Lather, Rinse, Repeat
By Mitch Berg
A friend of the blog emails:
This is the 2nd time this year that a driver has driven into a utility pole on St Anthony Ave in Saint Paul and has caused power outages in the city. St Anthony Ave is a street that has been “traffic calmed”- bike lanes added, parking removed in some places, speed limit “reduced”.
It’s funny, because before we started calming traffic, I don’t recall things like this happening with as much frequency.
Yet, I am seeing people on social media asking for more traffic calming, speed bumps, bump outs, etc and I am seeing CM Jalali agreeing.
What are they not asking for? More traffic violation enforcement, more enforcement of impaired driving violations, more enforcement of drug and crime laws- you know, things that would actually help solve problems like these.
“Traffic calming“ is to “calm”, what a straitjacket is to “sane”.
April 22nd, 2022 at 7:42 am
You can fix the problem by placing an orange traffic cone in front of the power pole.
That’s how they do it in Hawaii!
April 22nd, 2022 at 8:55 am
so instead of drag racing kids will ralleycross through the bumpouts and do it on lifted trucks to go over the speedbumps. sounds like fun!
April 22nd, 2022 at 12:20 pm
If you look at the map, it’s a frontage road along a railroad track where people are going to go when the traffic is bad, and the neighborhood is designed to not allow people to go through when the main routes are obstructed–except along that road. When you couple that with a general disdain for traffic law, you’re asking for trouble.
My take is that the way to fix this road is to fix the other roads around it, and that way you won’t have GoogleMaps and such rerouting people there as often–people more tied to their cell phones than paying attention to their surroundings.
April 22nd, 2022 at 1:50 pm
JPA- my thoughts exactly. When you have these empty streets, and add a speed bump, it’s just a challenge, not a deterrent.
April 22nd, 2022 at 6:10 pm
Unanswered: Was the car jacked?