Automotive industries have a crapton of money and political influence (perhaps less than in past decades but still a ton), so they can skirt any public efforts to make meaningful change. Car companies are the enemies here
We can and should narrow all these roads and aggressively enforce the Karens and Rednecks who live 10 miles away but want to drive to the city to pretend like they didn’t make a bad choice
If that intersection is so dangerous and your wife was hit and killed by a car at that intersection why, why, WHY, would you run there? Didn't they effing look before trying to cross the street? I've lived in Littleton, Lakewood, and Denver. There are miles of safe paths throughout Denver and the suburbs. I don't get it. When running you don't own the street.
Because pedestrians have a right to use streets just as much as cars and cities should invest in infrastructure that makes it safe for everyone. Signals, cross walks, sidewalks, trails etc.
There are signals and crosswalks, just not where this guy wanted them. Belleview is a major artery designed to connect bedroom communities to the west with the Tech Center to the east. If he wanted a slower street, he could have afforded to live along Orchard or Dry Creek where traffic is slower and there are more crosswalks. Or he could have run north to Quincy and then east across University past Kent and onto the canal there where there are lots of paths and safe intersections. There are lots of safe options for running in that area. Sometimes it is better to accept things as they are and choose the established safe options than to expect others to adapt to you. Tragic, but avoidable.
As a runner, much of the danger comes from attempting to cross legally with the light. You get lots of people taking rights through crosswalks with pedestrians present, even with mothers pushing strollers, and plenty of left turns after the light has turned. Few drivers watch for pedestrians and the police and traffic authorities almost never notice outside of cities that understand how to make safer roads.
If that intersection is so dangerous and your wife was hit and killed by a car at that intersection why, why, WHY, would you run there? Didn't they effing look before trying to cross the street? I've lived in Littleton, Lakewood, and Denver. There are miles of safe paths throughout Denver and the suburbs. I don't get it. When running you don't own the street.
Some runners don't like to wait. Add to that, some are wearing headphones and are in a world of their own.
If that intersection is so dangerous and your wife was hit and killed by a car at that intersection why, why, WHY, would you run there? Didn't they effing look before trying to cross the street? I've lived in Littleton, Lakewood, and Denver. There are miles of safe paths throughout Denver and the suburbs. I don't get it. When running you don't own the street.
It's likely that was the only way to get to the safe paths through Denver from their house.
Very few cities in he US have any real interest in protecting pedestrians, runners, cyclists or even drivers.
We know how to decrease traffic deaths:
1 make people driver slower - narrow roads
2 add separate spaces for runners and cyclists
3 traffic enforcement - automated enforcement
4 incentivize smaller cars with better visibility
but people simply dont want it.
There is interest by many local governments in protecting pedestrians, cyclists, runners and even drivers.
But it is not always easy to do so. Most cities have transportation systems that were designed only for car travel. Making changes to that is expensive and people fear change.. And the vast majority of people live their lives totally dependent on their cars. Many people view pedestrians, cyclists or even runners as abnormal head cases, deprived or impoverished not worthy of support. Businesses are often opposed to anything that will slow or reduce vehicle access to their location.
It will take governments making top down transportation system decisions to change things.
But the Trump administration and Dept of Transportation has cancelled grants for bike lanes and pedestrian safety, calling those things hostile to cars.
- It is a blind intersection and cars drive way too fast on Belleview
- going south will take you to the highline canal trail, which is a great place to run or bike (miles and miles of dirt trails in safe, beautiful neighborhoods).
Watching cars fly by in that video would be enough to convince me not to regularly cross at that intersection. Personally, I'd drive to a safe parking area and run along the Highline Canal Trail to some of those dirt trails joedirt mentioned.
There are way, way too many distracted drivers today to risk crossing a busy highway.
Intersections seem to be the worst places to cross roads a lot of the time. They could just add a crosswalk a a hundred yards up the road with a protected pedestrian island in the middle.
If that intersection is so dangerous and your wife was hit and killed by a car at that intersection why, why, WHY, would you run there? Didn't they effing look before trying to cross the street? I've lived in Littleton, Lakewood, and Denver. There are miles of safe paths throughout Denver and the suburbs. I don't get it. When running you don't own the street.
No. The wife was killed while running at the intersection two years ago. The husband was killed while driving through the intersection in a car on car accident recently. He was driving.
You still have to look. You know, use your eyes. They work really good. But if you're stupid......
The main issue is the brick walls and trees that severely limit one’s line of sight looking to the East when you are facing south. Cars are flying through there coming from University. It’s why I prefer going over to the signal at Clarkson. One thing that you will notice on the south side of that intersection is the absence of a sidewalk. They intentionally isolated that neighborhood to make it inaccessible.