The idea of shutting down traffic on the northbound lanes of Bayshore Blvd in Tampa to give the #pedestrians a safe space to walk is absolutely absurd.

A lot of accidents have taken place there recently, and the City Council members of Tampa have made requests for the Mayor to shut down the northbound lanes of Bayshore Blvd for one day a month. Now they want more money to try and implement such ridiculous plans? When is this going to stop?

Even if they do receive more funding from increasing our sales tax, their ideas do not seem promising at all. In fact, they have the potential to create even worse traffic issues and cause more accidents going forward.

Let's imagine going with their recommendation of closing one side of the from automobile traffic. They think reserving this section of road exclusively for the use of pedestrians and cyclists will mean more space for them to walk, preventing them from walking or cycling on the busy roads meant for motorists. That sounds good at first glance.

But then we have to consider what happened to George Gage, who was struck by a drunk driver who veered off of Bayshore Boulevard in 2020. Gage was on the sidewalk, he wasn't walking in traffic. So the suggestion about shutting down lanes wouldn't have helped in this case, because the vehicle was not where it was supposed to be in the first place.

Adding stop lights and lowering the speed limit along this road would probably be far more effective in creating a safer place for people to walk. According to a report by the NHTSA, back in 2016, speeding contributed to 27% of all fatal crashes, resulting in a shockingly high 10,111 deaths. 

Raising our taxes so the city can implement nonsensical "fixes" like removing lanes would be a bad idea in every way.