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[caption id="attachment_7299" align="alignnone" width="497"] Can you see the pedestrian who's stepped off the opposite corner into the roadway?[/caption]

I was still mulling over my traffic calming post when I saw my friend Andrew. He drives a Dodge Ram pickup truck, with big wheels, and which is much higher off the ground than your average little Nissan Jelly Belly. So I put it to him -- had he ever been tempted to ignore a traffic diverter, and just drive over it? "No!" he said emphatically, and I believed him. He might think the law is an ass but he'll still obey it. That's how he is. And in this case, he did think the law was an ass. Right off the bat he asked a good question about traffic circles, and I paraphrase -- for the children:

What idiot had the idea of planting shrubs and trees that can block a driver's view of the intersection?

If they're going to do that, he continued, they should keep the plants trimmed to a proper height. He went on to say that even the four large, tall, traffic direction signs around the perimeter of the circle contributed to blocking a driver's view.

Increasingly I'm seeing trucks and SUVs trying to just go over traffic diverters like the one above. Here the driver of a large truck has made tracks over the diverter at the intersection of Alberta Street, and West Broadway, as if it wasn't even there. One block west, on Columbia Street, there's a newer diverter, doing the same job, which I watched being given it's finishing touches a few months ago. So far it has survived unscathed.

The City of Vancouver has been incorporating traffic calming measures in it's neighbourhood street improvements for at least 30 years. By "traffic calming," I mean traffic circles (aka roundabouts), at neighbourhood intersections; speed bumps near schools, and traffic diverters of all shapes and sizes. The goal is to slow down, and control the flow of traffic, into, and through neighbourhoods, using street architecture rather than just stop signs, or traffic lights.

[caption id="attachment_2034" align="alignnone" width="497"] The Downtown Eastside. Jewel in Vancouver's crown, or pain in the arse?[/caption]

I'd like to suggest we, the City of Vancouver, seriously consider making the Downtown Eastside a car-free zone. If you think this is a wacky a proposal, like Dr. Stu's idea for a one-cent deposit on cigarette butts, think again.

There is already a recognition that the area is a magnet for a diverse range of people marginalized, and challenged at every turn -- economically, physically, legally, and chemically. These men and women, from across Canada are, by degrees, emotionally-wounded, often almost traumatized by their past experiences, distracted, and not all so law-abiding. This area is now very much about supporting, treating, and healing this influx of walking-wounded. This is a kind of Emergency ward; cars just get in the way.