Bottlenecking Village Streets 10 31
2025
Part 1:
The kind of person who isn't going to
stop for a pedestrian child, isn't going to stop for a pedestrian
child no matter what you do.
I can remember about 50 years ago when
I was on my bicycle heading West on Silver Spring and stopped at the
Santa Monica intersection for the red light. I looked over my left
shoulder at that driver. And I knew right away he was going to
attempt to run me over. And I could also tell that he was of the
same religion as the friend who was on his bicycle behind me that was
coming with me. And that driver did attempt to run me over. When
the light turned green he made a right hand turn and attempted to
clip me. (To put a better age to this I had to have been in the 3rd Grade or less because that friend moved away at the end of the 3rd grade.) And he did indeed see me there before he drove into me. And the handlebar section of my bike had to be turned back straight after that. And after he hit me, I really didn't want him anywhere near me! I didn't want him to use that as an opportunity to get close to me. He looked like a creepy drunk? Or just creepy? Or didn't look creepy at all but the gestalt of it?
You're actually taking away a margin of
safety for that child.
You have a city street that is meant to
have a 25 mph speed limit and you are effectively making it a 5 mph
speed limit. You might as well just make it marching lane for gay
pride?
By bottlenecking those streets you are
actually putting that good child who can listen in learn closer to
harms way at that “bottlenecked intersection.” Whereby that bad
driver, whether they know they have the intent or not, is in a
“better” position to hit your child. Why? They are no closer to
the moving vehicle that is crossing by, no matter what that driver is
supposed to be in life.
Part 2.
So when I was a boy, and I have lived
in Whitefish Bay virtually all my life. There was a train that went
through Estabrook Park. And the kids from my school liked to get on
the gravel by that train while on their bicycles and grab it and
hitch a ride. So indeed what I am talking about here is temptation.
In doing so, they are also tempting you to do that same thing. And
it ended when one kid fell under the train doing so and it took off
his leg.
I see bottlenecked streets as the same
thing as this. A opportunity whereby your child is led closer to
danger by a bad kid.
Part 3.
And so just this past year I was at
Klode Park. And as I was leaving that parking lot a small boy on a
motorized “toy” bike pulled in front of me. And he must have
been knee high. And that bike could likely go 30mph. And he wove
that bike right in front of my car and down the center of the street.
As if to say that he owned that street!
The problem isn't the good driver, that
knows how to stop for pedestrians. The problem is what the person
who drives that tiny very fast motor bike in front of your car...what
that person is still going to be when they grow up. They are not
going to stop for pedestrians.
And right now, I ask myself, how is
that child any different than the one who hitched a ride on the
train, tempted others to do so in doing so, and ended up losing his
leg?
Part 4.
So it is the first that I have read
that children have been hit by cars in Whitefish Bay? How many? How
come it wasn't news? How come it didn't make the bulletin the
Village President sends out? Where has the importance of the matter
been?
And what did one lady who worked for
special education tell me? That Whitefish Bay is the hub for Special
Education in Milwaukee? Does that contribute to converting our
streets to not be for cars but for pedestrians?
© 2025 Thomas Paul Murphy
And by "Bottlenecking Village Streets" I mean whereby you make the street more narrow in certain spots by extending the curb into the street right there at what is an intersection.
And it was done at the Library? I would have to ask and make a statement that if any child were hit by a car right there, after that bottleneck was put in place, it invalidates the merit of the whole idea.
Footnote advice:
And here is advice to good parents of good children. Have your child learn to recognize the expression on his friends faces. And it might give them an idea if something bad is about to happen. Watch where their eyes are glancing? Do they have a smirk on their face as if something bad is about to happen to you and they are not going to be proactive to stop it but rather complacent with it? Are they looking away from something really quickly because they don't want you to see that it represents danger? So indeed are these sixth sense skills? Not really. Did they see a "situation" and not want you to see it?