrify drivers in both lanes.
• Rude gestures (such as "the finger").
• Shouting verbal abuses or threats.
• Intentionally causing a collision between vehicles.
• Hitting other vehicles.
• Assaulting other motorists, their passengers, cyclists or pedestrians
• Exiting the car to attempt to start confrontations, including striking other vehicles with an object.
• Threatening to use or using a firearm or other deadly weapon.
• Throwing projectiles from a moving vehicle with the intent of damaging other vehicles.

I am tailgated nearly every single time I hit the freeways.

Why are we doing this? Where is this rage coming from? I'm going to give you my opinion based on my 35 years of living.

1. They feel rushed.

2. They are having a bad day.

3. They are a serial killer.

4. They think everyone else driving is an asshole.

Now I have to say that 3 is highly unlikely but 1, 2 & 4 sound pretty feesible. I think that with all of the advancements we have made, technologically speaking, over the past 100 years, our primal little selves have not caught up. We are freaking out. That's why so many of us are on anti-this or thats. A lot of us have long commutes. Our lifestlyes are cram packed with a lot to do.

So two ideas:

1. Plan less things into your day

2. Leave earlier

Humans are not perfect. We make errors.

We will make errors with our cars. We need to be more forgiving and understanding on the roads.

Every day in LA I see acts of kindness, mostly out of my car. It is only once people slide behind the mask of their thousands of pounds cars that they seem to make so many unkind actions. I think that is why this rage is so pervasive. That and the fact that cars represent freedom. And if there is traffic, where is the freedom? How can you escape?

Here is a clip to the doctor who intentionally sped ahead of two bikers in LA, who were not going fast enough for his liking, he then braked and they crashed into his car. Seriously injuring them both. I wonder how much time he has pissed away by that horrible, barbaric act. He was sentenced to five years in jail. As he was sentenced he said:

"I would like to apologize again, deeply and profoundly from the bottom of my heart," said Thompson.

"The physical and mental scars are my fault. I think Mr. Watson said I've not been remorseful or accepted responsibility, I do," he said, telling them that he has recurring nightmares about one of the cyclists crashing through the windshield of his car.

http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=news/local/los_angeles&id=7208332

I know that when I am rushed, I have far less patience and encounter more aggressive situations. But as I say, it's LA. There is traffic. Plan accordingly or expect to be late.

Have you ever driven with rage?

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The Sarah Lily Grace Fund

I went to an event this afternoon in Pasadena, called The Sarah Lily Grace Fund. 

I mention it here on Fix The Toaster for two reasons.

One, I was beyond inspired at the cause that the father Matthew Badger fights for. I'm beginning to look at the way other organizations with a mission run themselves. I blogged about the afternoon via my Expressing Motherhood blog.

Reason Two: While walking my 6 year-old and holding my 2 1/2 year-old to the private home I was not shocked at the fact that a few angry people sped by us on the slick roads, pissed off that a bunch of cars were parked on their beautiful, what I am assuming can only be a very quiet street in Pasadena.

Matthew Badger has spent almost a year dedicated to this fund, spurned by the unimaginable loss of his daughters.

A beautiful afternoon on a rainy cool LA Sunday, surrounded by supportive artistic LA parents and their kids.

Taking Action to Bring Attention to All These People Dying By Car Crashes

OK. So, I don't have all the answers about what to do. I'm trying to bring about discussion and awareness to the fact over 1/2 million fellow Americans have died in car crashes since 9/11.

What color ribbon do I wear for that cause? Oh wait. Nothing. We are currently accepting this statistic as a given because our roadways have become a place of battle. Literally we are killing ourselves and each other.

I did indeed put pen to paper though and wrote a letter to a local paper.

Here is it.

Chances are maybe one person will begin to think differently about the importance of driving their 5,000 vehicle close to 40 next to my 26 pound toddler next time we pass on the street.

Certainly the man who tailed me down our loverly quiet street yesterday didn't read it or doesn't really give a....

Well anyways, it's a start.

I encourage you to write your local paper. I'd love to hear about it!! Let's get this movement going.

Modern Society Forgot About The Pedestrian

I do a lot of walking. Mostly because I have 3 kids and by walking I can usually strap one down into a stroller and I can just zone out and walk. Having just left the narrow, windy Hollywood Hills I was used to beaten up sidewalks and a few yahoos cruising up the hills. It wasn't exactly family friendly.

Well now I live in a "family friendly" neighborhood. It does not have sidewalks. And it is not congested. The speed limit is 25. And most people do between 30 and 40.

It is beyond frustrating. I've talked to two women who have stopped walking their kids because they feel it is unsafe. And these are ballsy, cool women.

Our school has sent out a letter to us parents saying "we have a problem" that an area where parents are dropping off their kids is not safe.

People are speeding.

I sometimes walk thru town pushing my baby. I constantly feel as if I'm narrowly escaping being hit. Sometimes, I'll drive to The Rose Bowl and walk around there. Cars routinely fly by at 40.

I'm beginning to feel like we have lost the right, as human beings, to walk safely around. Now maybe it's because I live in LA and I'm paranoid ;)

But honestly, it feels as if our society has been built around cars and f$%^ you if you slow one down.

A great article by Alexander Friedman on LA.StreetsBlog.com addresses this. He says,

It’s time for City of L.A. to step-in, and to build the environment for people, not cars. It’s time to give our sidewalks the deserved width and aesthetics, implement decorative crosswalks, plant deciduous trees and creating buffer zones, build pedestrian plazas, and get rid of blight and concrete.

I’m an advocate for sustainable, family-friendly infrastructure, and decided to create renderings of improved sidewalks.

I like that he says, "pedestrians are treated like second-class citizens.."

I agree. Do you feel safe walking around your neighborhood?

I read recently, on Twitter, that there is a proposal in some European town to reduce the speed to 20 MPH. Traffic calming is a new phrase to me.

According to Wikipedia, In its early development in the UK in the 1930s, traffic calming was based on the idea of residential areas protected from through traffic.

I like that word protected.

We should protect ourselves from cars. We are fragile. Driving a car fast does not give you a big penis.

It does not make you a bad ass chick.

Being bad ass to me, is having the control to slow down and be courteous of life walking by.

My neighborhood is incredibly quiet, it should be filled with people walking around. But it is not due to people not feeling safe. That's a shame.

A friend of mine is a huge fan of walking, Alissa Walker is a well known blogger based out of LA who walks and takes public transportation. Her blog has a lot of insight into doing just that.