The “neighborhood greenways” are expected to increase safety as even a small adjustment in speed reduces the chance of a pedestrian being killed in a collision with an automobile. At 20 miles per hour, your chances of being killed are only 5%.
So here is the story on that network of 20 mile per hour streets. And here’s the local connection: The Bicycle Alliance of Washington and partners championed a 20 mph neighborhood streets bill for our state in the 2011 session and it made it through the house on a unanimous vote. Unfortunately, the bill ran out of time on the Senate floor, so it’s back to work on it in the 2012 session. Here’s more info on the Safer Neighborhood Streets bill, because we think you’ll be hearing a lot about it in the coming months.
I think I blogged about this a while back, but my memory is short these days so I apologize if you’ve already read it. Portland will hold an event this Friday to celebrate approval of a 70-mile network of new 20 mph neighborhood streets.
415Sounds good, but since so many people refuse to even slow to 25 now who will enforce a 20 mile per hour speed?
That's a good point. Guess your laws are only as good as your enforcement. They'll probably have an emphasis patrol early on to drive the message home but hopefully they can keep up on enforcement.