SAFER STREETS FOR KIDS

So, after eating zillions of ice cream cones, chocolate croissants, chunks of manchego cheese, and more, how much weight did Which Way blogger gain in Spain?  NONE!  I couldn't believe it. I'm convinced it was all of that walking and biking we did. And how much has our family walked or biked together since we got back home 10 days ago (except for to and from our cars)?  Zilcho!  So, I have resolved that our family is going to do more walking and biking outings together -- even in the heat, bad streets, lack of shade, and all. 

Unfortunately, if we want to get far on our bikes as a family, that means navigating some treacherous streets here in Austin. Many of the bike lanes near our house look like this one on South Lamar, with unbuffered lanes right next to cars zooming by at 45+ miles per hour. 

Here are some great news items posted on my neighborhood listerve this week about some exciting traffic calming projects being adopted across the country to make streets safer for kids: 

Los Angeles Times blog post about traffic slowing methods

New York City press release about the adoption of "Slow Zones" to combat speeding

Gotta appreciate this quote from one of the NYC council members about the NYC Slow Zone project: "Our streets are not for drag racing, they are where we raise our children, shop at local establishments, and say hello to our neighbors." Here, here. As part of the NYC project, the Slow Zones will be marked with prominent blue gateways with large signs, speed bumps, and "20 MPH" marked on the street. We need more of these in Austin, especially after a child this year was struck and killed by a speeding car while he was playing in front of his home in Southeast Austin. This was on top of a number of other auto-pedestrian deaths this year. Very tragic. And in 2011, there were 21 auto-pedestrian deaths in Austin. Horrendous.