Speaker
Description
In Europe, the priority of motor vehicles on the road was decided in the interwar period. Confined to the sidewalks, the pedestrians became "other road users". Throughout the 20th century, pedestrian leagues sought to defend the safety of pedestrians in a motorized environment. In the context of motorization, the battle of the pedestrian leagues from the 1920s to the 1970s is similar to that of David versus Goliath.
Based on archives from the The Swiss Pedestrian Advocacy Association (Fussgänger-Schutzverband) and from the main association of automobilists (Touring Club Suisse) in the 1950’s, my contribution aims to shed light on the motivations and strategies of defenders of pedestrians in a space increasingly dominated by the car. Who are the defenders of pedestrians? What were their successes and failures? Does the inequality of resources alone explain the failures? Did they co-operate with the automobilists or even accept their priority?
The political weight of the (professional, consumers, etc.) associations in the Swiss political system gives a good opportunity to assess the successes and failures of the pedestrian lobby during the 20th century. The archives of theses leagues provide rich source material to explore the motivations and strategies of the defenders of pedestrians. The Swiss case is interesting, as pedestrian leagues were already founded in the 1920s. The battle was unequal. When new road traffic regulations were passed by parliament in 1932, the members of parliament who defended pedestrians were outraged – in vain. The promoters of automobile considered a counterattack by pedestrian advocates quite inoffensive. An official of the Touring Club Swiss concluded: "They will be short of money".
In the post-war era, public space was completely transformed by the proliferation of cars. The authorities were constantly looking for solutions to the problems caused by motoring, especially fatalities. In the 1950s, pedestrians often died on pedestrian crossings and even on pavements. Fussgänger-Schutzverband reacted by trying to find solution to protect the life of pedestrians.
Biography
Tiphaine Robert is a historian and postdoctoral fellow at the LASUR (EPFL). Previously, she was visiting scholar at the Rachel Carson Center in Munich (2022-2023). She currently conducts research on the development of automobile traffic (highway construction, air pollution) during the Great Acceleration. Her current research project—“A Political History of the Car in Switzerland (1950–2000)”—is funded by the Swiss National Research Foundation (SNSF). Through the case of Switzerland, Tiphaine aims to understand how Western societies in the post-World War II era until today have come to accept the nuisance of motorized traffic. Her research also looks at the history of pedestrian mobility in the automotive age and the sharing of the street between modes of transport.
