When We Treat Driving as a Fundamental Right, People Lose Their Lives
Officials and the media are questioning how Dorothy Bruns, who posed such an obvious and significant threat to public safety, was allowed to drive.
March 9, 2018
Yesterday’s Times Square Toll Was Terrible — But So Is a Typical Day of Traffic Violence
Given the high-profile location, the number of victims, and recent instances of people using vehicles to kill for ideology, it's understandable that yesterday's crash drew so much attention. But it's important to recognize that as terrible as the Times Square carnage was for a single incident, the same human toll occurs on a daily basis on NYC streets -- it's just dispersed across the city.
May 19, 2017
What Mister Rogers Can Teach Us About Cities and NIMBYism
If you spend much time at community meetings, or you're a Leslie Knope fan, you know that public forums are often where open-mindedness goes to die.
March 8, 2016
Attention Cities: To Encourage Walking, Don’t Overlook the Basics
When it comes to making it easier and safer for people to get around on foot, is your city covering the basics? If you live in the U.S., odds are the answer is "Not by a long shot."
March 7, 2016
Straight Talk From Portland PD on the Importance of Speed Enforcement
There's nothing all that special about this traffic safety video from the Portland Police Bureau. It's just a short talk from retired officer Ron Hoesly, formerly of the department’s traffic division, on the importance of enforcing speed limits.
November 9, 2015
Seniors Are Not to Blame for NYC’s Failure to Make Streets Safer
In response to motorists fatally striking seniors in the Brooklyn South command, NYPD admonished seniors to be more careful when going outside. A recent fatality in the 70th Precinct is a prime example of how focusing on the behavior of victims is a wrongheaded and ineffective approach to street safety.
September 22, 2015
Times Square Coalition: Keep the Plazas, Regulate Naked People
The Times Square Alliance and a coalition of electeds has a plan to address complaints about Times Square without destroying the hugely successful pedestrian plazas.
September 17, 2015
Portland’s Bike-Share System Will Be an Interesting One to Watch
Next week, leaders in Portland will decide whether to move forward with a long-awaited bike-share system. Assuming it proceeds, Portland's bike-share is going to be an unusual one.
September 11, 2015
Suburban Atlanta Pol: Why Fund Transit When We Can Wait for Robo-Cars?
Gwinnett County is outpacing the Atlanta region in population growth. People who live there need transit to get to work, so much so that a recent poll found that 63 percent of likely voters were in favor of expanding MARTA service into the county.
September 9, 2015
The Public Funds Sports Teams, But Teams Won’t Fund Transit to Games
Professional sports stadiums put a strain on transportation networks. While good transit service to games can lessen the traffic burden and help everyone get to sports venues more easily, this often imposes additional costs on transit agencies. Despite all the public subsidies pro sports teams receive, they rarely help pay for this service.
September 3, 2015