Some folks just need something to be angry about

 But they're fighting like dogs in the town across the river
Over a brand-new crosswalk that won't matter come winter
Lord, sometimes folks just need something to be angry about
What're you angry about?

"Pain is Cold Water," Noah Kahan

As Mass DOT held a public hearing on proposed changes to upper Pleasant Street (Route 122) here in Worcester Wednesday night, the Washington Post covering why it is that Vision Zero--the novel idea that no pedestrians should die due to drivers--hasn't been successful in the United States was timely. (That's a gift link to the Post.)

As illustrated by some of the public testimony at the Worcester meeting, the big reason that such moves fail in the U.S., per the review by the Post?

 Motorists are hostile to measures that slow traffic and favor pedestrians.

 As a result, then: 

Local leaders give token or tepid support. Spending on pedestrian-friendly improvements is not prioritized. The U.S. government, meanwhile, never backed up its pledge with federal action or significant funds.

Motorists in the U.S. want to go really fast in their big cars, and our system revolves around that.

Pedestrians, though, are all of us at one time or another. Even those who drive everywhere occasionally have to exit a vehicle to get somewhere.

And one group that doesn't drive at all? Children. 

Children walk, and ride bikes, and wait for school buses. And children, thus, bear a disproportionate burden of systems that advantage cars over those who don't drive. 

Children, also, don't vote or donate to lobbying groups.  

If we actually want to prioritize kids, we need to prioritize the safety of those outside of our big steel cages that go really fast. 

This post in part brought to you, also, by thoughts I had whilst shoveling sidewalks Wednesday, a day Worcester had school after the Tuesday storm. While the roads are plowed by the city, the sidewalks—how thousands of children in Worcester get to school—are not, and sidewalks also do not have to be cleared until 24 hours after snow stops. That means Worcester’s children made their way to school Wednesday morning on uncleared sidewalks. 

Budgets are moral documents; what we fund is what we value. We don’t value pedestrians, including our schoolchildren, enough to ensure their winter safety.