Every day while I wait at my bus stop, hundreds of cars drive past, the vast majority of which have only a single person in them. As I watch all of these people go by, I can’t help but notice that many of them are either texting, having breakfast or putting on the last bits of makeup.
Not only is this massive amount of car traffic annoying, it is wasteful, bad for roads, even worse for the environment and dangerous for pedestrians and cyclists. I, for instance, have completely lost count of the number of times I have been nearly hit by a motorist. SLCPD released a statement for Distracted Driving Awareness Month in April urging motorists to put down the distractions and pay attention when behind the wheel.
Yes, it is imperative that motorists pay more attention to pedestrians while driving, but we as a city need to address an overarching problem: Car brain, our dependency on the private vehicle.
While I wait for my bus in the mornings, I can’t help but wonder why more people don’t take transit or walk or ride a bike to their destination, especially now the weather is nice. My best guess for the bus/TRAX is convenience. These require the rider to plan when and where to be in order to be picked up and to potentially walk the rest of the way to their destination.
Some bus lines may have long wait times, but this may be due to lack of ridership. In speaking with a UTA representative, I came to understand that increased ridership along routes would likely lead to increased service along those routes.
While UTA has had problems hiring drivers recently, increased wages could entice people to apply. UTA receives the vast majority of their revenue through sales tax. A small increase in sales tax going towards UTA for hiring purposes could help alleviate some of their hiring struggles and help get more services running.
Cycling and walking are great ways to exercise and get to your destination, but it is not always safe in Salt Lake City. Motorists commonly blow through crosswalks when turning right on red. Furthermore, many “bike lanes” around the city are just strips of paint. And paint is not infrastructure.
Bike lanes are commonly inundated by parked cars, delivery vehicles, garbage bins or large electronic message boards. These obstacles force us to merge into the car lane, often dangerously, to navigate around them while also trying not to cause a collision.
The city must do more to create protected bike lanes to avoid these problems where possible, and install real infrastructure, such as bollards, short solid posts used to prevent cars from colliding into people or buildings. The multi-use paths along 900 South and 300 West, as well as the protected bike lane 300 South are all fantastic examples, and we should seek to expand them.
Additionally, more city incentives could encourage people to utilize greener forms of transportation. The e-bike voucher offered in the past has been incredibly popular and should continue to be offered and even expanded upon.
Car brain has caused us to waste space downtown as well. How great would it be to see more people walking and biking around downtown? Unfortunately almost one-third (10 acres) is taken up by parking lots. This could become much more vibrant if we converted those ugly asphalt parking lots into parks, businesses and restaurants.
While I wait for my bus, I can’t help but wonder where all of those people are going. I have to believe most are headed toward the University of Utah.
The U. employs over 26,000 people and has an enrollment of almost 35,000 undergraduate and graduate students.
A campus community of 61,000 people, almost 50% of which, according to a recent survey, commute via single occupancy vehicle (SOV), many of them only a short distance. Not only does this amount of traffic contribute to exorbitant amounts of noise and air pollution, but it also clogs neighborhood streets around the U and endangers pedestrians.
That this many people commuting to campus via SOV is both an embarrassment and a shame, and the U. must do something to reduce it, especially while strategizing how the campus community will look by 2030.
The U. must prioritize reducing SOV commutes. Students and staff already receive free UTA rides with their U. card, and that must be promoted. Furthermore, the cost of parking could be increased, incentivizing people to either carpool or take transit.
Salt Lake has car brain, but we have the means to cure it. The city and the U. must invest in both transit and making alternative modes of transportation safer and more feasible, which will lead to a happier and healthier city.
(Nathan Burns) Nathan Burns is an avid runner and cyclist around Salt Lake.
Nathan Burns is a 6th year doctoral candidate at the University of Utah Department of Human Genetics and an avid runner and cyclist around Salt Lake.
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