Road design, safety and Vision Zero

[danbrotherston]

People who possess reasoning skills do indeed come to the logical conclusion that many of the things we do in life can cause massive harm to many things and many people.

Our roads suck indeed and must be improved so they are safer and more efficient. At least some of us are sticking it out despite the mediocrity and working to improve things in our community, rather than hopping on the first passenger jet and running away to the other side of the planet.

Some of us can't afford to run away to the other side of the planet, even if we wanted to. Anyhow, I think that Waterloo Region is better than many other regions of the country regarding alternative transportation and pedestrian safety. Progress is being made, even if it is not as fast as we would like,

Certainly being able to leave is a privilege. But I stayed and fought for more than a decade. I have the scars--literal and figurative--to prove it. Waterloo Region is better than some, but it's by far not the best in Canada. We considered staying in Canada. Victoria, Vancouver, Montreal, even Ottawa were options. But with the exception of Montreal, they're all still fairly mediocre. Even if I can afford to live in the best places in those cities we're still going to be surrounded by mediocrity.

Framing it as "running away" is hurtful (from you Acitta specifically), but not necessarily incorrect. That being said, it is correct that it was the ONLY way to live in a place that has relatively high traffic safety and comfortable biking...and now that I have a little one, I'm no longer willing to be a freedom fighter.

As for progress...I've been through this many times. No...we aren't making progress. We are building car dependent sprawl much faster than we are fixing the shit we've built. At best, we are making our cities worse, more slowly than before. But until the culture changes...to see automobiles as, at best, a necessary evil that we should seek to minimize, I don't really see that changing.