The French Pedestrian

By Tammy Martin

Let’s talk about pedestrians. It’s true in big cities there are way more people wandering the streets vs the suburbs because of the walkability and space of cities. But the biggest surprise I noticed in Paris vs somewhere like New York, is that they legitimately care about those who are not in cars here, with actual thought put into the safety of pedestrians and bicyclists. In America, we hear “share the road”, but in Paris they actually do. It’s not cars first and everyone else after, it's equal.  Look at the size of the crosswalks! Twice as large as the US ones. And even special cross lanes for bikes. The metal poles right in the street are visible safety barriers. There are even plentiful places to park your bikes and scooters. We here in America need to take note and hopefully make changes like this in our cities. While being injured crossing the street still happens in Paris, the numbers are lower than in other US cities. Today, the average US resident is around three times as likely to die while traveling on a street than a French resident.