Salem is scary for pedestrians. Hydraulic autoism has to end.

One brief near-encounter with a clueless driver spoke volumes to me about what needs to change if downtown Salem -- and the rest of this town -- is to become friendly to walkers and cyclists.

I'd left my Tai Chi class at Pacific Martial Arts, above Court Street's Dairy Lunch restaurant. Heading to my parked car, I stepped onto the clearly-marked mid-block crossing that connects two alleys.

Court Street has three lanes.

Stepping into the crosswalk near the left side of the street, I had to stop suddenly when a driver zoomed by close to me, heedless of the fact that he/she should stop for pedestrian me.

After that car went by, I resumed my crosswalk journey.

I'd gotten to middle lane territory when I glanced to my left and saw a fast-moving car in the far lane. The driver didn't slow down. I'm pretty sure he didn't even see me. His eyes were focused straight ahead. I stood still in the clearly marked crosswalk as he sped by, missing me by a few feet.

I raised both my hands in a WTF! gesture, more for the benefit of other drivers approaching me than the jerk who was now turning left onto Commercial Street. 

What's the big deal? some people who read this might be thinking. Well, this struck me as one of those "universe in a grain of sand" moments. It said a lot about what the Salem Breakfast on Bikes blogger likes to call the culture of Hydraulic Autoism in Salem.

These are some of its characteristics, according to the above-linked post:

• Modern analytics based on "Level of Service" count delay, congestion, meanders, anything that impedes powerful free-flow for cars, as problems or noise to be engineered out of the system.
  
  
• People on foot are "pedestrian impedance"; they are noise in the system that cause delay. Other non-car users of the road are also noise. The roads aren't true public space for everybody, but are primarily for cars and their drivers.
  
  
• Road "design speed" should be much higher than posted speed limits. It should be possible for drivers to exceed posted speeds routinely and safely. Not to do this is to engineer a "dangerous" road. Roads should "forgive" a range of driver error. (Consistent with theories of pedestrian impedance, roads do not need to forgive a range of errors by people on foot or on bike.)

Salem is scary for people walking and on bikes because our streets have been purposely designed to make them dangerous for anyone not driving a vehicle.

Past urban design mistakes continue to be made by the City of Salem Public Works Department, which puts very little effort into building state-of-the-art bike paths and multi-use paths.

Some white lines painted on the pavement aren't nearly enough. Nor are green lines. This photo on a Breakfast on Bikes post about "autoist spin" shows the dreadful newly-built intersection of Glen Creek and Wallace Roads in West Salem. 

Would a parent feel that it is safe to let their eight year old child bike down this road? Would an 80 year old out for some exercise feel that it is safe to bike to the Starbucks in the Roth's shopping center?

A "no" answer, which is almost certain, shows that Salem is failing at making our streets live up to the "8-80" standard that many other more with-it cities are actively implementing. 

Too often, people in Salem feel that pedestrians are to blame when a driver hits them. That's bullshit. The blame almost always rests on people driving vehicles, and on the City officials who allow streets to be built in an unsafe fashion for walkers and cyclists. 

Today I was wearing a red shirt. I was slowly walking across a well-marked mid-block crosswalk. But two drivers failed to stop or even slow down after I'd entered the crosswalk.

By contrast, whenever I walk around Portland, I'm struck by how different drivers behave there. I'll be standing on the sidewalk, wary of crossing the street because I'm used to how people in Salem drive. A car will stop before I've even stepped off the curb. The driver will give a friendly wave, inviting me to cross.

Over on my Strange Up Salem Facebook page, frequently when I praise something about Portland I'll get comments along the lines of "We don't want Salem to be like Portland!"

I always think, Huh, what are you talking about? Actually we want Salem to keep on being Salem, while embracing the best practices of other cities that make them more vibrant and livable than Salem is now.

I look forward to the day when someone, anyone, a young child or an elderly adult, steps into a Salem street crossing and drivers promptly and eagerly stop, maybe even acknowledging the person on foot with a friendly gesture.

And when that person also is able to ride a bicycle all over town on family-friendly bike paths, with many miles of them dedicated solely to walkers and cyclists. Such is the goal of Salem Bike Boulevard Advocates. 

(May they thrive and prosper.)

Comments

[Debbie Duggan]

As a runner, I'm constantly struck by how little vehicle drivers seem to think of pedestrians and/or bicyclists. It's quite shocking how often cars drive through good old-fashioned white crosswalks while people stand there, waiting for the chance to cross. Those white lines next to most stop signs? Apparently very few people can even see them. And why exercise caution when trying to pull out onto the road from a parking lot? What could possibly go wrong with rolling straight across the sidewalk (and sometimes into the bike lane!) before you stop your car to look at traffic? Gah. I get mad just typing it out.

[Salemander]

This attitude towards pedestrians is ingrained not only in design, but in the laws too.

Cars are only required to stop for pedestrians crossing the street if the people step out and make an indication/effort that they will be crossing. If you are standing there waiting to cross a busy street cars don't have to stop for you, which can be tricky in spots on Market Street and stretches of Liberty/Commercial with lots of cars packed close going 35ish.

How do I know this? A mom and her kids were waiting to cross Market St at a marked but not controlled crosswalk near Englewood, as car after car zoomed past with no breaks to attempt to cross. One of the cars that zoomed passed was one of our "great" Salem Police Officers, and the frustrated mom wagged her finger at him, apparently feeling the cop should have stopped but didn't.

Well luckily for her this officer felt that he needed to stop AFTER zipping past them, turn around, come back, hold her up, and lecture her on what the law actually is and how she was rude for wagging her finger at him. Initially the Salem Police Officer didn't have the time or inclination to take a few seconds out of his day to be considerate to allow for pedestrians who obviously wanted to cross, or god forbid possibly try to set a good example to other drivers and be a decent human being. He didn't have time for that, no. BUT the cop did have the time to get his panties in a bunch for being "disrespected' and then go all the way around back to lecture someone about how technically he is right and they are wrong. Mind you this is a mom with 2 kids who just wanted to get across the street. Salem's Finest winning hearts and minds once again.

Salem's shitty attitude to pedestrians/bikers is so endemic -from design to laws to public safety- that I am sadly doubtful it can ever be changed. If you aren't in a car: look both ways, look both ways again, always assume the car will do the dumbest thing possible, assume the car can't see you, cross your fingers, carry a lucky rabbit foot, and only then something bad MAY not happen to you.

[Amanda]

I agree. I've watched as many many cars rush past me and my 2 young kids waiting at the new pedestrian crosswalk at 17th and Nebraska for cars to stop. Am I really supposed to have my 4 year old on her bike start crossing before I know for sure that cars driving both directions are going to stop? Even if the cars closest to me do stop, the ones on the other side most certainly don't, so we stop and wait again in the middle of the road. I don't expect someone to slam on the brakes for me, but come on.