Abstract
Human powered traveling is filled with risks. It takes individual tenacity to walk and bicycle in many US city streets. The danger of being injured or fatally killed requires responsible government action and a new repoliticization of the transportation priorities. This paper examines the risks involved in exercising the right to walk and bicycle and the authority’s responsibility to account for the health, safety and well-being of all individuals. I argue that the implementation of broadly agreed upon non-motorized transportation planning is critical to the success of public policies. The paper reviews concepts, prior policies and trends, remaining dilemmas and planning implications of US non-motorized transportation planning.
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank the Editor Vincent Nadin and two anonymous reviewers for their thoughtful comments and insightful observations. A previous version of this paper was presented at the 2015 Bicycle Urbanism II Symposium at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond. I would also like to thank Kerry Wilcoxon, Mike Cynecki, Maureen DeCindis, Sarath Joshua and Pam Goslar. The various cohorts of students in the graduate Sustainable Transportation Planning course at Arizona State University, 2005–2011, motivated and strengthened selfless professional reflections and many scholarly inquiries.