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do we talk about the footway as a 'pedestrian ghetto'?
No, in the same way as fish have no word for water. But if you try to look at how we divide the road up without preconceptions, that's exactly what pavements are. Their function is to corral peds out of the way of cars so that drivers can have clear roads. They "protect" peds by restricting their movements to narrowly defined safe areas and crossing opportunities, leaving the rest of the road for the free movement of motor vehicles.
(If you haven't read the history of the American jaywalking laws, now would be a good time)
brokenbetty
William.
@dancing james... , @edscoble
i am sure drivers would crash into and kill many more people on foot if there were no footways. similarly, protected space on main roads would reduce the number of people on bikes killed and injured. nobody's saying that it'll be prevented entirely...
(and, sure, better law/prosecution will help too. but it doesn't do much for incompetence..)
i am not sure 'ghetto' is an accurate term here, btw. these are protected lanes on main roads. do we talk about the footway as a 'pedestrian ghetto'? or bus lanes as 'bus ghettos'? or the east coast main line as a 'train ghetto'? sometimes it's just safer to separate traffic of different speed/momentum..