{"id":24909,"date":"2016-10-16T07:13:36","date_gmt":"2016-10-16T07:13:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordpress-367309-1145710.cloudwaysapps.com\/?p=24909"},"modified":"2016-10-16T07:13:36","modified_gmt":"2016-10-16T07:13:36","slug":"seattle-gets-traffic-garden","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bikocity.com\/seattle-gets-traffic-garden\/","title":{"rendered":"Seattle Gets A Traffic Garden!!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Knowing and practicing traffic safety saves lives, and no time is it more ideal to learn than when young. Yes, the rules of the road are easy to set into memory, just as language is. Seattle<\/a>\u00a0is setting a standard<\/a> for many things, not the least of \u00a0which is\u00a0protecting Seattle’s younger citizens via\u00a0valuable knowledge. Seattle now has a “traffic garden” for that purpose.<\/p>\n

Seattle\u00a0is following safety education that has taken\u00a0place in Utrecht<\/a>\u00a0for over 50\u00a0years.\u00a0Copenhagen, Utrecht, and many other Danish and Dutch cities are ideal, safe, multimodal cities. The idea to imitate traffic and city streets in a safe environment\u00a0is not only about safety\u00a0—\u00a0it is also about foresight and environmentally friendly transportation.<\/p>\n

Bike Portland<\/a>\u00a0<\/em>notes, “If we ever want bicycling to become mainstream, we must find a way to educate more people on the right way to ride in traffic. It can be tough, though, because our streets make most people so stressed out that they adopt bad habits just to stay alive.”<\/p>\n

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(Photo\u00a0by\u00a0King County Parks)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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(Photo by Cascade Bicycle Club)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On October 1st in Seattle, the Cascade Bicycle Club offered free fun and a chance to acquire road skills for its younger members. The White Center Bike Playground <\/a>opened, replacing two underused tennis courts.\u00a0The courts transformed into a smartly designed streetscape. Riders found crosswalks, multi-lane roads, a roundabout, and more. It\u00a0was free fun with bikes, helmets, and instructors.<\/p>\n

Bike Portland<\/em> interviewed the designer, Steve Durant<\/a>.\u00a0He included \u00a0diverse traffic scenarios such as stop lines, crosswalks, lane merging, a roundabout, a one-way loop, and so on.<\/p>\n

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Aerial view of the new traffic garden in south Seattle. (Photo by\u00a0King County Parks)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Here’s a\u00a0Facebook video<\/a>\u00a0by the designer:<\/p>\n