The Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD) is a monster of a planning document that guides street design decisions across the country. It favors moving cars quickly through developed areas (including downtowns) at the expense of the safety of people walking and biking. As just one example, it requires multiple people walking to be killed at an intersection before a crosswalk can be added. Things like designed crosswalks, painted streets, and other creative solutions would be either difficult or not allowed. The number of people struck and killed while walking increased by an astonishing 45 percent over the last decade. Street design that continues to prioritize moving traffic quickly over safety—guided by this very document—is largely to blame. The previous administration proposed tepid changes to the MUTCD that failed to fix its deeply flawed approach. We need you to submit a comment to show support for rewriting this document, but the window is closing fast! The comment period closes on Friday. Commenting takes just one minute on our website! |
|