Sunday Summary - November 19, 2017

Thank you for Giving to the Max on Thursday, November 16 – you can, of course, still donate to streets.mn today or any day via the button to the right. To recap, Give to the Max Day 2017 – What Your Donation Means to streets.mn, but if you can’t give money, here are Other Ways to Give to @streetsmn. Finally, here are Five Reasons to Give to the Max: The Posts You Read to the Max. To thank you with virtual flowers, take a Flower Power Walk with Janelle Nivens and enjoy some of the glorious streets of the summer.

Staying safe

Almost Killed – Twice by Walter Angell looks at right turns on red lights as a significant cause of death and injury to people walking and biking: “These are all the result of poor road designs. What are US traffic engineering thinking when they design junctions like the one above that encourage drivers to look in the opposite direction of where they are going and encourage them to look away from people whom they endanger.” The many commenters share their experiences and debate some possible solutions.

Andy Singer asks Are Roundabouts Safer for Pedestrians? in the wake of a much publicized report from MnDOT indicating roundabouts are safer for motorized vehicle traffic, but the situation for people walking and biking is much murkier. This post looks at types of roundabouts (with pictures!) and reports from MnDOT, NACTO, FHWA, and IIHS to conclude roundabouts are not safer for people walking and biking. Commenters supply some additional examples of roundabouts and debate the conclusion.