![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.comstocksmag.com\/sites\/main\/files\/imagecache\/lightbox\/main-images\/shutterstock_794489455.jpg\" "\\"People")
<\/a><\/p>\n\n People walk through the Downtown Commons area in Sacramento.
\n (Shutterstock photo)\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cIf you look statistically, you \n There\u2019s been a 78 percent \n A lot of this was created decades \n He used a real-life example: \n \n Sacramento\u2019s Citizen Hotel overlooks a one-way street. \n Speck\u2019s suggestion, which has \n Speck also suggested eliminating \n \n Oklahoma City has recently invested in walkability initiatives \n Another example he cited in favor \n \u201cThat\u2019s the great secret of \n He said I and J streets, which
\n need to worry much more about cars than you do about crime,\u201d says
\n Speck, author of \u201cWalkable
\n City: How Downtown Can Save America, One Step at a
\n Time.<\/a>\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n increase in pedestrian deaths over the past 15 years in the U.S.
\n A 2024 national report from
\n Smart Growth<\/a>
\n showed there were 377 pedestrian
\n deaths in the Sacramento-Folsom-Roseville area over a five-year
\n period, making it the fifth deadliest metropolitan area in the
\n state (after Bakersfield, Fresno, Stockton and Riverside-San
\n Bernardino-Ontario) and the 20th in the country. \u201cThis is a
\n mandate for dramatic change,\u201d he said during his talk.\n<\/p>\n
\n ago by city planners who redesigned streets to be one-way because
\n they thought it would improve traffic flow. But Speck said
\n vehicles actually go faster on one-way streets, leading to more
\n pedestrians getting hit.\n<\/p>\n
\n While staying at the Citizen Hotel during his visit, Speck
\n watched out his window as both cars and buses sped by at 35 mph
\n or higher on I Street, which is one-way. \u201cIt was interesting to
\n see speeds that you simply would not see on a two-lane, two-way
\n street,\u201d he said. And the consequences are harsh. \u201cA car going 35
\n mph is seven times more likely to kill you than a car going 25
\n mph.\u201d\n<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n
\n (Shutterstock photo)\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\n been used successfully in other cities such as Oklahoma City and
\n Louisville, Kentucky, is to convert one-way streets into two-way
\n streets. He said after Louisville reverted some streets back to
\n two-way, pedestrian crashes dropped 48 percent.\n<\/p>\n
\n some traffic signals. While the signals are supposed to improve
\n the flow of traffic, Speck\u2019s research says it actually makes
\n traffic less efficient. A typical signal stop lasts one to two
\n minutes, which can actually be longer because it takes time for
\n traffic to start flowing again after making a complete stop.
\n Meanwhile, a pause at a stop sign is usually just two to three
\n seconds. Speck said traffic flows more smoothly when more stop
\n signs are used. \u201cWe are vastly oversignaled in the U.S.,\u201d he
\n said.\n<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n
\n such as converting some streets back to two-way. (Shutterstock
\n photo)\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\n of more stop signs is that cars speed up to beat a red light,
\n meaning they are traveling even faster than 35 mph, but if you
\n accidentally fail to make a complete stop at a stop sign, you\u2019re
\n only traveling about 5 mph. When traffic signals were changed to
\n stop signs in other cities, drivers initially rebelled until they
\n realized they were actually getting to work faster without the
\n signals.\n<\/p>\n
\n replacing signals with stop signs, is that you don\u2019t sit and wait
\n at the light. You go slow, you pause. You go slow, you pause.
\n It\u2019s just a much more walkable, healthy downtown,\u201d Speck said in
\n a later interview.\n<\/p>\n
\n are both one-way, see about 10,000 cars a day. Speck advocates
\n for restriping, not rebuilding, city streets, which is more cost
\n effective. It\u2019s also good for merchants, who see their businesses
\n double in activity when one-way streets are converted to two-way
\n streets.\n<\/p>\n