[sustran] [World Streets] Viral: Street Code strikes again

[Eric Britton (Paris, France)]

[http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/04/new-rule-of-the-road.php]
Viral: Our piece on this of 25 March (click here) got picked up by Tree
Hugger's reporter April Streeter and is getting an interesting range of
comments, positive and negative, over there. Click here to check out
their article and its comments. Thanks April. Thanks Treehugger. Thanks
virus.The Editor.
Streetcode Proposes New Rules for the Road -
Heaviest Vehicle Bears the Weight of Responsibility
by April Streeter, Gothenburg, Sweden on 04. 3.09


Photo Julia Fullerton-Batton via Foxtongue @ flickr.



There is a highway code - a set of expected rules, best practices, and
behaviors when manipulating your vehicle on those long ribbons of
public road. There isn't, as of yet, much of a corresponding city
street code - a set of guidelines that help walkers, bikers, scooter,
truck, and car drivers - maneuver the streets of a city in a safe and
(as important) polite way. New mobility consultant and WorldStreets
editor Eric Britton is proposing the street code start with a fairly
simple rule.



The biggest vehicle bears the burden of responsibility, and in the case
of an accident, also the burden of proving innocence. If streets are
for cars, as Britton says, than there isn't much need for this type of
street code.
But if streets are multiple use vias (and in the U.K. 12 towns are
adopting the 'shared space concept' to improve quality of life) where
cars are just one player, Britton says:
"The idea is...legal responsibility for any accident on street,
sidewalk or public space, is automatically assigned to the heavier
faster vehicle. This means the driver that hits the cyclist has to
prove his innocence."
The idea of a street code is not entirely new, but is starting to gain
a little more traction as city planners think about designing streets
on more of a shared use model.
Lest you think this seems utopian and far-fetched, in Belgium the
insurance company automatically pays damages in collisions between
cyclists or pedestrians and motor vehicles, no matter who’s at fault,
according to a document on street codes on Livable Streets. Via: World
StreetsNote: Graphic adapted by John Brooks via Livable Streets.

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Posted By Eric Britton (Paris, France) to World Streets at 4/03/2009
06:24:00 PM
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