Denver Hates Pedestrians
More people, more cars, new solutions.
The last time I had a car was Easter, 2002, when the transmission of my ’94 Grand Caravan fell out in my father’s driveway. Don’t worry, I’m not going to argue for a car-less life in this article. I do think such a life has its advantages, but it’s neither ideal for, nor possible for everyone.
I walk pretty much everywhere. Sometimes I bike. Or I take RTD’s decent, but not particularly comprehensive suite of public transit services. I walk Capitol Hill, and Uptown, and Highland, and Baker, and City Park. I walk to work. I walk to get groceries. And I’m not alone. There are always thousands of other people, if not more, walking around Denver with me each day.
And what I’ve noticed is that Denver hates pedestrians.
Our fair and beautiful city generally has weather that’s kind enough to be outside in, with the exception of parts of winter, but Denver isn’t built for people to move around in. It’s built primarily for cars. And in our era of rapid growth and development, there are more cars than ever before zipping around the city.
On a daily basis, I experience or observe another pedestrian experiencing drivers who run stop signs, ignore cross walks, and intimidate walkers and cyclists in the intersections. You know the car, that right-turning one that creeps up behind you, gobbling up every inch as you assert your momentary right of way. Runners who dart around the neighborhood streets of Cap Hill and others often report the same thing. During rush hours, it can be worse. Drivers are frustrated because it takes longer to move from one side of town to the other. Their frustration makes them drive erratically, speeding from light to light, changing lanes wildly, and rolling through stops without a thought. That’s without mentioning that more and more drivers also one-hand a device while behind the wheel. It’s simply dangerous to be a human being not wearing a ton of rolling steel in Denver. And the city isn’t doing anything about it.
Despite the thousands of parking tickets handed out, the hundreds of homeless forced to take down tents and shelters, I never see a driver accelerating on the heels of a pedestrian in the crosswalk get pulled over by our police.
In fact, they’re cracking down on bicyclists.
Ignoring motorists who park in bike lanes.
And while they’ve made some steps toward bike friendliness, the funding hasn’t actually come through.
Here’s the thing: Making Denver bike friendly makes it people friendly, and under all the steal and podcasts and gasoline, every driver is just a person. To improve Denver’s infrastructure and prepare it to carry the millions of people who may eventually move here, we have to treat pedestrians, cyclists, runners, and others as top priority. Cars will have to move down to second, or third.
We should demand that Denver police observe and deal with bad drivers, rather than simply raging against the occasional inconsiderate cyclist. There should be consequences to intimidating a group of people in the crosswalk by sitting in the middle of the intersection. There should be consequences aggressive and unsafe driving, especially in populous and growing urban residential areas.
We can demand bike lane funding, and ask that Denver prioritize public transit over new (and widening) roads. Imagine, an inner-city loop rail line — running from Highland to City Park to Glendale to Baker — connected to bike lanes. We could alleviate traffic by connecting the existing bike and rail systems to major shopping spots, dense residential areas, and places of business. Less cars means less angry drivers means less angry driving. Less angry driving means more consideration for cyclists and pedestrians.
It should be our mission to contact or tweet RTD, city council, the mayor’s office, and more to demand thoughtful, alternative transit infrastructure. It will insure us against the real possibility that cars are not the future. And it will make this city into an even more desirable place to live.
Contact RTD: http://www.rtd-denver.com/ContactUs.shtml
Contact Mayor Hancock: http://www.denvergov.org/content/denvergov/en/mayors-office/contact-the-mayor.html
Tweet Mayor Hancock: https://twitter.com/MayorHancock
Contact Denver City Council: https://www.denvergov.org/content/denvergov/en/denver-city-council/contact.html
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