To the Editor:
Seconding the letter of appreciation for Stuart Mitchner by Marilyn Aronberg Lavin [“Writing in Praise of Stuart Mitchner’s Weekly Book Review in Town Topics,” Mailbox, May 7], and with May being Bike Month, I’m inspired to pay homage by writing in his style — at times reminiscent of a jazz improvisation.

I’ll riff on a theme offered by Buzz Stenn’s recent letter about traffic and pedestrian/bicycle safety [“Noting That Pedestrian-Vehicular Safety Depends on Appreciation for Sensitivities of All Involved,” Mailbox April 23], and his earlier suggestion to enhance crosswalk visibility by using chartreuse instead of white for zebra stripes [Mailbox, Aug 7, 2019].

Until then, I’d only thought of chartreuse in the context of a spectacular national park in the French Alps near Grenoble. There, a monastery gave rise to the legendary liqueur known as an “elixir for long life” — though perhaps the true elixir is the monks’ habit of brisk daily walks.

None of the monks, to my knowledge, are named Felonious — the disillusioned protagonist of Steely Dan’s “Midnite Cruiser,” whose dreams of a better future, perhaps including well-lit, pothole-free streets, seem to recede year after year.

I pictured a teenage Donald Fagen taking piano lessons at Westminster Choir College or maybe auditing a jazz theory class at Princeton Adult School. Are there any good album covers featuring crosswalks besides the Beatles’ Abbey Road? Is it good or bad that I can still recall my first conspiracy theory — “Paul is dead”? And what of the eternal riddle: was the chicken crossing the road simply playing chicken with an oncoming car?

Looping back to Buzz Stenn’s main point — he identified “four mutually antagonistic actors” contributing to declining pedestrian safety. His letter echoed the old “Watch out for the other guy” slogan and added, “Be considerate of him.” But he left out a fifth, uncomfortable truth: public policy failure.

Take “car bloat,” for example — reckless U.S. policies have enabled the trend toward ever-larger vehicles. Heavier cars and trucks inflict more severe injuries on pedestrians and cyclists, kick up more particulate pollution from tires and brakes, and degrade roads faster. They’re a win for automakers, a loss for everyone else.

Then there’s Vision Zero — a data-driven initiative with the admirable goal of eliminating all traffic deaths and serious injuries. A decade ago, I gave a presentation to Princeton Future and mentioned that New York City had adopted Vision Zero. An emeritus engineering professor in the audience scoffed at the idea that lower speed limits would ever be tolerated — or enforced.

But speed matters. Policymakers and engineers are supposed to prioritize safety over speed. That’s why groups like Walk Bike Princeton are watching the redesign of the Harrison Street corridor, especially with added traffic from the new Alice and Avalon apartments.

If you’re looking for Vision Zero in action, you might find it on a municipal website or at a planning seminar. But the real hope is to see it where it counts — where the rubber meets the road.

Steve Kruse
Cedar Lane