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Bozeman City Hall was abuzz Wednesday night with more than two dozen people brainstorming ways to keep drivers, cyclists and pedestrians safe when traveling through the city.
A newly created Transportation Safety Advisory Committee has been meeting since December and identified three key issues it hopes to address, including increasing seatbelt and proper restraint use, reducing inattentive driving and bolstering bicycling and pedestrian safety. (I guarantee every solution will involve more government.)
The goal: reduce fatalities and injuries by 25 percent within the next five years. Representatives from the Montana Department of Transportation, city roads, police and engineering departments, the Montana Highway Patrol and bicycle- and pedestrian-safety advocates first heard about crash statistics.
A yearly average of 213 transportation-related crashes resulted in injury in Bozeman between 2009 and 2011.
There have been one or two fatalities on Bozeman streets in the three-year period and between five and seven resulting in incapacitating injuries. (Wait a minute. They just got through stating their goal of reducing "...fatalities and injuries by 25 percent within the next five years." How do they plan to reduce do so when there have been hardly any in the last 3 years?)
The number of reported crashes resulting in non-severe injuries went from 192 in 2009 to 219 in 2011. (Oh, I get it. ANY injuries sustained are so serious as to justify government initiatives to reduce them. So a little cut on your finger matters to government just as much as a fatality, and because the criteria is broad, any sort of government intervention is therefore justified.)
Facilitator Audrey Wennink is an analyst with Cambridge Systematics. Her group is working with the city to analyze safety data and help develop a safety plan. (Headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Do you suppose the reporter could have included this little tidbit, that the City is outsourcing its contracts to businesses in other states? And this company fits right in with leftist goals of central planning and control of the people. That's what they do for a living.)
“Bozeman is a great community; the quality of life here is great,” she told the group. “But being able to get from point A to point B without dying is key to that quality of life.” (Um, yeah. 2 deaths in three years. We've certainly got a problem, and we need to spend tens of thousands of dollars to a consulting firm to tell us how to fix it.)
Facilitator Audrey Wennink is an analyst with Cambridge Systematics. Her group is working with the city to analyze safety data and help develop a safety plan. (Headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Do you suppose the reporter could have included this little tidbit, that the City is outsourcing its contracts to businesses in other states? And this company fits right in with leftist goals of central planning and control of the people. That's what they do for a living.)
“Bozeman is a great community; the quality of life here is great,” she told the group. “But being able to get from point A to point B without dying is key to that quality of life.” (Um, yeah. 2 deaths in three years. We've certainly got a problem, and we need to spend tens of thousands of dollars to a consulting firm to tell us how to fix it.)
Before breaking people into groups to discuss the three key topics, Bozeman Mayor Sean Becker encouraged people to be creative. (This sounds like classic Delphi Method. The objective of this technique is to drive decision-making to predetermined outcomes while making it seem like the decisions were the result of consensus.)
“Allow the policymakers and engineers to figure out why it won’t work later,” he joked. “Think outside the budgetary constraints that the rest of us have to work in.” (What? The budget be damned, full speed ahead, I guess.)
Inattentive drivers, (I thought the cell phone ban solved this problem! Are they suggesting that new laws need to be passed outlawing even more behind-the-wheel activities? Apparently the first ban didn't work, so we need more laws that won't work in order to prove that we care about the problem.)
Inattentive drivers, (I thought the cell phone ban solved this problem! Are they suggesting that new laws need to be passed outlawing even more behind-the-wheel activities? Apparently the first ban didn't work, so we need more laws that won't work in order to prove that we care about the problem.)
uncontrolled intersections, (A misnomer. Uncontrolled intersections are controlled by law as to who has the right of way.)
bicycle and seatbelt laws (We have seatbelt laws. Are they saying that they're not working? How can that be? There's a LAW!)
were just a few of the items discussed in separate groups that came together at the end of the evening to share their ideas.
Participants chose the group to join and bicycle/pedestrian issues attracted the most attention from people who engaged in lively discourse. (Now this is good reporting. Usually what we have is a portrayal of certain people [inevitably conservatives] "disrupting" the meeting, angrily yelling, and not being civil. A "lively discourse" seems much more in keeping with a proper representation of divergent opinion.)
Members of the non-motorized group talked about speed limits, bicycle paths and lanes, sidewalks and crosswalks.
There are not enough crosswalks along College Street between Eighth and 11th avenues where many Montana State University students are regularly crossing, Gary Vodehnal said.
“It’s incredible to me that we let all these people cross anywhere without crosswalks,” he said.
People discussing distracted driving said uncontrolled intersections, and cell-phone users are just a couple of problems they regularly encounter. (I think we should ban cell phones while driving. Oh, wait...)
Participants chose the group to join and bicycle/pedestrian issues attracted the most attention from people who engaged in lively discourse. (Now this is good reporting. Usually what we have is a portrayal of certain people [inevitably conservatives] "disrupting" the meeting, angrily yelling, and not being civil. A "lively discourse" seems much more in keeping with a proper representation of divergent opinion.)
Members of the non-motorized group talked about speed limits, bicycle paths and lanes, sidewalks and crosswalks.
There are not enough crosswalks along College Street between Eighth and 11th avenues where many Montana State University students are regularly crossing, Gary Vodehnal said.
“It’s incredible to me that we let all these people cross anywhere without crosswalks,” he said.
People discussing distracted driving said uncontrolled intersections, and cell-phone users are just a couple of problems they regularly encounter. (I think we should ban cell phones while driving. Oh, wait...)
“But it isn’t just cellphones,” said Steve Kurk, of the road department. “You got people putting on makeup and eating a muffin.”
Bozeman police officer Rick Musson responded with a story. An off-duty officer watched as a schoolboy waited to cross a road and saw several cars pass right by him without stopping. Finally, a college-aged man talking on a cell phone stopped and waved the child across. Clearly cell phones aren’t the only issue.
All the groups determined increased enforcement, education and communication will be critical to attaining safety goals. More signs, public service announcements, pamphlets, posters and bumper stickers will help. (Ummmm. Propaganda? Yes, people need to be indoctrinated regarding state-approved behaviors.)
Identifying and reaching target groups will also be important.
“There are already a lot of things going on in Bozeman to increase seatbelt use,” MDOT’s Carol Strizich said. “Yet we’re still seeing a problem.” (In other words, despite a heavy presence in media advertising, enforcement, and seemingly endless gruesome pictures of unbelted victims, there are STILL people who don't toe the line? Outrageous! Apparently we need to redouble our efforts!)
For more information or to get involved with the committee, contact Bozeman city engineer Rick Hixson at 582-2280 or atrhixson@bozeman.net
Bozeman police officer Rick Musson responded with a story. An off-duty officer watched as a schoolboy waited to cross a road and saw several cars pass right by him without stopping. Finally, a college-aged man talking on a cell phone stopped and waved the child across. Clearly cell phones aren’t the only issue.
All the groups determined increased enforcement, education and communication will be critical to attaining safety goals. More signs, public service announcements, pamphlets, posters and bumper stickers will help. (Ummmm. Propaganda? Yes, people need to be indoctrinated regarding state-approved behaviors.)
Identifying and reaching target groups will also be important.
“There are already a lot of things going on in Bozeman to increase seatbelt use,” MDOT’s Carol Strizich said. “Yet we’re still seeing a problem.” (In other words, despite a heavy presence in media advertising, enforcement, and seemingly endless gruesome pictures of unbelted victims, there are STILL people who don't toe the line? Outrageous! Apparently we need to redouble our efforts!)
For more information or to get involved with the committee, contact Bozeman city engineer Rick Hixson at 582-2280 or atrhixson@bozeman.net
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