Motorist behavior
Most of us are motorists as well as pedestrians, so if there's a
problem with motorist behavior, "the problem is us". Approximately two
thirds of car crashes in the U.S. stem from aggressive driving, according
to the Federal Department of Transportation. We've all heard of road rage. Many of
us have said unkind things about another motorist who cut us off,
a pedestrian who forced us to stop at a crosswalk, or a bicyclist who
slowed us down when we were rushing to get home after work.
Changing behavior is not an easy task. An engineering solution, which has
had considerable success, is "traffic calming", which is really a euphemism
for "motorist calming" (see the page on
Traffic speed/volume make crossing difficult).
Ultimately, we need to respect all users of the public right-of-way, and
follow the Golden Rule.
For a thoughtful essay on this and related topics, see
Building Communities With Transportation
by Dan Burden, Director of the
Walkable Communities organization.
Road Rage, the book, is available from
Amazon.com