As traffic on a street increases, people retreat from the street and attempt to shut it out of their lives. Traffic noise makes conversation at normal levels difficult or impossible and steals the usual opportunities for casual interaction on the street. Residents rarely encounter their neighbors and often do not even know who their neighbors are. This leads to a gradual breakdown in the sense of community in the affected block. In Venice, people do not look over their shoulders because they know nothing is about to run them down.
People relax and let down their guard.
They are more willing to meet strangers and chat. This leads to a very pleasant feeling in the streets, which are full of people and therefore quite safe. The removal of the automobile from the urban environment will do much to help restore a sense community, something Americans have only recently realized that they were missing, as evinced by the surging interest in the New Urbanism, whose primary objective is to restore community by repairing the public realm. Danger Every year in America, more than 40,000 people are killed in automobile accidents. Far more are seriously injured.