Message to Florida DOT: The Time for Real Change Is Now

Today on the Streetsblog Network, we’ve got a powerful demand for safer streets in Florida. Transit Miami
has posted an open letter to Florida Governor Charlie Crist and the
state’s DOT, calling them to account for the lamentable showing the
Sunshine State makes in Transportation for America’s recent report on
pedestrian fatalities, “Dangerous by Design.” Here’s a taste of what
they had to say:

A pedestrian signal in Winter Park, Florida. (Photo: quite peculiar)

Florida has managed to take the
top 4 spots [for danger to pedestrians] nationally; this clearly is not a great achievement. The
common denominator for all 4 metropolitan areas is the Florida
Department of Transportation (FDOT), which is responsible for designing
most of the roads within these urban environments.  We believe that
(FDOT) should be held accountable for poorly designed roads within our
state that result in hundreds of preventable pedestrian deaths each
year.

The decades of auto-centric culture within FDOT needs to come to an
end. A major paradigm shift has to occur within FDOT from designing
roads for cars to designing them for people. There is no simple
solution, and it will take a leader who is capable of changing an
organization whose sole focus seems to be moving more cars faster,
rather than considering pedestrians and bicyclists.

More from around the network: In Texas, Michael Lindenberger at Dallas Transportation digs into the TexPIRG report
on the links between campaign money and how transportation dollars are
spent, and comes up with his own conclusions. David Daddio at The City Fix asks if we are really looking at the end of the American exurbs. And Bike Portland puts the funding for bike infrastructure into perspective.