They think protecting drivers cars from scratches is more important than protecting pedestrians from getting hit, so they make the sidewalk part of the “clear zone”
Physical design is not neutral.
Physical design is an expression of our values.
They think protecting drivers cars from scratches is more important than protecting pedestrians from getting hit, so they make the sidewalk part of the “clear zone”
Physical design is not neutral.
Physical design is an expression of our values.
They mean that they put the guard rail on the other side so it’s less likely a car with get scratched by accidentally rubbing up against the rail by getting too close if they aren’t paying attention. Instead they will just run over a pedestrian. Of course the rail is there to prevent them from going into the ditch, but it would do that either way whether it’s on one side of the walkway or the other.
And the foliage would take over the walkway no matter where the rail is, there’s no root barrier or anything, so they still need to maintain the vegetation with landscape crews anyway.
Rails preventing pedestrians crossing the street would probably also be a good thing because usually they are on a corner/curve which would be very dangerous area to cross with low visibility, they can easily make a gap in the rail at a crosswalk when the road straightens out.
They very much meant to protect from the branches scratching the cars