Texans love their automobiles; a pin wouldn’t drop in disagreement. The Texas Division of Motor Automobiles says there are 22,000,000 registered autos in our state and near 17,380,000 registered drivers — that’s 1.26 automobiles for each driver.
Texans love their roads; we maintain constructing them. The Federal Freeway Administration places the whole variety of highway lane miles in Texas at virtually 680,000, which is 280,000 greater than California. It is smart, from that viewpoint, that we’ve spent many years designing and constructing roads throughout cities in Texas to get us from one place to a different as rapidly and effectively as potential in our automobiles.
However the car-centered viewpoint misses one thing: Based on the Texas Division of Transportation, or TxDOT, “pedestrian deaths are persevering with to rise … and now account for 1 in 5 of all visitors fatalities. In 2019 alone, 5,975 visitors crashes involving pedestrians occurred in Texas, leading to 669 deaths, a 5% improve in fatalities over the earlier yr. One other 1,317 individuals had been severely injured.”
Merely put, our love of the car-centered established order is killing individuals.
This isn’t new to me. Once I got here to the San Antonio Metropolis Council, one of many first conversations I had with a resident in my district was with a lady whose grandmother died when she was hit by a automobile whereas she walked to church on a Sunday morning. I knew then what I do know now — one thing should be accomplished to make streets and roads safer. It pains me that since that day virtually eight years in the past, 241 pedestrians have been killed within the sector of the town that features District 5.
One of many preliminary issues I did as a Metropolis Council member was to ask about pedestrian security in different cities. A easy Google search took me to a world group began in Sweden known as Imaginative and prescient Zero. Its purpose is to “eradicate all visitors fatalities and extreme accidents, whereas rising protected, wholesome, equitable mobility for all.”
At the moment, the group was planning a nationwide convention in New York, so I flew there to search out out extra. I realized one of the vital frequent causes of pedestrian fatalities is pace. TxDOT agrees. Crash studies it has compiled from regulation enforcement point out one of many main causes of pedestrian fatalities is driving too quick. I’ve been steadfast in my purpose as chair of our metropolis’s Transportation Committee to deliver Imaginative and prescient Zero practices to San Antonio, and so they’re now a part of our transportation thought course of.
All of that is in keeping with what the Nationwide Affiliation of Metropolis Visitors Officers, or NACTO, has been saying in a number of studies. NACTO has outlined a three-method strategy to eliminating pedestrian deaths, and on the prime of its listing is setting default pace limits to 25 mph on all main streets.
It mirrors proposed laws earlier than the state Senate: SB 221, introduced by Sen. Judith Zaffirini, D-Laredo, and HB 3877 sponsored by Rep. Celia Israel, D-Austin, within the Home. The laws seems to be to set authorized speeds at 25 miles per hour in residential areas. It applies solely to cities with a inhabitants of 950,000 or extra— Houston, Dallas, San Antonio and Austin.
The invoice is pending within the Senate Committee on Transportation, chaired by Sen. Robert Nichols, R-Jacksonville. We don’t know when motion might be taken on the invoice, however we do know that it’s going to save lives. It might’t wait. The earlier SB 221 will get a listening to, the earlier we’ll cut back the variety of mindless pedestrian deaths on our metropolis streets.
You’ll be able to assist save lives. You’ll be able to name Nichols’ workplace in Austin, at 512-463-0103 or 1-800-959-8633 toll-free, and inform him you need safer streets, it’s time for SB 221 to be scheduled for a listening to, and transportation in Texas needs to be about individuals and never simply automobiles.
We love our automobiles and roads in Texas, however we love Texans extra, and SB 221 can save Texan lives.
Councilwoman Shirley Gonzales represents District 5.
