Safety
Streetsblog California
N-Judah Incident Highlights Need to Examine Muni Bike Ban
A bicycle rider crashed because of a steel plate that the city failed to properly maintain. If the city can't maintain the streets, the least they could do is let us ride the train to the hospital when we crash as a result.
April 21, 2017
We Have the Tech to Stop Distracted Driving. But Do We Have the Will?
What is stopping us from implementing solutions to prevent distracted driving? We have the technology. The problem is, the smartphone industry doesn't want to use it.
April 21, 2017
Tulare County Highway 190 Roundabout Is a Caltrans Safety Success Story
Despite some local opposition, a quiet rural road in California benefits from a new roundabout, which was cheaper to build than a signalized intersection. It's also safer.
April 20, 2017
The Human Toll of Normalizing Distracted Driving
Nowhere is the culture of permissiveness more apparent, or deadly, than in Texas, where about 3,500 people lose their lives in traffic every year. It is one of just four states that doesn't ban texting and driving.
April 20, 2017
Time to Eliminate “Jaywalking” as a Crime
Are people who cross streets where it makes logical sense really destroying the integrity of our communities? Are they causing a wave of crimes that put us all in danger? No, they are not.
April 19, 2017
The “Jaywalker” Brutalized By Sacramento Police Was Stopped for No Reason at All
When the line between a legally justifiable stop and outright harassment is so thin, it can easily become a pretext for racial profiling.
April 14, 2017
Ticket Diversion for Bike Riders 101
Different places have different approaches: an online course in Davis, a class taught by police officers in Gilroy. However they are run, bike classes benefit the entire community, and if diversion programs help create a wider educational program, so much the better.
April 12, 2017
A Hopeful but Somber Walk to Work Day
San Francisco held a Walk to Work Day, marred by a crash that injured a volunteer. "If we're going to reach our goal of achieving Vision Zero... we need to change a culture of speeding into a culture of safety."
April 7, 2017
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
