Downtown to have more sidewalk bulb-outs
The French expression saillies de trottoir is so much prettier than sidewalk bulb-outs, which sounds like a disease. Either way, downtown will be getting more of them, in an attempt to make things safer for pedestrians.
Incidentally, pedestrian deaths have been rising here, on trend with the rest of the world, according to a Guardian piece this week. Unfortunately, the Guardian piece doesn’t answer the question asked in its headline: Why? It looks at technological solutions and the advent of driverless vehicles, but not much at human inattention, which is not so easily dealt with.
Meezly 09:43 on 2019-10-04 Permalink
Would be interesting to know if the trend coincides with the rise of device addiction.
Michael Black 09:54 on 2019-10-04 Permalink
Maybe thirty years ago they put in a lot of those sidewalk things, and drivers missed tge point. Too often I’d find cars with one side of wheels on those sidewalk things, and that was worse since they were at corners. And withiut any fanfare they disappeared, I remember no commentary on their removal, but then I don’t recall anything before they were installed.
Now years later they return.
Michael
fliflipoune 10:01 on 2019-10-04 Permalink
Les nouvelles saillies sont différentes, avec des bollards et des plantations. C’est pas juste une protubérance de béton vers la rue. L’UdeM a fait une étude sur celles-ci il y a un été ou deux, et il y a une réduction claire des accidents (en plus d’être jolies et de réduire les îlots de chaleur).
Phil M 15:54 on 2019-10-05 Permalink
I read that the increase in pedestrian deaths appears to be due to the increased popularity of SUVs. The higher front-end of SUVs hits a pedestrian in the upper torso, rather than at the legs, like a regular car would. Obviously, a severe chest or head impact is a lot more dangerous than a broken leg. The decrease in visibility from inside an SUV is also a contributor.
Orr 17:09 on 2019-10-05 Permalink
Sidewalk bulb-outs are also called horizontal deflections.
Speed bumps are vertical deflections.
EmilyG 19:49 on 2019-10-05 Permalink
And I’m not sure how true this is, or where I read it, but I heard somewhere that one reason SUVs are popular is because they’re “safer” if the driver gets into an accident.
(Though I don’t have a source.)
Kate 08:56 on 2019-10-06 Permalink
EmilyG, I’ve heard people explicitly say they “need” a four-wheel drive SUV to be safe in traffic in all seasons.
CE 16:31 on 2019-10-06 Permalink
The NYTimes just ran this article with lots of statistics about how cars are getting more dangerous and killing more people. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/10/04/opinion/self-driving-cars-safety.html