This is the legacy blog of the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia. It is an archive of posts from 2003 to 2014. Making your ride better since 1972. https://www.bicyclecoalition.org
Bensalem Councilman Joseph Pilieri and Upper Southampton Supervisors Chairman Walter C. Stevens both said pedestrian deaths don't occur because of a lack of sidewalks.
"There's no relation between sidewalk accessibility and pedestrian deaths," said Stevens, who was a police officer for 31 years"Synthesis of Safety Research - Pedestrians
August 1991 Pub. no. FHWA-SA-91-034 page 83
A 1983 study by Tobey et. al. [1] investigated the safety effects of sidewalks. Sites with no sidewalks or pathways were the most hazardous for pedestrians, with pedestrian hazard scores of +2.6 and a PxV exposure score (i.e. exposure measure includes pedestrian volumes times traffic volume) of +2.2. This indicates that accidents at sites without sidewalks are more than twice as likely to occur than expected. Sites with sidewalks on one side of the road had a pedestrian volume and PxV hazard scores of +1.2 and +1.1, compared to scores of -1.2 and -1.2 for sites with sidewalks on bothsides of the road. Thus, sites with no sidewalks were the most hazardous to pedestrians, and least hazardous where sidewalks are present on both sides of the road.
1) H.N. Tobey, E.M. Shunamen, and R. L. Knoblauch, Pedestrian Trip Making Character"The poor pedestrian conditions are a direct result of the anti-urban policies of PennDot and the city Streets Department.
Amtrak had asked PennDot to install a midblock traffic light on Arch Street because it is the most intuitive crossing point between the station and Cira. But PennDot vetoed the request. Instead, it put new lights at the corners of 29th and 30th Streets. As long as those traffic patterns exist, no sensible person will dare cross Arch Street because of the way drivers race around the station. As a result, Cira's sidewalks were narrowed to discourage people from attempting to walk to the building.
Yet another recent PENNDOT decision that favors motorized traffic flow over the poor pedestrian.
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PHILADELPHIA (AP) - A van struck a bicycle on a North Philadelphia street, fatally injuring the unidentified rider, police said.
The vehicle, described as a white cargo van with red lettering, knocked the bicyclist to the ground about 2:30 a.m. on Sept. 29 but failed to stop, police said.
The rider, an unidentified man in his early 40s, was taken to Hahnemann University Hospital, where he was pronounced dead of head injuries a short time later, officials said.
