Philadelphia's other violence epidemic
Last week, a woman and her two children, one 5 years old and the other an infant, were struck and injured in a hit-and-run while crossing a street around the corner from my home in South Philadelphia. On the same day, the Kenney administration announced plans to appoint a "complete streets commissioner." In a single day, then, the city had seen a brutal example of its traffic violence crisis as well as some hope for a solution.
Our neighbors and children are hit by vehicles while crossing Philadelphia's streets with alarming frequency. In 2014, 1,548 Philadelphians were struck and injured by drivers, which is about 500 more than were shot. Nearly 400 of the injured pedestrians were children under the age of 15. That means that there are also some 400 adult drivers living with the knowledge that they crashed into and hurt a child.
These collisions affect poor Philadelphians disproportionately. If you are struck and injured by a car and do not have health insurance or sick leave, your life can quickly spiral into financial chaos. These are potentially life-changing tragedies that simply do not have to happen.
Mayor Kenney's complete streets commissioner could make an important difference here. "Complete streets" is a transportation planning and engineering philosophy dictating that streets be designed, constructed, operated, and maintained to ensure that they work for all kinds of travelers, with special attention given to the most vulnerable: children and senior citizens who are walking. Cities that have embraced the philosophy, including Washington and New York, are seeing dramatic declines in injuries and fatalities resulting from vehicle crashes.
An empowered complete streets commissioner would be able to marshal the resources of multiple city departments and, most importantly, the mayor's office to implement research-supported interventions to make Philadelphia's streets safer. Engineering, enforcement, and education — with serious political backing — are the keys to reducing crashes.
The city Streets Department needs to make engineering for safety its top priority. The department's engineers already know how to do it. They just need the resources and a clear message that safety is the city's highest priority.
Washington slashed its traffic fatalities by 55 percent by making safety the central focus of its work for a few years. The engineering interventions the city undertook have endured and helped maintain those reductions.
The Philadelphia Police Department has been focused on violent crime for nearly a decade, and the results have been remarkable. But the police must work to reduce traffic violence as well as gun violence.
It is common knowledge that motorists need not fear being cited for moving violations in Philadelphia. A 2014 Inquirer analysis found that the police issue just a quarter of the number of tickets for moving violations that they did 16 years ago.
Because traffic stops are among the most dangerous situations that police officers face, multiple officers should participate in each stop for the sake of their safety. While traffic enforcement can thereby strain resources, technology can help, too. If the state allowed deployment of speed cameras, more speeders could be ticketed without the need for traffic stops. In addition, the department could begin reporting traffic crashes that result in an injury or fatality within 24 hours, much as homicides and shootings are reported now. That would help change a culture that accepts traffic violence as inevitable.
The city's new complete streets commissioner will be successful in reducing traffic violence only if he or she has Mayor Kenney's support in making make some tough political decisions. Among them: reducing traffic lanes in the face of community and even City Council opposition when it will make conditions safer for pedestrians; prioritizing moving-violation enforcement by the police; and lobbying Harrisburg for permission to use speed cameras.
Fortunately, Kenney has proven himself to be a man who does not shy away from a tough decision or a fight, particularly when he is sticking up for vulnerable citizens. And I can't think of group of citizens more diverse and vulnerable than the children and seniors who are just trying to walk through the city's neighborhoods.
Andrew Stober is the vice president of planning and economic development for the University City District and was the chief of staff of Mayor Michael Nutter's Office of Transportation and Utilities.