A few more thoughts about Raquel Nelson and "dangerous by design" streets

A few more thoughts about Raquel Nelson and “dangerous by design” streets

July 22, 2011
By Stephen Lee Davis

Updated 7/25: This petition at Change.org for Raquel Nelson has a lot of momentum. Sign it if you haven’t already. It will be delivered to the judge in the case before sentencing tomorrow.

The response to our post on the Atlanta mother who was charged with vehicular homicide when her child was struck by a hit-and-run driver while crossing a street has been, to put it mildly, staggering. At last count, David Goldberg’s post has more than 150 comments, and many of the referring posts on the same topic have been similarly busy, some reaching into the hundreds of comments. More than 35,000 people read our post in two days and spread the story like wildfire on twitter. (Share the story with the #RaquelNelson hashtag.)

Though the response has been enormous — positive and negative — perhaps it really shouldn’t be all that surprising.

Considering that a huge percentage of Americans live in places not all that different from Austell Road in western Cobb County — once sleepy places near a larger city that were suburbanized around the automobile through the last few decades — many people could immediately relate to the story in some way.

Some may have been in Raquel Nelson’s shoes before, using sporadic public transportation or having to walk on streets where pedestrians are treated as an afterthought at best or a nuisance at worst. Some may be drivers who’ve seen pedestrians crossing without crosswalks from a similar bus stop and looked on in horror, having never considered what life is like in America’s suburbs without a car.

The comments on our story ran the spectrum. From sharing our outrage at the miscarriage of justice, to belief that the mother was wrong yet shouldn’t be charged, to people who would’ve obviously made the right decision in hindsight (with little understanding of what Nelson’s life was like), to shockingly callous comments suggesting she got what she deserved. (Oh, and a fair helping of just plain offensive, racist, nasty things. We had to edit, delete or otherwise moderate more comments on this one post than in 3 years of comments on the T4 America blog.)

Most people commenting on the story were entirely focused on the question of whether or not Raquel Nelson was at all to blame, ignoring the larger question we asked: Isn’t this a systemic failure of how we design, plan and build our towns and cities?

One commenter did pick up on this, also hinting at a deeper issue of justice and fairness:

“The comments do not address the underlying problem. It is not a matter of who is at fault in this specific incident as much as what is being done about the problem wherever it exists. This incident is proof that there is a problem with the way transportation is planned. The funding to fix these problems is being voted down. The ones voting against the funds are likely fine with that as the people affected will mostly not vote for them. Win Win for them.”

The people who are most likely riding the bus, walking along highways without sidewalks or crossing midblock to avoid 20 extra minutes of walking to cross a street in West Cobb County are people with few other options. They’re the people who the elected leaders in a place like Cobb County, that’s largely white and prosperous, probably aren’t going to spend a whole lot of time catering to.

This issue really is one of fairness and equity.

Should we be treating the people who have to walk (to say nothing of the people who want or choose to) as second-class citizens, forcing them to walk 20 minutes out of their way just to safely cross a street near their house or the store? Should we be more concerned with all the people who use a road, rather than just the ones who can afford to use a car? Is moving traffic as fast as possible, no matter the consequences to people on foot or bike, the only important function of our streets and roads?

One thing is certain: there are stories far too similar to Raquel Nelson’s all over the country. People walking along or crossing streets that weren’t designed for them, in places where the planning hasn’t caught up to the function — demonstrated in this instance where bus stops are placed across from residences with no safe, convenient way to get between the two.

We simply must do better. As long as we continue building and designing streets like these below, we’ll continue to see people die unnecessarily.


Photo courtesy of Dr. Scott Crawford	Photo courtesy of April Bertelson, Portland Pedestrian Coordinator	Photo by Stephen Davis, T4 America

Filed under: Campaign Blog
Tags: atlanta, dangerous by design, georgia, pedestrian, pedestrian safety, Raquel Nelson, safety, walking

Read these other trending stories from T4 America

Eileen

Georgia DOT has been sued for negligent design before — they settled two cases just last year, one for $600K and the other for $1.5M. Both cases involved car crashes in rainstorms — one from the family of a taxi passenger who was killed when the taxi crashed into a tree, the other from a woman who was struck when another driver’s car hydroplaned. Interestingly, none of the victim-driver/passengers were charged with vehicular homicide because they made the bad choice to drive in the rain on roads that were apparently known to be problematic.

http://www.georgiainjurylawattorneys.com/2010/08/georgia-dot-settles-wrongful-death-claim-for-faulty-highway-design.shtml

http://www.kilpatricktownsend.com/~/media/Files/articles/2010/DZacks%20Daily%20Report.ashx
daniela daniela

Yes, please do continue with activism in favour of pedestrian-friendly city planning in Atlanta. And I have seen busy intersections with multilane fast roads that have a pedestrian traffic light which is out of order, and stays like that for months before being repaired.
Only, it does not help our cause to spread virally this story. The child crossed the street abruptly and any of us would have hit him, had we been behind the wheel of the unfortunate vehicle. This lady has ruined the driver’s life and the surviving children’s life, in addition to causing the little boy to die. In any case this is not about whether we should have sympathy for her; she should be judged according to the law, whatever the law is, and it is disgusting to bring up that she is or isn’t African-American.
http://www.facebook.com/ophelia.benson Ophelia Benson

Nonsense. The law takes circumstances into account. If that were not the case, there would be no need for judges or juries or prosecutors or defense; the law could be administered by computers.

You have sympathy even for the car – “the unfortunate vehicle” – but none for the woman who had the temerity to try to cross the street to get home.
Melimail2011

How exactly did she ruin the driver’s life? THE DRUNK, HIGH, PARTLY BLIND driver who has served time for this exact same crime before. Oh and last time I checked the law says if you hit someone you’re supposed to stop and remain at the scene. Interesting the way you interpret the facts. You are right however about this not being racially motivated this is classism and elitism at it’s worse. America the country where caste doesn’t exist. Yeah right! I also have a bridge for sale in brooklyn.
daniela daniela

If Ms Nelson had crossed the street under the same circumstances with a dog that was not on a leash, she would have served jail among the high screams of PETA, Humane Society, and whatnot. She would have paid damages to the driver. And after her eventual release, she probably would be afraid to show herself in public. Yet, since the victim of her inadequateness as a human being and as a parent is “just” an african-american boy and her other two surviving children, it happens that the real racists consider those human beings disposable and in any case whose future is (fill in the blanks). Thus, the real racists are using this tragedy in order to force the city to do some – I agree necessary and overdue – improvement, in favor of pedestrians and cyclists – which of course are mostly middle-class and above, Caucasians, good income (ever had a look at prices in a bike shop?) etc.
The driver may not even have noticed the impact or assumed it was debris. I have no idea who the driver is, and he may very well be African-American. Only from your hate-filled comments hint to him being believed by you people to be Caucasian. A 4-yr old (how tall is that? how far can you see him from? Add it it that the accident took place at night, and i suppose with no safety reflectors or lights?) that crosses suddendly in front of cars that go at 50 mph is not something that any driver can avoid. Additionally, it appears the boy hesitated or even went back. You don’t think the life of the driver is ruined? You are obviously unfamiliar with decent human beings that are devastated after such a tragedy, even though it was not their fault. You are only familiar with people like Ms Nelson and her supporters, who have no problem with recklessly endangering their children and even after the tragedy, getting on with their life. As I wrote already, I can only pray that no one like that should ever cross in front of me and my loved ones.
pedestrian

With all due respect, I think you need your head examined.
X_ile

In my experience, there’s only one kind of person that tries to tell “you people” who the “real racists” are.

Concern troll is concerned.
http://www.facebook.com/alisoncircus Alison Cowan

The driver had had several beers and painkillers on top of them. He was also probably habituated to “not seeing” pedestrians because most drivers in North America are. If there had been an appropriate crossing and the driver hadn’t been impaired, it’s easily possible that he could have stopped instead of hitting the child. But why should he imagine, just because there is a group of people (including children) standing on the median, that perhaps he ought to be prepared to stop? After all, 10 seconds out of any driver’s life is easily worth 20 minutes out of any pedestrian’s. Or, even, the entirety of the pedestrians life; it’s not as though they matter, is it?
R_kriegar

There is no way what so ever that she is one ounce more guilty than the Administration in that area, the bus company, or the designers, builders and owners of the housing complex there.

Further, had two little white lines been painted across the road, she would not be in court right now.

I volunteer to buy the paint, and paint the lines myself.

Not only should this woman be immediately left alone, but she should be suing all of those mentioned above, and the prosecutors’ office as well, for emotional distress.

Now, what about all of the rest of the people who disembark from the bus at that stop? Will they also be jailed the next time one of them jaywalk, or get run down by a vehicle?