Would the creation of Complete Streets around Springfield decrease fatality rates for new and teen drivers?
causes of new and teen driver traffic collisons
Complete Streets
other possible solutions besides the implementation of Complete Streets
"Maintaining and enforcing minimum legal drinking age (MLDA) laws and zero tolerance laws for drivers under age 21 is recommended to help prevent drinking and driving among young drivers." ("Teen Drivers and Passengers: Get the Facts")
"Moving to a Complete Streets design model may help reverse the trend of increasing fatalities and serious injuries on the Nation’s roadways to reach the goal of zero deaths and to create a healthier, greener, and more equitable roadway system." (Biton)
Complete Streets could be an effective solution to the mitigation of new and teen driver fatalities in Springfield, seeing that it could be an effective solution to the mitigation of roadway fatalities generally.
"Much like Passaic County in the 2016 case study, Cape May County noted the importance of starting small and identifying projects that could be considered 'low-hanging fruit.' The simplest of which is incorporating Complete Streets improvements into resurfacing projects." ("Complete Streets Case Study: Cape May County, New Jersey (2017)")
Springfield could utilize an approach similar to Cape May County, in which they start by implementing small-scale road and street safety measures, and then increasing the scale and frequency of these projects as time goes on.
"Parents play a fundamental role in teaching their children safe driving skills to reduce risk of motor vehicle crashes, the leading cause of death for teens. Steering Teens Safe is a new parent-based intervention that equips parents with communication skills to talk about, demonstrate, and practice safe driving behaviors and skills with their teens." (Garinger)
Parents taking a more active role in their teens' driving experience can lead to the adoption of safer driving behaviors by teens, which therefore has the potential to mitigate road traffic collision fatalities caused by teens' unsafe driving behaviors.
Springfield streets and roadways
"Road diets usually involve restriping a four-lane undivided road as a three-lane road with two through lanes and a two-way left-turn lane (TWLTL). This creates surplus roadway width that can be used to widen existing lates, create bicycle lanes, supply on street parking, widen sidewalks, or provide opportunities for landscaping or aesthetic improvements." (Kirk)
Road diets are an attribute of many Complete Streets, and have the ability to create more space that can be used to make improvements to roads that will benefit people who utilize various forms of transportation.
"Drinking any amount of alcohol before driving increases crash risk among teen drivers. Teen drivers have a much higher risk of being involved in a crash than older drivers at the same blood alcohol concentration (BAC), even at BAC levels below the legal limit for adults." ("Teen Drivers and Passengers: Get the Facts")
Driving while intoxicated is a common cause of new and teen driver traffic collisions, and disproportionately affects new and teen drivers, seeing that they have a lower tolerance for alcohol as compared to adults.
"A relatively extended state of reduced capability may be a reflection of inexperience, since it is well established that young inexperienced drivers are at a substantially higher than average risk." (Moustaki)
The inexperience of new and teen drivers can lead to a reduction in their driving capabilities, which is one of the things that puts them at a higher risk of experiencing a road traffic collision.
The maintenance and enforcement of MLDA laws could help tackle a common cause of new and teen driver traffic collisions, which is driving while under the influence of alcohol.
"States vary in their enforcement of seat belt laws. A primary enforcement seat belt law allows police officers to ticket drivers or passengers for not wearing a seat belt, even if this is the only violation that has occurred." ("Teen Drivers and Passengers: Get the Facts")
Enforcing laws that directly address the issue of new and teen drivers not wearing seat belts (which can lead to much worse injury or even fatality from road traffic collisions), will likely decrease injury severity and fatality rates by encouraging new and teen drivers to wear seatbelts, seeing that they'll be punished for not doing so.
"Teens and young adults often do not consistently wear a seat belt. Among teen drivers and passengers 16-19 years of age who were killed in car crashes in 2020, 56% were not wearing a seatbelt at the time of the crash. ("Teen Drivers and Passengers: Get the Facts")
The common lack of seatbelt use amongst new and teen drivers is very clearly a contributor to fatal traffic collisions. The non-use of seatbelts can lead to a traffic collision becoming fatal, when it may have not been if a seatbelt was worn.
"Beginning in 2021, the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission worked with the City of Springfield to develop the city's first Complete Streets plan. The plan was created to "complete the street" with appropriate facilities for all users of all ages and abilities." (City of Springfield Safety Action Plan)
"The purpose of this plan is to facilitate walking and bicycling in Springfield, Massachusetts by strategically "completing" the city's streets, in order to assure that they are safe and comfortable for walking, bicycling, driving, and using public transit. The plan and its accompanying Complete Streets Network are tools to be used by the City of Springfield - especially the Department of Public Works - to create a city in which people move about on foot or on a bicycle with ease and comfort." (City of Springfield Pedestrian and Bicycle Complete Streets Plan)
Since Springfield already has a Complete Streets policy in place, it's necessary to evaluate whether this is actually accomplishing what it's supposed to, or whether it needs to be revaluated or enforced better.
"Among the top 100 crash locations, Springfield appears nine times, Lowell appears eight times, Worcester appears seven times and Boston appears five times." (Hanson)
So many crashes occurring in Springfield suggests that there must be a serious issue with the way that their streets and roadways are constructed, and that this issue requires immediate attention.
Although a Complete Street is one that accommodates all users of the street (including motorists), the Complete Streets plan for Springfield seems to heavily focus on pedestrian and bicycle safety, which is of course very important, but perhaps some attention should also be put towards decreasing automobile traffic collisions (and especially those of which are fatal).