Safety
Streetsblog California
The Traffic Safety Establishment Needs to Take More Responsibility for Soaring Pedestrian Deaths
America's traffic safety establishment has long been focused on "behavioral" explanations for traffic deaths -- things like seatbelt usage and drunk driving. By ignoring the role of the high-speed, car-centric transportation systems they've created, they don't have to face their own culpability.
April 7, 2017
3 Steps to Fight Street Harassment
Cat calls, patronizing enjoinders to "smile," and more aggressive forms of harassment can make walking or biking uncomfortable or threatening. Katie Matchett, an urban planner who writes about pedestrian issues at Where the Sidewalk Starts, still recalls getting harassed on the streets of San Diego as she was beginning her career 20 years ago. She says it's up to everyone -- men and women -- to combat it.
April 7, 2017
Moving Forward on Automatic Speed Enforcement Cameras
The legislative push is on with the Safe Streets Act of 2017
February 14, 2017
Beware of Innocent Looking Puddles
The rider had to make a choice: take her chances with the puddle, or swerve and risk a conflict with the car. She made the same instant calculation all cyclists have to make on our streets, almost every day—she decided the puddle was the safer bet.
February 8, 2017
California Pedestrian Fatalities Are on the Rise
California as a state ranks at number 17 for pedestrian risk, with 6,616 pedestrian deaths between 2005 and 2014. The California regions with the highest pedestrian fatality rates are Bakersfield, Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, Stockton-Lodi, Modesto, and Fresno.
January 12, 2017
Uber’s Self-Driving Cars Are Already Endangering Pedestrians, Bicyclists
Uber, claiming DMV rules don't apply to its self-driving cars, launched them onto San Francisco streets without a permit. One car immediately ran a red light, while others made dangerous right-hook turns, endangering bicyclists and pedestrians.
December 16, 2016
Will California Legislature Make it Legal to Roll through Red Lights?
No, this is not about a bill to allow bicyclists to treat stop signs as yield signs, sorry. This is about a bill that supposedly set out to lower fines for cars that turn right on red without stopping. It is sailing unopposed through the state legislature.
August 2, 2016
Caltrans Inches Toward a New Paradigm, Part One: New Ped/Bike Safety Chief
Caltrans has always said that one of its main concerns was the safety of road users, but its focus has been squarely on people in cars, to the detriment of others.
July 7, 2016
A State Legislator Is Really Proposing to Slash Fines for Running a Red Light to Turn Right
State Senator Jerry Hill (D-Millbrae) has been earning a lot of attention recently for a proposal to slash the fine for drivers turning right at a red light without stopping. This move seems particularly heartless considering California's streak of leading the country in traffic fatalities, nearly a quarter of which were pedestrians. Failure to yield is one of the top five causes of traffic crashes.
January 28, 2016
Evidence That Split-Phase Signals Are Safer Than Mixing Zones for Bike Lanes
When DOT presented plans for a protected bike lane on Sixth Avenue, one point of contention was the design of intersections. How many intersections will get split-phase signals, where cyclists and pedestrians crossing the street get a separate signal phase than turning drivers? And how many will get "mixing zones," where pedestrians and cyclists negotiate the same space as turning drivers simultaneously?
January 26, 2016