Читать книгу The Outdoor Citizen. Get Out, Give Back, Get Active онлайн

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Cities also need to guarantee that pedestrians, cyclists, and riders of “little vehicles”—skateboards, skates, scooters, hoverboards, and other forms that the future may bring—are kept safe while on the move. All too often, transportation lanes that should be differentiated overlap. Walkers and riders compete with cars, trucks, and buses for a slice of the road, and compete with one another—attempting to share a designated narrow and unforgiving space. In the United States in 2017, there were nearly six thousand pedestrians and 783 cyclists killed in crashes with motor vehicles.20 This marked a 31 percent increase since 2008. Safe, comprehensive strategies should be requirements of today’s cities, and are critical components of human-powered mobility networks.

Improvements for Pedestrians

Simple modifications, such as adding or improving crosswalks and sidewalks, can make cities more pedestrian friendly, but cities can also benefit from innovation. Vancouver, Canada, for example, is becoming one of the world’s most pedestrian-friendly cities. One of the steps it’s made toward this goal was its installation of two hundred detailed maps around the city. The maps provide direction and note the location of attractions, drinking fountains, and public bathrooms. Vancouver’s work to become more pedestrian-friendly will likely lower the number of cars on its roads, and thus the city’s carbon footprint. It has a stated mission to become the world’s greenest city by 2020.21