For pedestrians
Walking is the healthiest and the most environmentally friendly way of transport. It is the base of all transport – every route begins and ends on foot. It is considered a “sustainable method of transport,” i.e. considerate of people, nature, cities and towns and its further development in no way burdens the environment.
However, Prague is not friendly to pedestrians. It is crammed by vehicles, whose emissions injure health and shorten peoples’ lives. Cars represent a serious danger particularly for the most vulnerable participants of traffic, including pedestrians, cyclists and handicapped citizens. The weakest ones (children, older and handicapped people) are often even prevented from independent motion by dangerous roads.
Walking paths take the least space of all types of transport and pedestrians produce no pollutants or noise, nor do they endanger anyone. Moreover, walking is beneficial for health and necessary for the right physical and psychological development of children. However the city does not include pedestrians in its strategic documents. Although in Prague walking still represents 25% of all intra-city routes, it is mentioned neither in the Transport Policy document nor in the Strategic Plan of the City of Prague as a separate type of transport deserving unique support and development.
Still, the tendency of residents to use cars within the city - even to take children to school daily - keeps growing. The transport policy of the City encourages this trend, investing every year more and more funds in the development of roads for cars (billions of CZK) from the public budget, i.e. from our taxes, while less and less is invested every year in security or development of walking paths (the BESIP budget was decreased for a third year by ten million to the current CZK 30 million). It represents a little bit more than a thousandth of the total transport budget.
Our association tries to correct this trend through its activities and projects and to make changes in the transport policy of the City. We cooperate in the improvement of conditions for walking and bicycle transport, thus enabling an independent, natural and safe passage for the younger generation, in particular, in their daily routes within the city. These activities include, among others, the Safe Routes to School program for schools, children and parents, cooperation with the Oživení association in the project called City for Pedestrians, solutions of traffic cases – e.g. stopping the removal of pedestrian crossings in Prague and enforcement of their safety modification, notification of dangerous parking in front of crossings, e.g. within so-called blue zones, or representing the needs of pedestrians in the municipal planning (commenting on the Principles of Development of the City of Prague and the concept of the Prague municipal planning) etc.
However, Prague is not friendly to pedestrians. It is crammed by vehicles, whose emissions injure health and shorten peoples’ lives. Cars represent a serious danger particularly for the most vulnerable participants of traffic, including pedestrians, cyclists and handicapped citizens. The weakest ones (children, older and handicapped people) are often even prevented from independent motion by dangerous roads.
Walking paths take the least space of all types of transport and pedestrians produce no pollutants or noise, nor do they endanger anyone. Moreover, walking is beneficial for health and necessary for the right physical and psychological development of children. However the city does not include pedestrians in its strategic documents. Although in Prague walking still represents 25% of all intra-city routes, it is mentioned neither in the Transport Policy document nor in the Strategic Plan of the City of Prague as a separate type of transport deserving unique support and development.
Still, the tendency of residents to use cars within the city - even to take children to school daily - keeps growing. The transport policy of the City encourages this trend, investing every year more and more funds in the development of roads for cars (billions of CZK) from the public budget, i.e. from our taxes, while less and less is invested every year in security or development of walking paths (the BESIP budget was decreased for a third year by ten million to the current CZK 30 million). It represents a little bit more than a thousandth of the total transport budget.
Our association tries to correct this trend through its activities and projects and to make changes in the transport policy of the City. We cooperate in the improvement of conditions for walking and bicycle transport, thus enabling an independent, natural and safe passage for the younger generation, in particular, in their daily routes within the city. These activities include, among others, the Safe Routes to School program for schools, children and parents, cooperation with the Oživení association in the project called City for Pedestrians, solutions of traffic cases – e.g. stopping the removal of pedestrian crossings in Prague and enforcement of their safety modification, notification of dangerous parking in front of crossings, e.g. within so-called blue zones, or representing the needs of pedestrians in the municipal planning (commenting on the Principles of Development of the City of Prague and the concept of the Prague municipal planning) etc.