I was recently at a meeting with an Ann Arbor resident who moved here from California. He was shocked that Michigan does not have a stop for pedestrians law, which means that all cars stop for pedestrians who are trying to cross the street. This sort of law exists in California, New York, Colorado and other states.
The pedestrian ordinance for Ann Arbor was recently revised to clarify that cars should yield to pedestrians in cross walks, but some argue that the ordinance doesn’t really achieve the goal of increased pedestrian safety.
City employees created an entire educational and outreach campaign aimed at educating motorists on this new law, but the Ann Arbor City Council did not support funding this campaign (a $10,000 cost).
This sort of issue is similar to frustrations that cyclists in Ann Arbor have about how they are treated in our roadways.
What was clear to me and many others at this meeting is that the issue of creating a bike and walk friendly community goes beyond laws. It’s really about changing the culture of an area. The real question is, how do you do this?
One of the ways to change culture is through enforcement. If the police ticketed or gave a warning to every motorist that didn’t yield to a pedestrian, or cut off a bike, etc. people might change their behavior for fear of a ticket. But I have heard that the City’s police department does not have the capacity to handle this sort of enforcement effort. So punishing people to behave may not be the way to do it.
Perhaps getting more and more people to walk and bike in our community would send a message that this is the kind of thing that is done in Ann Arbor. Of course, a huge proportion of people do already walk or bike in our community. But this becomes a chicken and egg issue since if people don’t feel safe biking and walking in the first place, there will be less people who want to bike and walk. But if more people biked and walked, perhaps we would create more of a culture of acceptance of this.
I think another challenge we have is that many people who work in Ann Arbor don’t live in Ann Arbor, so a culture of pedestrian and bike friendliness would have to extend beyond the city limits. And that task seems even larger.
I think another way to create a more bike and pedestrian friendly culture is to design our communities so they are more walk and bike friendly. Clearly, Ann Arbor’s design does contribute to a high proportion of pedestrians. Perhaps more density and a more urban design would contribute to more non-motorized travel patterns.
The City of Ann Arbor has done a great job drafting up plans to create a more bike and walk friendly infrastructure, but it seems the plans are there without the money to support them.
And of course one of the larger questions to ask is should this be a priority in our community right now. What with the economy and job loss and foreclosures, etc, does Ann Arbor really need to focus on becoming more walk and bike friendly. I would argue that the answer is a definite yes. Why? Because having a more walk and bike friendly community would allow people to get around without having to spend money driving their cars. In addition, people would be getting more exercise, which has a health benefit, and our community would cut down on carbon emissions.
There are so many reasons, but still the culture of this region and indeed this whole state needs to change as it related to non-motorized travel. There are many in our community and in our state working on this cultural change and it won’t happen overnight.
What can you do? Write to your Council member and tell him or her that a pedestrian and bike friendly community matters to you and give them some ideas for how to promote this. Find ways to walk and bike around your community and let your government officials know if there is an issue. Support funding for active transportation. Support businesses that promote sustainable transportation. Participate in the Commuter Challenge in May. Come to Green Fair. There is actually a lot we all can do.
