Aiding and Abetting a Known Felon

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.

It's a long way from here to there. Crossing a busy junction at Fitzroy Street in St. Kilda, Melbourne.

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.