And many extra individuals have been injured in accidents that didn’t end in deaths. The most harmful Denver neighborhood this yr? Central Park, previously Stapleton, which registered fourteen visitors accidents, together with 5 hit-and-runs.
In their feedback on the Westword Facebook put up of the Denver accident stats, readers do not steer clear of sharing opinions. Says Fay:
Denver has some of the worst drivers ever.
Adds Josh:
People that hit and run are some of the bottom varieties of people.
Responds Ronaldo:
Folks out right here utilizing hit and run as insurance coverage.The voters getting what they voted for.
Suggests Christopher:
No driver’s training requirement for many years, a tradition of large SUVs with no spacial consciousness, tinted windshields, visitors patterns and signage from the ’70s, and 0 visitors legislation enforcement. What might go incorrect?
Notes Roy:
North Central Park was poorly deliberate; there are homes ten toes from the road from Northfield to 56th Avenue and a large highschool on the nook. There is simply to a lot visitors in that space.
Replies Chris:
Installing a bunch of medians that block left turns that should not exist = downside solved.
Notes Jeremy:
I drive for a dwelling…Central Park, City Park, Park Hill, East Colfax, Capitol Hill, downtown, and many others….My head’s often on a swivel as a result of the morons are often plugged into their earbuds, eyes locked on their smartphones, or head down whereas texting as they blindly step off the curb into visitors with out even searching for visitors, a lot much less to see if they have the inexperienced gentle.
I’ve seen idiots on bicycles using down thirteenth or up 14th Avenue in Capitol Hill…though twelfth Avenue, a block or two over, has bike lanes and little or no visitors. Just a few occasions these identical idiots both trigger vehicles to sideswipe different vehicles, shifting or parked, as a result of the bicyclist swerved out in the direction of visitors. I’ve by no means seen one of these bicyclists even cease, though they prompted an accident. I’ve even seen a few hit parked vehicles.
If you are on foot, a skateboard or a bicycle: Unplug the earbuds, put away your telephone and develop some situational consciousness of your environment earlier than you fatally change into a velocity bump or hood decoration. If you are in a automobile, then be careful for the non-motorized.
And Jack responds:
I at all times discover it fascinating when individuals who establish as “professional drivers” discuss visitors in Denver and instantly burst into a monologue about how if pedestrians and bikers aren’t cautious they’ll change into “hood ornaments,” and the way the media likes to publish that literal menace as if it provides something helpful to the dialog.
I stroll within the metropolis each single day and drive in it often as properly, and I can let you know with certainty that the issue shouldn’t be pedestrians or bikers, it’s vehicles. The downside is an American tradition that prioritized the car, infrastructure that serves the car, and a social mindset that completely robs bikers and pedestrians of their dignity. Speed limits in all the metropolis are merely solutions. RTD will fly down Broadway or Lincoln at 10-15 over whereas each different driver cruises previous them, mad, texting, and headphones of their head.
If you’re a driver, are bikers getting in your manner? Dang, possibly strive to not hit them. Call me loopy. Is a pedestrian crossing the road with out the crosswalk as they rush by the snow to make it to their minimal wage job? Hmm, properly vehicles have these items known as brakes and you’ve got these items known as eyes. I’d wish to consider that almost all drivers don’t truly WANT to hit individuals however then I learn feedback and submissions on articles like this and I’m confirmed incorrect. People commuting of their vehicles or on foot needs to be conscious of their environment. But individuals in vehicles blaming anybody however DRIVERS OF CARS for visitors deaths and accidents has zero understanding of what it means to be a pedestrian on this metropolis, or any metropolis. And Jeremy ought to have his “professional driving” investigated as a result of he appears like he’s itching to kill somebody together with his automobile.
What areas of Denver do you suppose are essentially the most harmful? Is it the road format? The drivers? The bicyclists? The pedestrians? Post a remark or share your ideas at [email protected]