Traffic dangers unfairly affect low-income communities at a
much higher rate. Gulfton has Houston’s lowest car ownership
and highest transit ridership… high traffic fatalities is the net result
Noah Budnick, senior director of programs and operations, Together for Safer Roads
development dates from the golden
age of cars, especially further west,
once the older cities of Boston and
New York are left behind.
“The mid-20th century
momentarily created a mindset that
cars equaled transportation,”
says Budnick. “The last 25 years have
seen a lot of people moving back to
US cities. The college-age generation
are waiting longer to purchase their
first car and are seeking out walkable
neighborhoods.
“People have lived in cities for
10,000 years,” he adds. “In the future,
the 20th century may be seen as an
historical anomaly. But Houston can
begin to reverse its legacy in the here
and now by adopting a finite
timescale.
“The Mayor’s commitment to
Vision Zero creates a fundamental
shift in how traffic deaths and
injuries are defined,” says Budnick.
“It recognizes that they are
preventable, not something inevitable
like the weather.”
The Vision Zero movement,
committed to eradicating road deaths
by a fixed date, began in Sweden in
the mid-1990s. In 2014, New York
became the first US city to adopt
a Vision Zero program and Houston
is the last to follow suit. “Setting Zero
as a time-bound goal is a moral
imperative and creates both urgency
Above: Houston
Mayor Sylvester
Turner surrounded
by City department
heads and officials
on August 13, 2019,
as he signs the
executive order to
commit Houston to
Vision Zero by 2030
Far right: Gulfton
high school students
record traffic
behavior as part
of the Vision Zero
initiative
Vision Zero |
the fourth largest city in the US and
heavily car-dependent, with more
than 70% of commuters driving alone
to work. It is comparatively late in
joining the Vision Zero movement
and currently has one of the deadliest
transportation systems in America.
If a Boeing 737 crashed at each of
Houston’s three airports every year,
killing all inside, the outcry would be
clamorous, but The Houston
Chronicle points out that an
equivalent 640 annual road deaths
pass relatively unnoticed.
A lack of sidewalks or bike lanes
means pedestrians and cyclists
gamble with their lives on a daily
basis. “Houston is designed almost
exclusively for drivers,” explains
TSR’s senior director of programs
and operations, Noah Budnick. “This
is inherently inefficient and creates a
downward spiral, where cities have
to keep building bigger roads with
higher speeds.”
In Gulfton, the worst-affected
district, road safety has a distinctly
social dimension. “Traffic dangers
unfairly affect low-income
communities at a much higher rate,”
says Budnick. “Gulfton has Houston’s
lowest car ownership and highest
transit ridership, which means high
levels of walking to the bus
stop. It is intersected by
overdesigned streets – with
high traffic fatalities as the
net result.”
Automobile affection
Houston’s problems are
symptomatic of America’s
love affair with the
automobile. US traffic mortality rates
are double those in Europe and
vulnerable road users account for
more than half of victims. European
cities have grown organically since
the middle ages, when people went
on foot or horseback, while more
recent design has nurtured cycling or
transit. But much US urban
020 Traffic Technology International November/December 2019
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