Skip to Content
Streetsblog USA home
Log In
Streetsblog.net

Why Clearing Sidewalks Isn’t a Priority Like Plowing Streets

10:47 AM EST on February 19, 2014

If where you live is anything like where I live, the sidewalks are a mess right now. People are walking in the streets and getting summarily blamed by the press when a driver injures them.

When walking in the street seems like a better option that trudging through unshoveled sidewalks. Photo: ABC 2
When walking in the street seems like a better option that trudging through unshoveled sidewalks. Photo: ABC 2
false

Plows are out all night salting and scraping the streets, but sidewalks are a private responsibility, and compliance with shoveling laws is haphazard enough to make mixing with SUVs seem like the best option for a lot of pedestrians.

To their credit, community leaders in Akron, Ohio, have been debating how to keep children safe when they walk to school. On his blog Notes from the Underground, Jason Segedy, head of Akron's metropolitan planning organization, AMATS, wrote about the relative lack of concern for kids who walk:

The immediate, specific, and tactical answer to the question of “Why don’t we make safe and accessible sidewalks a priority?” has to do with a panoply of thorny and interrelated fiscal, legal, and property issues.

But the holistic, general, and strategic answer to that question is simply this: our culture does not value or respect people on foot the way that it does people behind the wheels of cars. To be clear, this cultural orientation is not the result of conscious antipathy toward pedestrians, or an intentional organized conspiracy to disenfranchise or disrespect the marginalized and the poor. Instead, it’s simply the way that our society has evolved over the past 60 years, as the automobile has achieved near complete dominance as a mode of transportation – at least for the affluent majority.

I discuss this issue with people all of the time, and often hear people say “Why waste the time or money on this? No one walks anyway.” My translation: “I don’t walk anywhere, no one that I know walks anywhere, and since I occupy a place of privilege in society, I really don’t notice anyone that does walk.”

In addition to being patently false, the generalization “no one walks anyway” misses the point entirely. Social equity and fairness in transportation is not about a tunnel-vision view of the needs of the majority that drives, considered in a vacuum; but rather, about looking out for the needs of the minority that does not drive.

Elsewhere on the Network today: Better! Cities & Towns says high housing prices in places like San Francisco and Brooklyn indicate that "there's not enough urbanism to go around." Mobilizing the Region takes a look at how colleges in New York, Connecticut, and New Jersey are promoting active transportation for students. And Free Public Transit reports that activists in the Philippines are demanding that half the country's road space be reserved for transit, biking, and walking.

Stay in touch

Sign up for our free newsletter

More from Streetsblog USA

Talking Headways Podcast: Sausage Making and the ADA

"It is fundamentally inappropriate to keep charging disabled people twice as much," our guest Ron Brooks says.

December 7, 2023

The Real Reason Assaults Against Transit Workers Are On The Rise

Hint: it's not just because service has been slashed.

December 7, 2023

Thursday’s Headlines’ Future Looks Bright

Amtrak Joe's administration is making big strides on rail, although it's lagging behind on EV chargers.

December 7, 2023

Feds Award $3B for CA High-Speed Rail, and $3B for Vegas-to-LA HSR

"This show of support from the Biden-Harris Administration is a vote of confidence in today’s vision and comes at a critical turning point, providing the project new momentum."

December 6, 2023

Car Noise Pollution is Worse in Redlined Neighborhoods — And Not Just for Humans

Transportation noise pollution can wreak havoc on wildlife populations, too — and that can have a devastating effect on their human neighbors.

December 6, 2023
See all posts