Have you ever looked down at the speedometer and caught yourself going 10mph over the speed limit when you had no intention of speeding? That’s because driving is partly a subconscious activity. Most of us put in thousands of miles behind the wheel each year. It is natural, but unsafe, to zone out.

I built this retroreflective snowman out of old tires to get drivers to pay attention to the road and their speed. He made his debut at the Gaspee Day Parade on Saturday, June 10, on Broad Street in Cranston. Maybe you saw him; maybe you took a picture with him.

You can wait (and wait and wait) for the city to “do something about speeding”; I chose this ‘avenue.’ In the past 15 years, within ear shot of my house on Broad Street, two young people on a dirt bike were killed, two pedestrians sustained life-threatening injuries and three other drivers crashed into trees “for no reason,” despite the fact it’s a fairly quiet thoroughfare.

The road itself has undergone zero changes. What are the chances it will happen again? I’d say pretty good.

The only long-term way to get drivers to slow down and be mindful of their surroundings is to make them feel like they will harm their car. If we want safer streets, we need to make our roads feel narrower… by introducing visual “interests” like these chicanes. Chicanes are an artificial narrowing or turn on a road, often seen made of tires on auto-racing tracks.

You can make your own chicanes by legally parking on the street, though planters can also make an effective but attractive deterrent to speeding.

In the past, I have wasted my time demanding the police set speed traps. They can’t be everywhere at all times, and they only slow down traffic for 200 yards in each direction, while the officer is there. Asking for more street signs is pointless; almost no one pays attention to what is there now. Don’t throw away your afternoons complaining to elected officials — they can only pass the grievances on to the Department of Public Works.

We can’t blame the DPW; they would need a lot more money to change, almost, every street in the city. Maybe we need a special fund so our cities can modify the streets to make us all safer. Providence has done some over the past 20 years.

Suburban streets were built in The Age of the Automobile. For the past 100 years, the car has owned the road as the neighborhood bully, and those roads were made wide, flat, and straight. This differs from streets in Europe, the North End of Boston or even the old parts of Providence. 20th century streets give us the false impression that we can divert our eyes for a few seconds, and we will have time to react if someone pulls out of a driveway or a child runs across the road.

I have seen the enemy, and the enemy is us! We have all zoned out at one time or another.

The whole situation reminds me of the beginning of Raiders of the Lost Ark. After Indiana Jones and his local guide had already dodged a few death traps and many tarantulas in the cave, they see the golden statue at the end of a long hall. The guide announces “Let us hurry. There is nothing to fear here.” Indy wisely replies, “That’s what scares me.” Our streets have given drivers nothing to fear… and that is the problem. When a driver’s brain says there is nothing to fear here, they then think let’s go a little faster.”

If you would like to learn more about traffic calming, urban planning, bike lanes or tactical urbanism or traffic engineering, check out these YouTube playlists that I have curated. By the way, I’d like to get an electric bike, but I’m allergic to being hit by a car.

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLRP2WBik5MFFbcPyoYDSFSO07dMXAfAH0

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLRP2WBik5MFExONQ6Tz9yKFYntl65BoNZ

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLRP2WBik5MFGOV_LeSNBkXDmDlGnZw9Va

About me: I have had an interest in traffic engineering for over 25 years. In 1999, I was the chairman of the Transportation Advisory Board in Sharon, Mass. We held public meetings, and our DPW director/advisor, Jack Sulik, attended every one of our gatherings. I learned a great deal from Mr. Sulik. You can reach me at EnergySamRI@gmail.com