Weapons of Mass Destruction global indifference to 1

Weapons of Mass Destruction: global indifference to 1. 2 million deaths a year John Whitelegg Stockholm Environment Institute University of York

Do Numbers Matter? • • • 1. 2 million deaths pa 3000 deaths each day 50 million injuries pa 500 million affected $500 billion global annual cost

Do future numbers matter: life and death in 2030 • 2. 5 million deaths each year • 1. 1 billion cumulative injuries 1995 -2030 • 5. 7 million permanently disabled victims each year

NO

70 years of misunderstanding • Most accidents are accounted for, primarily, by carelessness on the part of pedestrians, at least in urban traffic…usually two thirds of the blame is attributed to them and they constitute two thirds of the victims in urban traffic • Henry Watson, Street Traffic Flow (1933), p 303

And it continues • “Every report focuses on motorists. They are the bad guys. There is never a mention of the role played by pedestrians. Accidents are often caused by pedestrians who step out in front of moving vehicles. Why are they never criticised? ” • Retired police officer, Lancaster, January 2004

Why? • Fundamental, deeply embedded, structural bias across all institutions • This bias is in favour of personal, mechanised, individual mobility as a perfect expression of progress, freedom, status and the rights of the consumer (who is not a pedestrian)

Lancaster City Council • The first and most important communication to newly elected councillors on May 1 st 2003 is a parking permit • A member of the public pays £ 352 pa for an annual parking permit on all long stay car parks. An elected politician pays £ 115 • Policy makers are “locked” into the system

Bulk Ward, Lancaster • • Elected 1 st May 2003 First contact with engineers 12 th May 2003 Vigorous “ping pong” still continues Absolutely nothing has changed

Officers Road Safety Group, September 2003 • The Police view was that enforcement was not practical in terms of the road layout and the regulations governing enforcement action

Community Speedwatch • “At the end of last week, I was informed by my manager that concern had been expressed about the scheme by some of our divisional commanders and I have been asked to submit a report to their next meeting which will take place on 16 April 2004. I can not proceed any further until I have a decision from this group. ”

This is not a road safety problem • Significant democratic failure • The street is not a living space for local residents • The street is a traffic sewer • Further and faster is better • Significant institutional and professional failures

It’s not fair • 90% of deaths and injuries are in developing countries • Steep social class gradient in the UK • Most deaths and injuries are inflicted on pedestrians and cyclists • The rich kill the poor and the polluter kills the conserver

Disadvantaged Areas • The likelihood of a child pedestrian injury is 4 times higher in the most deprived ward in England compared to the least deprived ward, independent of factors such as population and employment density and the characteristics of the road network (Streets Ahead, IPPR, 2002)

SM Fetishism • We like speed and we like mass • The steady march of the SUV through the streets of Camden and Islington • The obsession with speed (car advertising, concord) • The fiscal support that makes all this possible

State subsidised SM • 240 billion Euros for new roads, high speed trains and airport expansion (TENs) • Fiscal implications of highway design criteria (wider roads, wide radius curves, car parking layout) • Lack of cost recovery for greenhouse gases, crash victims, noise

What do we do about it? • Fundamental re-engineering of society to bring about a sustainable, equitable, accessible and socially just transport and land use planning system

The challenge: evolving patterns and scale of consumption and production Transport is constantly increasing and is a core activity of the tourism sector l The number of inbound tourist visitors grew faster than total passenger transport l 1980 =100 250 million tourists 300 number of cars 200 250 passenger-km 150 100 population 50 0 200 150 100 80 19 85 990 9 1 1 95 19 00 005 010 0 2 2 2 Passenger transport 50 80 9 1 85 9 1 90 9 1 92 9 1 94 9 1 Tourist arrivals 96 9 1 98 9 1

Wide ranging, holistic and systematic Good Bad Local services Community policing Permeable/dense networks Slow traffic Large traffic generators (hospitals, campus universities, supermarkets) Wide roads Fast traffic

Reduce Car Use Space Time Re-allocate highway capacity City of short distances Reduce parking Reduce speeds Cash Eliminate subsidies to fast modes Eliminate Fund time saving accessibility bias Fund safety and security Ideas Eliminate deviant advertising Health and community campaigns Childfriendly

The Law • Reform road traffic law • Radical new ideas for enforcement of traffic law (policing is not working) • Legal provision for car-free areas • Direct effects of human rights and constitutional law • Fast track, low cost access to justice

Calcutta • • • 1000 pedestrian deaths pa Totally inadequate pedestrian pavements Rapid motorisation Plans to shut down the trams/rickshaws Suburbanisation and road construction New flyovers

. . and the rest • Shanghai • Bangkok • Nairobi But (possibly) not Bogotá

Weapons of Mass Destruction • Motor vehicles are weapons of mass destruction • We don’t have to look for them. They look for us • 3000 deaths each day (15 Madrid bombings each day or one 9/11 each day)

Bogotá • Car free days • 17 km pedestrian/bike boulevard • Trans. Milenio bus system

Key Demands • Aviation style culture of investigation and remediation • 20 mph speed limits in all residential areas (not dependent on engineering) • Reclaim the public realm • Planning guidance and encouragement to car-free housing

Henry Ford (1929) • So my advice to young men is to be ready to revise any system, scrap any methods, abandon any theory, if the success of the job requires it • Page 73 “My Philosophy of Industry”