In theory, pedestrian safety programs should target areas where with high volumes of foot traffic; places with a denser urban fabric that have increasingly been inhabited by recent immigrants and people of color. For these communities getting around without a car is more a matter of necessity than choice, and streets that make traveling by foot safer and more convenient aren't mere amenities, they're a critical component of everyday life. Yet in practice, attention to the needs of pedestrians and demands for traffic safety improvements have more often followed political power and economic status, than objective assessments of where problems exist and why.
The pattern is easily recognizable across the country, and California historically has been no exception. Some of the first and most aggressive traffic calming programs began in Berkeley and Palo Alto in the 1970s, two of the most expensive and exclusive communities in the state. Berkeley's program included full street closures, a move that outraged auto advocates at the time but has also drawn criticism for its parallel to the gated communities of more recent years.
Yet the physical, social and cultural landscapes of California are undergoing massive changes. When Berkeley constructed its first street closures thirty years ago, over 70% of the state's population was white. Today, demographers consider California "a majority of none," and polling among Latinos in particular (comprising nearly a third of the state's residents, expected to reach 50 % by 2040) has shown overwhelming support for environmental protection, quality of life and community safety programs that rivals or surpasses that among the population at large.
It's in this context that issues of pedestrian safety and traffic calming are beginning to resonate in low-income neighborhoods and in communities of color all across California, from Los Angeles through the Central Valley and into the Bay Area. In September 1999, STPP's California field offices released a report with the Latino Issues Forum documenting troubling trends in pedestrian safety statewide. The Forum contributed research showing that not only do Latinos and African Americans walk, bike and take transit more than the average California resident, but they are far more likely to be victims of vehicle-pedestrian crashes relative to their overall share of the population.
The report, released as the landmark "Safe Routes to School" bill sat on the desk of California Governor Gray Davis, was covered by every major news outlet in the state.
A week after the report's release, along with additional publicity generated by National Walk a Child to School Day and the endorsement of a coalition of more than 80 organizations, Governor Davis signed the Safe Routes to School bill into law.
The coalition that worked to support the bill, including a diverse array of bicycle advocacy groups led by the California Bicycle Coalition, public health professionals, pedestrian activists, neighborhood groups, parent-teacher associations, municipal governments, environmentalists and social justice organizations, is now setting its sights on additional legislation to further the cause of pedestrian rights and traffic safety. Local efforts are now underway to prepare project applications for the $20 million a year in federal highway safety funds available to communities as a result of the new law.
Although small in relation to the billions the state spends on transportation annually, the Safe Routes to School bill has now given traditionally disenfranchised communities some leverage in the struggle to direct resources back into neighborhoods that need them the most. What remains to be seen is whether this initial groundswell of support can be translated into both lasting institutional change and stronger, safer and more socially just communities.
