Aiding and Abetting a Known Felon
Lars Stenberg, Sensory Trust
Sensory Trust work is of questionable legality in California
In April 2006 a news report from Los Angeles told of an 82 year
old woman who was fined $114 for crossing the road too slowly. The
traffic policeman who gave her the ticket explained that there had
been an increase in accidents involving pedestrians and he felt
that this was the best way of reducing the number of fatalities
on the streets of LA.
A few months earlier I found myself in a running battle (of words,
thankfully) with the police in Melbourne. The hoo-ha was over an
article by a police officer urging us to stop crossing our own street
because drivers were too frequently traumatised by pedestrians bouncing
off their car bonnets. The officer was pleased to announce that
they had caught over one hundred people jay-walking in one morning,
issued spot-fines (a popular form of taxation in Australia) and
made the street safe for drivers once again.
We hear that Australia and the US are more car-centric than us
Europeans with our hangovers from history such as country lanes
and medieval alleys but were we aware that this was enshrined in
law to such an extent?
Studies have shown that the number of social connections in a street
drops dramatically as the traffic flow increases. Less social connections
for people who live on the street means an increased sense of isolation
and a feeling of not belonging. This in turn leads to more anti-social
behaviour. It also means fewer people report anti-social behaviour
as they feel less ownership of their street. Telling us that we
risk a criminal record every time we cross our own street for a
pint of milk or some stamps is a sure way to make us feel that we
have no ownership of our own neighbourhood. While this may decrease
jay-walking, it will likely increase other, more serious, forms
of crime. And, let’s face it, are there any less serious ones?
The most sustainable way to prevent more cars being damaged by
people inadvertently hurling themselves in front of them is to slow
traffic down. The street in Melbourne is a wide, straight, four-lane
boulevard with tram lines running up the middle. It is a popular
destination, with many bars, cafés, restaurants, and clubs…
and the resulting pedestrian behaviour can be a little random, particularly
as the wee hours approach. The street is also a popular drag strip
for motorbikes and muscle cars. This is not a good combination.
Traffic calming measures would reduce accidents as would more frequent
pedestrian crossings. Broader pavements, more end-on parking and
reducing traffic to a single lane each way may also help. Measures
such as these would be of benefit to the residents of the area as
much as to the drivers. Too often, it seems, residents of a city
neighbourhood come lower in the priority list than the people travelling
through it. The public space (the street) is designed for visitors
and not for locals.
Sensory Trust is not anti-car. We encourage and support the creation
of public space that works for everyone who wants to use it, be
they in a car, on foot or anything else. We particularly encourage
the creation of public space that welcomes people who are often
excluded. This includes many elderly people, such as Mrs. Coyle
in Los Angeles. If, by encouraging the development of spaces that
work for elderly people as well as cars we are guilty of aiding
and abetting a known felon, then so be it. We better lawyer up.
See also:
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