What do we want?

We want alternative modes of transport given equal consideration in all Village projects and discussions. For decades, these modes of transport have been left behind. Besides our great sidewalks, we have very few lanes or other accommodations for biking, walking, and rolling.

4 lanes for cars, 4 feet for a parent and their child.

But it's so safe here! Look at all the sidewalks!

If you've ever moved around town on foot, or bike, you know that the streets in Whitefish Bay are deceptively dangerous. You know it even more viscerally if you've done this with children.

We have no large highways, and an excellent sidewalk network. From a drivers perspective, this seems very safe because it's free from high speed traffic, and the heaviest traffic is on just a few arterial roads. The people generally are out of the road, and people on bikes can generally ride in the gutter.

However, if you need to share the road on a bike, or cross the street, or navigate intersections with kids, strollers or other assistive devices, you know well that cars are given nearly every available priority, while walking, biking, or rolling are usually given the most minimal accommodations.

One only need to push a stroller down a busy sidewalk to quickly learn that the real traffic problem is how many people are forced to share a couple feet of concrete.

Do we really need to worry about this?

Whitefish Bay has seen many cars hitting pedestrians and bikers of all ages, some resulting in death. There's typically over 100 car crashes per year, and the only time that has changed significantly was was during COVID when most people stopped driving.

Take a walk or bike around town when students are going to and from school and there is a good chance you'll see a child nearly get hit by a person in a car, run a red light in front of a crossing guard, or exceed the 15mph school zone limit. It's miraculous that more people aren't being injured or killed, but the odds are stacked against us.

In May of 2023 a girl was hit waiting at a yield sign on her way home, in the proper location – the vehicle cut the corner and hit her front tire. She was ok, but a few inches in a different direction would have been catastrophic. This is not rare - kids were hit multiple times on Silverspring in 2022.

In June of 2023 a woman in a Jeep was sent to the hospital after being rear-ended on Silverspring by a box truck. It's dangerous whether you're in a car or not!

I drive, you drive, what do you have against people in cars?

As nice as it would be to have a car-free Village (or even a core area that is car-free), it's not practical with the transportation system we have today. We ultimately want everyone to have the freedom to move around without requiring a car. If you do need to drive, you also will appreciate fewer unexpected bikes or pedestrians, slower speeds, and less cars on the road in the first place (they're on bikes, or walking!). Lower speeds and less cars means everyone, even people in cars, are safer and less likely to find themselves on a police crash report. Success is measured partially by less miles spent in cars (or less injuries) and we welcome however you can do your part. And yes, some people rely on cars for any number of valid reasons (health, ability, etc), but our focus is helping people be confident with making trips in new ways outside of a car.

OK, so what now?

We are setting out to change this. A healthy city is not defined by how much traffic it can pump through it's heart, it's defined by how many spaces there are for people, where they can freely get to, from and about them without fear of being injured.

We are working to show Village officials that people who aren't in cars deserve far more attention than they have gotten. We've done about all we can with begging drivers to go slower, stop for pedestrians, or obey existing laws. We also want to raise awareness among other citizens that we can do better, and it is well within our reach, affordably.

When it comes to kids, parents should feel confident that their child can be a kid, on their own outside in our town, and will come home at night.

We refuse to blame kids,(or pedestrians, bikers, people with assistive devices, of any age) for not knowing all the rules, not wearing enough blaze orange vests, not having a full set of bike lights, or not assuming every car might be the one that is driven by someone in a hurry and looking at their phone. It is abdicating our responsibility as members of a community to not give kids as much freedom from violence as we can possibly manage, as a top priority. We would never allow a menace to wander around town randomly attempting to injure people, but that's what we are facing with traffic violence.

TLDR?

We want to connect with each other, educate more, and create a network of people who can help apply pressure at the levels where they are able to. We also want to support community leaders, elected officials, and Village and School District staff who understand how dire the situation is, and are pushing the conversation forward within their sphere of influence.

Join the mailing list, and we'll be in touch with ways we can meet in person, and start spreading out to make some good improvements for everyone. Or if you like, send an email to the address on the contact page with a little about yourself and how you'd like to help.

– WFB Residents