O P I N I O N
Navigating New Hampshire’s Urban Paths
“Bicycling is a big part of the future. It has to be. There’s something wrong with a society that drives a car to work out in a gym.” — Bill Nye, US scientist
Hello Manchester! It is still gorgeous out, and the weather is looking good. I hope you can get out there for some good rides or hikes!
Let’s talk about:
- Are Smartphones Killing Pedestrians & Cyclists?
- Delaware Amish Country Bike Tour
- Pine Street Work Under Way
- Derry Rail Trail Judgement
Pedestrian & Cyclist Deaths Keep Rising. Are Smartphones a Reason?
On-road deaths for pedestrians and cyclists in the U.S. are at the highest rates in 30 years and continue to climb. See the graphs below.
This kind of climb in measured phenomenon is not random; it is a pattern. Such a pattern in human behavior should be reversible. But to reverse it, we need to care. Do we? If so, then do we also care enough to actually do the work needed to discover the cause of this pattern, and then do the additional work to reverse the cause? And who needs to do this work? Boy, a lot of questions there.
We can start by looking at some additional data.
The Pew Research Center has data on the rate of mobile phone ownership in the U.S. It looks like this:
When these three graphs are viewed together and arranged so that their time axes align and are scaled to match, a relationship is suggested.
The steep rise in ownership of smartphones aligns closely with the rise in pedestrian & cyclist deaths. Coincidence? Highly unlikely.
Who’s responsible for the rise of smartphone ownership? A convincing argument can be made that this transformation of modern society has come about largely through the innovation of a single American company: Apple.
I love Apple. I’ve been using their computers since 1984, have been a stockholder for decades, and love my many i-Devices. No one makes mobile computing and communicating devices better than Apple [Click here for 5 minutes of Steve Jobs original iPhone introductory speech]. Partly because of their success, a strong argument can be made that Apple bears some responsibility for the deaths of many American pedestrians and cyclists. This is not dissimilar from the arguments made years ago about tobacco companies being responsible for the deaths of Americans from smoking.
Apple should apply their considerable intelligence, innovation, skill, and cleverness to making smartphones that pay more attention to safe use in and around moving vehicles. The phones already contain many sensors. They know their orientation. They know their location. They know how fast they’re moving. They can know when they’re moving faster than a human can run. With the presence of a tiny, inexpensive device (an AirTag) in your car, your phone can know when it’s near your car. The phone should limit its operation whenever the above conditions are detected, to allow only safe interactions that do not interfere with the user’s ability to safely operate a moving vehicle.
Apple loves to tout, and rightly so, how much they care about the privacy of their users. They should demonstrate that they care equally as much about the physical safety of their users and of those around them. This would be a software change, so could be rolled out to all iPhones in the currently-supported range, which is the vast majority of functioning iPhones. In turn, this would quickly be aped by other smartphone makers, leading to greater safety everywhere.
This would be a win for everyone, including Apple.
Delaware Amish Country Bike Tour
Elsewhere, I’ve mentioned that I recently spent a week visiting family in Delaware. Beautiful country down there. Flat as a pancake, but still beautiful. While there, I passed a road sign advertising this upcoming event. Looks like it has potential!
The ride will be held September 26th, 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., rain or shine. If you expect to be in Delaware or find yourself there, I highly recommend this event. Sounds gorgeous! Be aware, adult registration is $65, which includes admission to the event, lunch, pie, food and beverages at rest stops and after party on Legislative Mall. Also included is RideWithGPS access and TraQCentral access. Link to more info HERE.
The ride begins and ends in Dover DE and route lengths are 16, 25, 50, 62, or 100 miles through peaceful and flat Amish countryside. Starting riders will begin with a police escort. Everyone will stop at the Amish School House on Rose Valley Road for pie. This is the only rest stop common to ALL the routes.
I am sad I can’t make it myself, it really does sound great. But at least here we’ll have the Tour of Manchester!
Progress on Pine Street
Work is underway on Pine Street to reduce the vehicle lanes from two to one, add a bike lane, improve visibility at corners, and of course, repave. The goal is a safer and better Pine Street. Below is a photo showing work underway. This was taken a few weeks ago, so work should have progressed since then.
Derry Rail Trail Judgement
The Derry Rail Trail situation was summarized here recently (article here). More recently, and as reported in many outlets, the judge in the case rendered his verdict, siding with those preferring the original plan, which included a tunnel. Now, further negotiations are underway with the state Department of Transportation to find a solution that meets the requirements as laid out in the court case. A new proposal is expected by mid-August.
Below is the original proposal in green, including the tunnel, contrasted against the state’s revised proposal in red and yellow, just defeated in court.
Call for Input
We very much want to hear from you! Do you have any questions or concerns? What topics would you like us to cover? Send your feedback our way and we’ll get on it! We want to ensure this column meets your needs.
Stay safe, cool, and hydrated, and have fun out there!
Note: The author is a member of the board of the Bike Walk Alliance of New Hampshire, but the views expressed in this article are his own.