ChiWhoBike #13
We really need to do a combination of modifying infrastructure to slow down traffic and also reducing speed limits along with that. Because I think a lot of people who drive are not aware of how their obsession with speed creates more risk of seriously injuring or killing people outside of cars, whether they are walking, biking, on a skateboard, a scooter, whatever. If a car is going 20 miles an hour and they hit someone, the vast majority of people who get hit in a situation like that are going to survive and are less likely to have life-altering injuries. 30 miles an hour gets a little tougher. 40 or 50 miles an hour, the vast majority are not going to survive and those who do survive are probably going to have significantly life-altering injuries. LIke have their knee destroyed, end up having to have major surgery and hardware put in, have a spinal injury and they can’t walk and now they’re in a wheelchair, there are all kinds of pretty serious consequences that a lot of drivers don’t even think about.
I think a lot of times when people are in cars, they’re just focused on getting there as fast as possible, and with a lot of people I know who ride it’s more about the journey, about the experience, not necessarily being obsessed with how fast you get there.
