Will Florida DOT Pull Off a “Culture Change” and Make Streets Safer?

[thelakelander]

Holding the distinction of being the most dangerous state for biking and walking seems to have inspired a real reform effort in Florida

Darla Letourneau at BikeWalkLee recently attended a talk by Bill Hattaway, the Florida DOT's new statewide bike and pedestrian leader. Hattaway said a multi-pronged "culture change" is underway within the Florida Department of Transportation. As part of that effort, the state is pursuing seven reforms, Letourneau reports:

Full article: http://streetsblog.net/2014/09/22/will-florida-dot-pull-off-a-culture-change-and-make-streets-safer/

[mbwright]

doubtful.  There have been many opportunities to change, but always some sort of excuse.  Does not seem to matter if in Tampa, Tallahassee, or Jax.

[coredumped]

I agree w/mbwright, it's sad but true - there's always some reason to not do what's right, meanwhile you see weekly in jax alone pedestrians getting hit, some killed. I guess FDOT can put a price tag on life.

[sheclown]

I was at the intersection of King and Myrtle the other day and watched in horror as a woman pushing an infant in a stroller almost got hit.  A car was thundering down the road and barely slowed to make a right on a red as the woman was crossing -- she wouldn't have known what hit her.

[Ocklawaha]

No but locally MJ and our friends are well along in possibly pulling this off... Stay tuned for some huge news soon.

[Know Growth]

.....momentum, change;Connecting & braking the DOT

A concerted "Shift" in order,therefore a note outside thread subject,but possibly pertinent:

Down south a wee bit,recently,a proposal to run a new road through the 12 Mile Swamp Conservation Area in St. Johns County almost made it's way forward and became a "line on the map".
This nefarious scheme was successfully removed from The Map,thanks to community partners,(Yea! Florida Wildlife Federation NE Regional office  ), governmental agencies involved,maybe even the DOT itself.
Bad Project supporters can no longer promote under the guise "DOT Wants It".

We probably needed to chip some barnacles off the face of DOT to allow more light, life.

It's fun to monitor TPO,as was the MPO,"JUATS".

[Dog Walker]

I was at the intersection of King and Myrtle the other day and watched in horror as a woman pushing an infant in a stroller almost got hit.  A car was thundering down the road and barely slowed to make a right on a red as the woman was crossing -- she wouldn't have known what hit her.

The "right-on-red" rule is the worst and most violated traffic law that has been allowed in the past fifty years.  The rule requires a full stop before turning, but nobody does, not even JSO patrol cars.  People turning right-on-red are always looking left for oncoming traffic which endangers anyone in the crosswalk.

[Josh]

I was at the intersection of King and Myrtle the other day and watched in horror as a woman pushing an infant in a stroller almost got hit.  A car was thundering down the road and barely slowed to make a right on a red as the woman was crossing -- she wouldn't have known what hit her.

The "right-on-red" rule is the worst and most violated traffic law that has been allowed in the past fifty years.  The rule requires a full stop before the crosswalk before turning, but nobody does, not even JSO patrol cars.  People turning right-on-red are always looking left for oncoming traffic which endangers anyone in the crosswalk.

It's up there with people turning left/right on green lights and not knowing that pedestrians have a walk signal and right-of-way.