Actually, the road design was made to minimize driving times. By having a system of cul-de-sacs and crescents minimize the number of intersections that require all way stop. It also minimizes the amount of pavement you need to use.

The solution (other than making things way more dense) is to make walking / biking paths at the end of cul-de-sacs to connect the suburbs for pedestrians, while still maintaining the advantages on non-grid street layout.