March 25, 2019, Dr. Billy Fields, Associate Professor of Political Science, was interviewed by the Austin Monitor after he spoke to Austin’s Bicycle Advisory Council regarding Austin’s Vision Zero plan not gaining as much traction as hoped for. Fields demonstrated that these goals are not insurmountable. Using the development of the Netherlands’ city streets over the last 40 years as a guide, which have led to exponentially fewer traffic fatalities and more bicyclists per capita, he notes that real change occurs when the people of a city come together to make it happen. “The first thing they did is they brought their couches out into the street and they blocked the street off,” he said. “They just came out and they started building gardens (in the right of way).”
