Six years after she began raising awareness of the danger to seniors caused by traffic signals that don’t allow enough time to cross the street, Barbara Kim Stanton enthusiastically spoke of a new law that she hopes will finally bring about the changes she and other community groups have long sought.
"We’re thrilled," Stanton, state director of the AARP Hawaii, said Friday after Mayor Peter Carlisle signed a measure aimed at making streets safer for all users.
AARPâHawaii was among a handful of community groups invited to attend the ceremony as Carlisle signed Bill 26, known as the "complete streets" law. The bill was approved unanimously this month by the City Council.
Bill 26 establishes a policy requiring city planners to consider walking, bicycling and other nonvehicular modes of transportation in the planning, design, construction, maintenance and operation of transportation projects, including streets, sidewalks, traffic control devices, signage and public transit facilities.
PAVING THE WAY
Examples of complete streets features:
>> Shared-use paths
>> Bicycle lanes
>> Sidewalks
>> Crosswalks
>> Accessible curb ramps
>> Raised medians
>> Paved shoulders
>> Roundabouts
>> Traffic signals and accessible pedestrian signals
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"The whole idea is that we are going to change the mindset of the neighborhood, where it’s not just cars we’re talking about," Stanton said. "The roads are for all users — pedestrians, bicyclists, the disabled. It’s more than just automobiles.
"We’ve been fighting for quite a while to make the streets safer, and it finally happened today so we are absolutely thrilled."
Honolulu police consistently have sought to raise awareness of pedestrian safety with public safety campaigns built around the state’s high number of pedestrian fatalities.
Pedestrian deaths on Oahu have declined since spiking to 21 in 2007 and 20 in 2010. There have been five pedestrian deaths on Oahu so far in 2012. Streets also have recently ranked among the most dangerous in the country for seniors. According to the state Department of Health, Hawaii has the country’s highest pedestrian traffic fatality rate for people age 60 and older.
A coalition of community groups lobbied hard at the City Council this year to get the "complete streets" measure passed.
"This is really a new way of doing business here in the city," said Councilman Breene Harimoto, the Council’s Transportation Committee chairman, who led the effort behind Bill 26. "We can provide for the safety of everyone on our streets."
A state law passed by the Legislature in 2009 required the state and the four counties to establish "complete streets" policies that provide planners, designers and architects a checklist of items designed to promote safety in street and neighborhood designs by analyzing such aspects as traffic volume, sidewalk conditions, transit facilities and parking restrictions.
"‘Complete streets’ is a paradigm shift in the way transportation facilities are configured," Carlisle said. "The goal is to make our transportation facilities part of a more livable and healthy community environment."
Supporters say "complete streets" will encourage healthy lifestyles by getting people to use sidewalks for recreation, fitness and getting to work with fewer concerns for physical safety.
Stanton said she also expects safer streets to bring communities closer together.
"In a state where it’s the most dangerous for pedestrians over the age of 60 to go out in the neighborhood and walk around, this enables people to connect to their neighbors, connect to their places of business," she said. "This bill is all about putting people first — putting all people first — not just automobiles."
