I’d never thought of that
Do our current defaults make sense?
It can be funny how you go through life not questioning the status quo, the what and why of accepted social positions. And then sometimes you read or see or hear someone phrase something with a different perspective and it jolts you out of your seat. “Yes” you think “ why is the world actually like that?”
There is a terrific short TED talk by Derek Sivers “Weird -or just Different” in which Derek highlights how completely different address between America and Japan are. In each culture they make sense — but if you grew up on the other side of the world, you never would think it could be another way.
Olympic and Tour de France cyclist Chris Boardman writes how his frame about road use changed with an innocent request from his daughter:
She asked: “Can we ride to the park?” It wasn’t her question that altered everything, it was my answer — which was: “No.”
We live in a typical northern seaside town, and the park in question was — I know because I measured it later — 549 metres away, a distance that takes a little over one minute to ride. I, an ex-Olympic cyclist, didn’t feel I could keep my daughter safe on our roads for one minute. And that felt very wrong. It wasn’t what I wanted for her, and it wasn’t the place I wanted to live.
Walking and cycling must be made safe in England. Here’s our plan to do just that
When did roads become the sole domain of cars — to the exclusion of all other users?
Remarkably in the 1920’s there was debate about exactly this question with a strong feeling that cars were taking over the streets and creating too much danger and chaos. Something had to be done! Enter the powerful car lobby who invented a new term “Jaywalking” and with significant political lobbying turned around 180degress the perception of cars being dangerous for people into the perception that it was the people who were the problem.
But some countries, especially in Scandinavia are flipping the script back to bring roads more friendly as human spaces and living streets, or woonerf’s
Writes the Dutch Cycling Embassy on Twitter: “In Dutch cities and towns, one of the features that first stands out to an international visitor is the use of the ‘continuous footway’. Rather than treating humans as guests in the cars’ space, the opposite occurs, and the footway is seamless by design.
In an industrial setting many safety artefacts are treated as unquestionable requirements, but often with surprisingly little real world evidence to back them up as useful. Take 5’s are a common pre start safety check, promoted as a critical tool to ensure tasks are safely completed. Yet the only published study of their efficacy challenges this dogma:
“We found no evidence to support any of the purported mechanisms by which Take 5 might be effective in reducing the risk of workplace accidents. Take 5 does not improve the planning of work, enhance worker heedfulness while conducting work, educate workers about hazards, or assist with organisational awareness and management of hazards.” Take 5 for Safety? It’s finally time to cut the cards | LinkedIn
OUCH!
Of course there are so many examples in our current lives of beliefs we no longer challenge, yet not many years ago would not have made sense. This gives me hope that many of our seemingly intractable problems such as global warming and inequity are simply just a frame switch away from being on a path to by solved.
READ MORE ABOUT CHANGING OUR STREETS AWAY FROM BEING DOMINATED BY CARS AT THIESE LINKS
Woonerf — Woonerf — Wikipedia
a living street, as originally implemented in the Netherlands and in Flanders (Belgium). Techniques include shared space, traffic calming, and low speed limits.
Design Details 1 — Nicer cities, liveable places (wordpress.com)
Safer Cycling Advocate Program — Google Drive
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Get in touch… — https://tomconnor.me/
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