tucson pedestrians

Banning traffic on Congress Street is great start for making Tucson more pedestrian-friendly

Despite Tucson’s copious amounts of crosswalks, being a pedestrian in Old Pueblo means taking your life in your hands.

Many motorists have neither patience nor tolerance for pedestrians, with 2010 Tucson Police Department statistics showing seven pedestrians hit and killed by vehicles and 210 hit and injured, with 52 of them hit and runs. Statistics from 2011 are even worse, with at least 16 pedestrians killed by vehicles and 220 injured, with a total of 71 hit and runs.

Man versus car does not fare well for the man.

All that could soon change, at least in a little pocket of town, with Mayor Jonathan Rothchild’s revival of a long-dead proposal of making Congress Street open to pedestrians only. The proposal was shot down in the past, and may be again because it still has one big problem: it’s much too limited.

Shutting off Congress to traffic will only make the die-hard drivers shuttle their vehicles to the surrounding streets, making them more clogged up and blocked than they already are. To truly benefit from transforming any downtown area into a pedestrian-only jubilee, the proposal needs to go the whole hog to get rid of road hogs and make all of downtown vehicle-free.

Jaywalkers beware: Police crackdown on bicyclist, pedestrian violations to end of Sept.

The next time you feel like darting willy-nilly across the middle of the street on foot or on your bicycle, think again.

Not only does such an action put you in danger of being mowed down by a street sweeper or mini-van, but you are now in increased peril of getting a ticket.

The Tucson Police Department is in the midst of a crackdown on violations involving bicyclists, pedestrians – and motorists who disobey rules related to the two, according to a news release from the department.

The crackdown started earlier this month and will be going on through the end of September. A grant is paying for this special enforcement deployment.

Time to cut out all that jaywalking.

It’s also time to note some of the most common violations pointed out by TPD.

Common driver violations:

Not yielding to pedestrians
Not giving bicyclists at least three feet of room while passing them
Not coming to a “complete stop” at red lights and stop sign

Not looking in both directions after stopping to make sure you don’t hit a bicyclist, pedestrian or other car

pedsign2 — Watch for peds/Ryn Gargulinski

Common pedestrian violations:

Jaywalking, jaywalking, jaywalking – Tucson has all those jazzy crosswalks for a reason
Violations of Tucson City Code 20-92: Jaywalking currently carries a $161 fine (That’s one pair of shoes, maybe two)

Not waiting for WALK signals at intersections

Common bicyclist violations:

Riding on the sidewalk
Not following same rules that apply to motorists, including riding with traffic
Not giving “appropriate” hand signals for turning and stopping
Not stopping for red lights and stop signs
Not wearing a helmet if younger than 18
Not having at least a headlight and rear reflector for nighttime riding

Some of the finest moves we’ve witnessed:

Bicyclist riding against traffic along Oracle Road dragging a small dog by the leash while the dog careened dangerously into outer lane traffic

Bicyclists hogging the sidewalk, yelling at pedestrians who are using it, like our pal belligerent bike boy

Pedestrians bolting across the street in the middle of the night, “wearing dark clothing and not in a crosswalk”

Pedestrians flipping off or yelling at cars that refuse to stop for them when they dart out of nowhere in the middle of a car-packed street

Motorists have way too many stupid moves to list

2009 statistics from the TPD website:

Fatal accidents, motor vehicle vs pedestrian: 8
Fatal accidents, motor vehicle vs bicycle: 2
Personal injuries, motor vehicle vs. pedestrian: 225
Personal injuries, motor vehicle vs. bicycle: 221
Property damage, motor vehicle vs. pedestrian: 36
Property damage, motor vehicle vs. bicycle: 71
Bicycle accidents: 35

Sorry, no stats immediately available on jaywalking tickets – but we did find 115 reports of road rage.

[tnipoll]

pedsign — Watch your step/Ryn Gargulinski

What do you think?

Have you ever gotten a ticket as a bicyclist or pedestrian?

What about as a motorist violating rules involving bicyclists or pedestrians?

What other stupid moves have you seen bicyclists, pedestrians and motorists make?

The case of the belligerent bike boy

Just when you thought it was safe to go outside, here comes belligerent bike boy.

bikeboybike — Illustration Ryn Gargulinski

Belligerent bike boy is this college-student-looking dude who cruises around the neighborhood “at a high rate of speed” with his dog leashed to his bicycle. He’s always out at prime dog walking time when I’m out with Sawyer and Phoebe and other dogs and owners are strolling around our midtown neighborhood.

Even though biking with a dog seems incredibly hazardous – especially since belligerent boy is way too cool to wear a helmet and his bicycle and dog combo drives Sawyer wild – we usually don’t really care about bike boy.

bikeboyatus — Illustration Ryn Gargulinski

We cared, however, when bike boy came barreling right at us.

Sawyer, Phoebe and I were on the sidewalk when bike boy came bolting out of a pathway, saw us on the sidewalk, then turned directly into us.

We were too stupefied by the stupidity to do much more than just stand there.

Of course, bike boy’s dog and Sawyer went at it.

bikeboydogs — Illustration Ryn Gargulinski

Of course, this made bike boy fall off his bike.

We wonder what bike boy was thinking, or if he were thinking at all.

bikeboymap — Illustration Ryn Gargulinski

Once he got up, bike boy began to yell at us. He said we were in his way on the sidewalk every day. We were in the wrong, said he, because he was biking in the same direction as traffic, even though he was on the sidewalk. We were supposed to cross the street and use the sidewalk on the other side to “go with the traffic flow,” he said. Besides, he added, it’s easier for us to go into the street and out of his way, letting him have full reign of the sidewalk, since he’s on a bicycle.

bikeboyyell — Illustration Ryn Gargulinski

We bring up bike boy because he illustrates so much of what is wrong with society:

1. Some people don’t give a dang about the laws.

2. Some people don’t give a dang about their neighbors (bike boy lives down the street from us and we’re also convinced he’s the one who left a bag of dog poo in our yard the last time we had a bike boy run-in).

3. Some people are pocked by false sense of entitlement.

4. Some people pick on women (bike boy NEVER pulls this stuff when I’m out walking the dogs with my beau).

5. Some people stink.

Have a nice day.

[tnipoll]

What do you think?

What would you do about belligerent bike boy?

Have you had similar encounters with folks who just don’t care?

Should we give bike boy the right of way even though the law is clearly on our side?

Stop sidewalk abuse with proper sidewalk etiquette

The biggest sidewalk hazards are neither the cracks in the pavement nor the gooey fat gum that sticks to our shoes. It’s the folks atop the sidewalks.

Proper sidewalk etiquette puts bikes in the street/Ryn Gargulinski

Thankfully Tucson’s sidewalks are not as clogged as those in say, Manhattan, but we do have our pockets of sidewalk abusers downtown, along Fourth Avenue and near parks or other facilities.

We’ve seen skateboarders come barreling at children – and adults – and bicyclists on sidewalks trekking so recklessly and fast they nearly knock us on our fannies.

Pedestrians that refuse to walk are another threat. These folks will stop in front of shop windows, fancy fences, a parked car – and just stand there.

Their stopping is best when it’s sudden and abrupt so we have a high chance of ramming into their backsides. Those who don’t want to walk should please sway out of the way.

Large groups that clog up the entire width of the sidewalk are one more major danger. These often consist of yelling pre-teens, distracted tourists and families of 16 with two strollers, four toddlers and a mom saddled with 32 shopping bags.

Now make the large group abruptly stop in front of a shop window, fancy fence or parked car and we’ve got ourselves the Hoover Dam. Damn.

We’ll give the rambling family some leeway, but we have to wonder if other sidewalk abusers are oblivious or just plain rude.

In either case, it would behoove them, and other sidewalk users, to play nice with some simple sidewalk etiquette rules.

We need to follow a certain sidewalk hierarchy if we all want to get along while we move along.

Piano sidewalk etiquette dictates pianos be off to the side/Ryn Gargulinski

People who are simply walking on a sidewalk, of course, get top priority. Those that are walking quietly and at a steady pace are more deserving of the sidewalk than those weaving, yelling, belching or careening.

Top of the top priority heap include kids, women with children, little old ladies and anyone using a walker, wheelchair or cane. Be nice. Go around.

The second tier of sidewalk hierarchy consists of joggers, fast-paced and power walkers and the impatient. The second tier is expected to go around the first tier, but can expect those on lower tiers to go around them. We hope.

Dogs are in the murky middle area. If our dog is well-behaved and small, he has as much right on the sidewalk as any kid or little old lady.

Medium and large dogs have to be gauged by how much sidewalk room they take up and, more importantly, how they react to passers-by.

Let’s just say my two pretty beefy dogs – who like to lunge at anything moving – are steered into the street when we see anyone coming.

The dog stand-off happens when two people or more people walking dogs are about to confront each other on the sidewalk. Proper etiquette tells us the person with the larger or more obnoxious dogs should be the ones to move out of the way, leaving the sidewalk to those more civilized.

Fallen trees always get the right of way/Ryn Gargulinski

Like I said, my two beefy dogs and I usually end up moving into the street.

But we wouldn’t be too quick to move for those who are at the bottom of the sidewalk hierarchy.

Bicyclists, skateboarders and rollerbladers are the bottom feeders.

The bottom feeders include anyone who takes up way too much room, is hazardous to others or is not supposed to be on the sidewalk in the first place.

Skateboarders and rollerbladers are technically allowed on the sidewalk, but they need to cede to the hierarchy if they want to retain any modicum of respect.

And unless you’re something like 5 years old, you and your bike are really supposed to be in the street.

Actually, when we run across such sidewalk abusers, the street can be a dandy place to be.

[tnipoll]

What do you think?

Are you a sidewalk hog or do you follow proper sidewalk etiquette?

What’s the rudest sidewalk behavior you’ve witnessed?

Were you ever knocked down on a sidewalk? Did you ever knock anyone else down?

tucson pedestrians

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