Apr 17, 2024 05:52 PM
https://www.statnews.com/2024/01/19/clog...-protests/
EXCERPTS: Recent events in Israel and Gaza have sparked a wave of protests, with some activists in major cities using a familiar tactic: obstructing traffic.
While this seems to have been an effective strategy by protesters across the political spectrum to draw attention to a variety of issues in recent years — including racial injustice, climate change, and pandemic restrictions — these protests raise an important question: At what cost do these disruptions come?
Speaking to the Los Angeles Times about a demonstration disrupting traffic at the Los Angeles airport recently, Michael Beer, the director of Nonviolence International, said that it can be hard for protesters to cut through the media environment without disruptive action like blocking traffic. He then added, “But you have to think: Are you stopping the ambulance from getting to a hospital and somebody’s going to die?”
Research on road closures suggests the answer is probably yes.
A study by one of us examining the impact of road closures brought on by marathons in major cities found that death rates for elderly patients with major cardiac emergencies — like heart attacks or cardiac arrest — were 13.3% higher on marathon days compared with typical days. The best explanation for this finding? Ambulances took longer to get patients to the hospital. The study found that the average time required by ambulances to transport patients to the hospital increased by about 32% on marathon days.
Traffic-blocking protests, of course, are different from marathons. They may not span 26.2 miles, but on the other hand, the goal is to be disruptive. They are unannounced, they tend to occur during busy rush hours when traffic blockages can easily spread and amplify, and their locations are chosen to be the most disruptive. The result is a situation that could easily lead to significant ambulance delays.
[...] The issue at hand, of course, is not the right to protest; non-violent protest is a cornerstone of our democracy and our American identity. But a commonsense extrapolation of the marathon study, and other studies that illustrate how mere minutes matter in medical emergencies, tells us that even when the protest itself is peaceful and protesters clear the way for ambulances or other emergency vehicles, transit times will still be longer, particularly when accounting for the ripple effects that a blockage in one area can cause for motorists miles away.
If activists are indeed committed to peaceful protest, they must be cognizant of the real harms of road-blocking protests that are more problematic than a simple nuisance to commuters, nearby businesses, and others... (MORE - missing details)
EXCERPTS: Recent events in Israel and Gaza have sparked a wave of protests, with some activists in major cities using a familiar tactic: obstructing traffic.
While this seems to have been an effective strategy by protesters across the political spectrum to draw attention to a variety of issues in recent years — including racial injustice, climate change, and pandemic restrictions — these protests raise an important question: At what cost do these disruptions come?
Speaking to the Los Angeles Times about a demonstration disrupting traffic at the Los Angeles airport recently, Michael Beer, the director of Nonviolence International, said that it can be hard for protesters to cut through the media environment without disruptive action like blocking traffic. He then added, “But you have to think: Are you stopping the ambulance from getting to a hospital and somebody’s going to die?”
Research on road closures suggests the answer is probably yes.
A study by one of us examining the impact of road closures brought on by marathons in major cities found that death rates for elderly patients with major cardiac emergencies — like heart attacks or cardiac arrest — were 13.3% higher on marathon days compared with typical days. The best explanation for this finding? Ambulances took longer to get patients to the hospital. The study found that the average time required by ambulances to transport patients to the hospital increased by about 32% on marathon days.
Traffic-blocking protests, of course, are different from marathons. They may not span 26.2 miles, but on the other hand, the goal is to be disruptive. They are unannounced, they tend to occur during busy rush hours when traffic blockages can easily spread and amplify, and their locations are chosen to be the most disruptive. The result is a situation that could easily lead to significant ambulance delays.
[...] The issue at hand, of course, is not the right to protest; non-violent protest is a cornerstone of our democracy and our American identity. But a commonsense extrapolation of the marathon study, and other studies that illustrate how mere minutes matter in medical emergencies, tells us that even when the protest itself is peaceful and protesters clear the way for ambulances or other emergency vehicles, transit times will still be longer, particularly when accounting for the ripple effects that a blockage in one area can cause for motorists miles away.
If activists are indeed committed to peaceful protest, they must be cognizant of the real harms of road-blocking protests that are more problematic than a simple nuisance to commuters, nearby businesses, and others... (MORE - missing details)