We’ve heard from lots of neighbors about an increase in speeding on our Village streets since the stay-at-home order was issued. Brooke and I live on opposite gateways to the Village (on State and Monroe) and can attest to the shift in driving behavior. The main roads in the Village are dangerous during normal times. Since the pause due to the pandemic, it’s become worse. There is less volume, but speeding has increased. And with more people out walking and biking (hooray), that puts more people outside of those protected vehicles in even greater danger.
The Village isn’t alone in this new trend. Communities in our region and across the country are experiencing the same thing. The Washington Post reports that average traffic speeds in many cities have doubled, drag racing has increased, and drivers are engaging in dangerously excessive speeds on neighborhood streets.
Recent data from the Massachusetts Department of Transportation indicates that in spite of a 50% decrease in traffic during the pandemic, traffic fatalities have doubled. And most of those deaths occurred on local roads.
A Zendrive report analyzed and compared hundreds of millions of miles of driving data from 116 countries from the five weeks before the first stay-at-home order and the five weeks after (March 16 – April 19). There has been an increase in speeding, distracted driving and hard braking.
One of the good things to come out of this pause is that more people are out walking, biking and rolling. And they are doing it in their own neighborhoods and surrounding areas, leading them to realize how woefully inadequate our pedestrian and bike infrastructure is compared to how much room we give to cars. Most sidewalks are 48″ wide, if that (except for those beautiful new sidewalks on East Ave). Some neighborhoods don’t even have sidewalks (eegads!) and we don’t have bike lanes in the Village and surrounding areas.
While people on foot and bike try to squeeze into limited space on sidewalks, shoulders, yards and trails to maintain a safe public health distance, drivers have wide open underutilized roads. And they are speeding, scrolling through their screens and texting — putting themselves and everyone around them in great danger at a time when we are supposed to be working together to reduce the demand on our emergency rooms and help save lives.