Bakersfield.com

     Born and raised right here in the San Joaquin Valley, I am a 31 year old wife and mother of 3. I recently find myself working as a stay-at-home Mom after many years of full-time employment. Very soon I realized that cooking, cleaning and taking care of children full-time use an abundance of resources. I have begun to make many changes in our household to " Reduce, Reuse and Recycle". It only makes sense to me, we all have to do our part to conserve in every way. Most of these changes have been realitively easy and require little effort. On the other hand, the one thing I am having trouble accomplishing is driving less.  There is not a better motivator to hit the pavement than the price of gas. Anyone who has lived in Bakersfield for more than a month soon realizes that our city is very spread out and walking or even biking are not practical. However, at some point in order to be a responsible citizen of the city we have to find ways to use our cars less. It is not a matter of politics or convenience but, a matter of preservation. If we want our grandchildren to enjoy a similar quality of life that we have something has to change. With that said, last week while I was in the shower my 4 year old broke a bottle of nail polish on my tile kitchen floor. Being out of polish remover I decided that we would walk to the drug store instead of taking the car since it is only 1/2 mile away. With my 4 year old in her stroller and my 7 and 9 year old's beside me we headed out on our journey for polish remover. All went well until we got to White Lane. All of a sudden I realized that cars are passing by going at least 65 mph and really only a matter of yards away from the sidewalk. Obviously, one small mishap in traffic and a vehicle could end up on the curb. Also, when I got to the main intersection at White Ln and Gosford, I started thinking maybe this was'nt such a good idea. Yes, there are corsswalks and we used them, however, when the light is green and cars are approaching the intersection going 50 mph or greater there is a huge safety issue! We all know Bakersfield needs major improvements to our highways and roads logistically. However, I honestly feel that more people like myself would use our cars less if walking was a more safe activity. I feel the city needs to have a fund for improving our cities sidewalks and bike paths primarily focusing on the issue of safety for pedestrians. One idea I had is for the small overhead pedestrian crossings I have seen in bigger cities. Just like a cross-walk over pass... Is there any action within our city to improve conditions for those who really want to drive less but, dont feel safe doing so?