Our Executive Director, Shannon Binns was interviewed for the Charlotte Observer about record breaking pedestrian deaths.

By Ely Portillo (Charlotte Observer)

“If we’re only chipping away by putting in 15 improved crossings a year, it’s going to be a long time before these fatalities come down,” said Shannon Binns, executive director of Sustain Charlotte, which promotes walking and biking. He’s a supporter of Vision Zero, and his group has participated in the city’s planning efforts, but said Charlotte has a long way to go given its history as an auto-centric city.

“We have a really sad dearth of pedestrian crossings,” said Binns. “We’ve designed our entire transportation system around moving cars.”

Binns said the lack of crosswalks on older streets is a common thread among many Charlotte crashes, and it’s unfair to blame people on foot for not walking 15 minutes or more out of their way every time they need to cross a street.

“People are only going to go so far out of their way to cross the street,” he said. “They’re not going to go half a mile or even a quarter of the mile out of the way.”

Full story here.