<story><title>Why 12-Foot Traffic Lanes Are Disastrous for Safety</title><url>http://www.citylab.com/design/2014/10/why-12-foot-traffic-lanes-are-disastrous-for-safety-and-must-be-replaced-now/381117/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>chetanahuja</author><text>I&amp;#x27;m seeing a lot of resistance to the idea of narrower city streets on this thread. The advantages of narrower city streets (and hence, crossings) goes far beyond safety. It actually enhances quality of life in a significant way. A wide, four lane highway running across your town basically says humans must come encased inside an automobile. Pedestrians and cyclists become second class citizens. It&amp;#x27;s a design driven for the convenience of cars and to the detriment of humans.&lt;p&gt;Here&amp;#x27;s a far more engaging critique of car-first design by James Kunstler: &lt;a href=&quot;http://youtu.be/Q1ZeXnmDZMQ&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;youtu.be&amp;#x2F;Q1ZeXnmDZMQ&lt;/a&gt;</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>StefanKarpinski</author><text>So many ostensibly &amp;quot;urban&amp;quot; places in the US feel actively hostile to pedestrians. One of the best things about New York is that, more than any other place in the country, pedestrians unequivocally own the city. If you are in a car (or even a bike), you are on borrowed turf and must drive as such. This is as it should be – cities are for people, not cars.</text></comment>
<story><title>Why 12-Foot Traffic Lanes Are Disastrous for Safety</title><url>http://www.citylab.com/design/2014/10/why-12-foot-traffic-lanes-are-disastrous-for-safety-and-must-be-replaced-now/381117/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>chetanahuja</author><text>I&amp;#x27;m seeing a lot of resistance to the idea of narrower city streets on this thread. The advantages of narrower city streets (and hence, crossings) goes far beyond safety. It actually enhances quality of life in a significant way. A wide, four lane highway running across your town basically says humans must come encased inside an automobile. Pedestrians and cyclists become second class citizens. It&amp;#x27;s a design driven for the convenience of cars and to the detriment of humans.&lt;p&gt;Here&amp;#x27;s a far more engaging critique of car-first design by James Kunstler: &lt;a href=&quot;http://youtu.be/Q1ZeXnmDZMQ&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;youtu.be&amp;#x2F;Q1ZeXnmDZMQ&lt;/a&gt;</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>Dylan16807</author><text>A narrow four lane highway is scarcely better than a wide four lane highway.&lt;p&gt;Get rid of the highways downtown if your goal is better cities.  Don&amp;#x27;t just make the lanes look less safe to slow people slightly.</text></comment>