Transportation Commission meeting this Wednesday--please join for an important topic

[Peter Houk]

Greetings, Walkers and Cyclists.  

In 2022, over half of the serious injury and fatal traffic crash victims in Ann Arbor were cyclists or pedestrians (13 out of 23).  This is according to the city's Traffic Crash Dashboard, which contains data up to December 31, 2022.  Safety from traffic crash harm is obviously a very serious topic for those of us who use the transportation system by bike or on foot.

During the April 17 Transportation Commission meeting, commission members (including myself) will receive a presentation on Ann Arbor's traffic crash response protocol.  I urge you to watch the commission meeting on CTN and to call in during public comment.  Please consider sharing your own experiences with the places where you ride and walk.  Has the city adequately addressed the underlying causes of any crashes that have occurred there?  Taking into account how walkers and cyclists are so disproportionately affected by traffic violence, is the city responding to crashes in the right way?

You can find the April 17 meeting details, including the agenda and how to call in for public comment, here.  The meeting is this Wednesday at 7:00PM.

I've included below a few important links and concepts that I will be referencing during the discussion.  I hope you can join the meeting for this important topic..  

Thanks

Peter Houk

Important links and concepts:

Developing a robust crash response protocol is called out in our transportation plan, as a short term strategy led by engineering.  You can find that recommendation here on page 127. 

Many other cities have already created enhanced crash response protocols.  Below are examples from three cities.  

New York City has created a crash response and analysis unit within their department of transportation.  
Indianapolis created a commission that evaluates every fatal crash in the city and recommends changes.

Portland maintains an online list of infrastructure changes that have been implemented after fatal crashes.

    

This graphic from The Vision Zero Network shows how crash analysis fits into the transportation system.  When road users make mistakes, the analysis of what went wrong is fed back to the planners and policy makers. The recent Transportation Commission presentation on 2022 crashes attributed many crashes to driver errors like "failure to yield."  Human users of the transportation system are going to make mistakes.  We need a crash response process that will help us understand why a crash happened and what we should do to eliminate or mitigate future crashes.