[sustran] a bias against drivers?

[eric.britton at ecoplan.org]

I claim, based on nothing more than personal observation, intermittent study of
various categories of related statistics in a number of countries and driving
habitats, and my basic sense of smell in this matters after quite a number of
years of work in the field as a consultant and advisor to government and
industry, that a significant MAJORITY of people in most places do not have FAIR
AND REASONABLE ACCESS to autos as drivers.

In addition to the other categories that have been brought up in these
discussions (many elderly, handicapped, all children, etc., but also including
those who really cannot afford to own and operate their own cars in any
reasonable scheme of things), there are also all those who really are not
physically or psychologically competent to master the complexities of either
high speed freeway driving nor that twisting and turning of crowded city
streets.

My own quick first guess on this last category is that something on the order of
one licensed driver in two should not be out on the road.  Being a good and safe
driver is a very complicated, demanding business and is not just a matter of
snuggling behind the wheel and letting the automatic transmission and power
assisted steering compensate for your own motor in adequacies.  To put this into
perspective, I would like to share with you the first short paragraph that the
investigative reporter Malcolm Gladwell opens a thought provoking investigative
article in the New Yorker of 8 June under the title of "Wrong Turn: How the
fight to make America's highways safe went off course".

"Every two miles the average driver makes four hundred observations, forty
decisions, and one mistake.  Once ever five hundred miles, one of these mistakes
leads to a near collision, and once every sixty-one thousand miles one of those
mistakes leads to a crash.  When people driver, in other words, mistakes are
endemic and accidents inevitable."

And this is an "average driver".  I do not have at hand what the numbers look
like for those over 65, those who are tired or not feeling all that well,
teenagers, smokers, people with mobile phones in hand, under medication (or who
should be), those with visual or flexibility problems, and the list goes on.

There are plenty of numbers out there that help make this point, but the bottom
line is that, given who we are, the idea of creating a society where the main
mobility option is the private car is a quite mad, unfair and dangerous one.
The proper place for the car is as a second-tier mobility option for those for
whom it does the job fairly, safely and well.  But that is a small minority, and
not the majority.

Once we have realized this and started taking it into account in both our
policies and investments in the sector, we will be on the road to
sustainability.

Comments?

Eric Britton

The @New Mobility Forum is permanently at http://newmobility.org
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