City road infrastructure should be designed for people not cars

There has been a growing movement, particularly fostered in the last couple of years in the wake of the covid pandemic when everyone was forced to stay at home. The routine was shattered, without the need to travel to and from work everyday, people saw an alternative reality in which they didn't spend a significant part of their day on the road.

With the extra time, people must have took to taking walks out into their local neighbourhood and become accustom to a relatively quiet walk. But when everything started to open again, so the noise levels grew.

It's often been the case that the road layout for a city has been designed with optimal traffic flow in mind, rather than the best use for pedestrians. This is a problem magnified in the US with the building codes they have out there, but it's far from an acceptable state in the UK and most of Europe too.

Where I live in Brighton there are some good places to walk - it's by the sea, so there is a natural boundary in which there is a car free path and cycle routes. However as soon as you step away from this there isn't much within the city bounds. Most of the high street has restricted traffic to buses and taxis only, but it still feels noisy. There have been some efforts to improve the green space up between the pier and The Level but most of that involved putting in more concrete paths, and the green space remaining is constantly being destroyed by various events that happen throughout the year. At least they moved the majority of the traffic to one road and reduced the number of lanes on the other.

One change I do like to see is where they raise the road so that cars have to come up to pedestrian height, rather than the other way around. Not only does it help slow down traffic but it helps people in wheelchairs, the elderly have a much easier time of walking. People should have the priority when crossing the street, not just 'get out my way because I'm faster, and can cause you more harm' approach.

It seems changes that make it more difficult to travel by car are often difficult to get approval without a fight as those that drive don't want to lose out (even when it would actually be of benefit to them). Changes such as road closures and reducing the number of car lanes need to go hand-in-hand with public transport improvements however, as one without the other could then lead to less people being able to access city centres.

Hopefully we will continue this shift to reducing the need for cars in city centres, the Netherlands is the model which many countries look towards in this respect. But in the UK we're a long way from that.

Continue learning: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xov7Ao_fPwQ