In an unavoidable tragedy last night, an autonomous motor vehicle “accidentally” smashed itself into a slow-moving traffic obstruction, causing damage both to itself and to the obstruction.
Or, more accurately, the driver of a car crashed his vehicle into a pedal pub full of patrons and the police suspect alcohol was involved. 12 people went to the hospital. Three suffered “significant” injuries, that were thankfully non-life threatening.
Source: MPD twitter account
Phil Mackey of 1500 ESPN bring us the conventional wisdom, via twitter:
@ajm6792 A Pedal Pub isn’t a car, nor does it move fast enough to be on the same road as a car.
— Phil Mackey (@PhilMackey) June 25, 2015
Yes. I think it’s incredibly ridiculous that bicycles and cars use the same lanes. https://t.co/K3GCob97bM
— Phil Mackey (@PhilMackey) June 25, 2015
@ajm6792 @matthewkrier If you can’t see why blending 4,000-pound cars with bicycles (and Pedal Pubs) is dangerous, you lack intelligence.
— Phil Mackey (@PhilMackey) June 25, 2015
I don’t mean to pick on Phil, because I think he’s stating a common sentiment grounded in a concern for safety. Sort of.
But as a society we have to re-think that conventional wisdom. Segregating cars from other road users makes them more dangerous, not safer. And the location of this “accident” illustrates the point.
The crash happened on the southbound span of the Hennepin Avenue Bridge. At that point, the bridge deck has three wide lanes, a small shoulder and wide sidewalk. Cars are almost entirely segregated from their non-car surroundings.
In other words, there are too many lanes, that are too wide and on which a driver feels no friction whatsoever. Drivers regularly zoom by at near highway speeds. I’ve done it. If you’ve driven here, you’ve probably done it.
Sure is a pretty bridge
City streets are used by multiple modes. The law allows it. Heck, we want to encourage it. Yet our streets designs encourage speed, enhancing already dangerous speed differentials.
One answer is to assume that cars are necessary and ban everything else. Another is to assume that everything else is necessary too and find ways to allow cars to co-exist them them.