Streetsblog USA’s Post

Somebody, anybody… please enlighten me… how are monster trucks (or close to that size) “street legal”? What is it with the many Americans’ apparent need to compensate for something they lack by getting something bigger? Hey! You think a driver of a truck that large is going to see a cyclist very well coming from his blind spot? What about a child walking behind as he’s about to reverse? You want to know what the stats say? They say no… He won’t see them well. And what happens if he does hit a pedestrian? Much much more damage than a Volkswagen sedan I’ll tell ya! City officials and urban designers need a plan to rid of these behemoth vehicles in our cities. Either directly, or indirectly through appropriate changes to city grids, infrastructure and traffic patterns. Widening the roads is not the answer!!! It’s ignoring the real problem.

Oakland sees a tragic toll with two serious injuries or deaths weekly due to speeding-related collisions, prompting efforts by the city to implement car-slowing street designs. State Sen. Scott Wiener's proposal for mandatory speed governor technology in vehicles aims to tackle this issue, although acceptance among American drivers, particularly in car-centric cities like Los Angeles and Oakland, remains a topic of debate. https://lnkd.in/g8Zatwax #OaklandRoadSafety #SpeedingCollisions #SafeStreetsInitiative #SpeedGovernor #RoadSafetyDebate

WoW~ Indiana has so few public charging stations, 536 (52 cars per station). Perhaps us Hoosiers prefer to charge at home or are our stations more for others just passing through? Ohio by contrast has 1,555 stations (33 cars per station), nearly 3x more than Indiana! Another interesting why to slice this metric would be by length of highways in the state or by land area. The mature market in California by contrast has very high ratio of 80 cars per charging station and New Jersey has the highest at 92! In NJ's case, they are probably limited by available land to install them or permitting...

Staying sharp isn’t just for school! Keeping your focus on the road is imperative to roadway safety. Did you know distracted driving is one of the top contributing factors to serious injury and fatal roadway crashes in the St. Louis region? Nine percent of all serious injury and fatal crashes are caused by distracted driving. How do you make sure to stay focused while driving? Drop your tips in the comments! For more information, visit ewgateway.org/gtsr. #GatewaytoSaferRoadways

"RASTA" Roads Are Safer To All Way To Safer Roads Join "Together we can save thousands of lives." "Speed Kills, Kill your Speed" Please watch the video, see the relationship between impact of speed and a pedestrian's risk of death The higher the impact speed, the more serious the consequences in terms of injury, death and material damage. Speed limits near pedestrian movement is restricted to below 30KMPH to save the lives if any traffic crash occurs. Please drive below 30KMPH where you expect the pedestrian so that you will save them as well as yourselves. Please do remember: Speed limit near Construction site or Schools or Hospital is 25 KMPH All rights to the images, music, clips, and other materials used belong to their respective owners #Safety #SafetyFirst #RoadSafety #monsoonsafety #Publicsafety #road #Roads #Defensivedriving #driving

From the hot topic of the Holly Street bike lanes to the city's plan for 90 EV chargers, here's what's happening with local infrastructure:

This man saved many lives but most people have never heard of him!! Garrett Morgan's invention of the three-position traffic signal in 1923 revolutionized road safety by providing a standardized method for controlling traffic flow at intersections. His innovative design, incorporating red, yellow, and green lights, significantly reduced the risk of accidents and improved traffic management. Despite being relatively unknown to many, Morgan's contribution to public safety through the modern traffic light remains invaluable, as it continues to save lives and prevent collisions on roads worldwide, showcasing the profound impact of his ingenuity and foresight in enhancing transportation safety. https://lnkd.in/dD3Me6p5 #traffic #safety #roadsafety #standardization #accidents #injuries #publicsafety #transportation #driver #humanerror #error #roads

The accident statistics do not tell the whole story about safety on smart motorways and people’s dislike of them. Whatever the hard numbers tell us – and I am not disputing them – what is important is travellers’ perception of all-lane running.  Every driver understands that that a necessary stop (puncture, mechanical failure) may not enable them to reach a refuge, and leaves the vehicle stationary in the nearside running lane – and immediately vulnerable, especially with a higher prevalence of trucks in the nearside lane. And with monitoring and response percentages well below 100% isn’t this sense of vulnerability understandable? It’s the nature of the risk that is so powerful. It’s binary!  Either you are running OK on the motorway, or you face a non-trivial chance of death or serious injury – and a mighty scary experience into the bargain. My youngest daughter with her three children had just such an experience, when a mechanical failure led to her vehicle stopping and unable to reach a refuge.  There was no sign of lane closures or other warnings for at least 2-3 minutes - she had the presence of mind to dial 999 on her mobile, and police notified the NH control centre before they had taken any action.  It matters not that this is a ‘rare event’ in statistical terms – what matters is the perception of the risk itself and the possible outcomes. And by the way, my concerns long pre-date my own daughter’s experience – but they certainly reinforce them. The nature of the risk is much less stark if there is a hard shoulder to move into. That is not to say that hard shoulders are safe – they are not – but at least a driver can move off the vulnerable nearside lane and decant their passengers outside the crash barrier.  We should also remember that people cannot generally understand or process different degrees of risk or statistical uncertainty. If what might happen to you if your vehicle breaks down is presented to you for all the time you are on an all-lane running motorway, it’s potentially much more powerful than a statistical probability which people struggle to grasp.  And it’s the consciousness that safe progress on a busy motorway depends on every driver driving competently and safely in safe and fully functioning vehicles that heightens the sense of risk, in comparison with rail or air travel where the tolerance of risk in a ‘managed’ system is much lower, as are the statistics of actual deaths and serious injuries.  The political decisions about smart motorways and all-lane running – responding to widespread public concern - are to my mind entirely understandable and appropriate.

Resharing this important insight on the impacts of permitting right turns on red (RTOR) at urban and suburban intersections. It's fascinating—and a little unsettling—how difficult it can be to change ingrained habits, even when the data clearly indicate a strong rationale to do so. The decision to permit RTOR was made in the 1970s with good intentions: to save fuel. But as we've known for decades, the unintended consequences have been far more dangerous, particularly for pedestrians. Municipal goals like Vision Zero, which strive to eliminate traffic fatalities, are deeply personal for many of us. They reflect our commitment to community safety and well-being. But to achieve these goals, our decisions must be driven by data, even when that means reconsidering long-standing practices. The evidence is clear—RTOR contributes to pedestrian injuries and fatalities. It’s time we critically evaluate and update our traffic laws to better protect the most vulnerable users of our streets. #VisionZero #UrbanPlanning #PedestrianSafety #DataDrivenDecisions