Portland’s Safer Streets: How Do They Do It?

Last Sunday in New York, the Street Memorial Project organized a ride in memory of the 14 bicyclists and more than 100 pedestrians killed by cars in the city in 2008. You can see the StreetFilm about the ride here.

PBOT traffic safety expert
Greg Raisman. Photo © J. Maus.

In Portland, OR, they marked a much happier milestone this New Year’s. That’s because 2008 was a year in which no cyclists died on that city’s streets. Streetsblog Network member Bike Portland talked with the Portland BOT’s “chief traffic safety guru,” Greg Raisman, to get some insight into why and how it happened.

In an interview with Bike Portland’s Jonathan Maus, Raisman makes the point that safe streets are by no means just good for bikers and pedestrians:

All traffic fatalities are a symptom of the same disease. It’s equally sad and tragic if a person is killed while walking, biking, or driving. It also appears that the conditions that make it safer for the most
vulnerable make it safer for everyone. As roads become safe enough that a child can safety walk or bike to their friend’s house, the roads also become safer for driving to that friend’s house when you have to.

His attitude is inspirational.

Elsewhere on the network, Car Less Ohio reports on Columbus’s efforts to become the “best bicycling city in the country,” Greater Greater Washington posts on how urban bike trails aren’t just for recreation, and The Transport Politic updates the banks/transit financial mess.