Pedestrian Safety

Crosswalk

Putting Pedestrians First

Improving road safety starts with considering the safety of people outside cars early and often.

November 14, 2022 - The Seattle Times

Two women waiting to cross street facing Milwaukee Public Market sign

Milwaukee To Hire Vision Zero Czar

The mayor’s office has created a new position responsible for leading the charge on the city’s efforts to eliminate roadway deaths.

November 11, 2022 - Urban Milwaukee

Google Street View of 8th Avenue in Brooklyn with crosswalk in foreground, cars, and brick three-story buildings

DOT Scraps Safety Plan for Two Brooklyn Avenues

An ambitious proposal to build protected bike lanes and install traffic calming measures on two dangerous Brooklyn avenues has been nixed by the agency, which plans to develop a new proposal in the coming months.

November 10, 2022 - StreetsBlog NYC

Vision Zero

Traffic Safety Declining in U.S., Bucking Global Trend

While other countries are seeing fewer road deaths, traffic violence in the United States is back on the rise.

November 7, 2022 - Bloomberg CityLab

Small boy riding bike on two-way paved bike trail

What Is Bike Infrastructure?

Safe and comprehensive bike facilities play a crucial role in keeping vulnerable road users safe, promoting biking as an everyday transit mode, and reducing carbon emissions and traffic congestion by encouraging a shift to more multimodal transportation.

October 31, 2022 - Diana Ionescu

Pedestrians

Federal Government Pushes Collaboration on Road Safety

Guidance from federal agencies encourages states and cities to focus on pedestrian and cyclist safety, but the Biden administration has stopped short of any legally binding mandates.

October 26, 2022 - Route Fifty

Mother and two young children waiting to cross street at busy crosswalk

Friday Funny: Crossing the Street? Good Luck!

The Onion says the quiet part out loud to illustrate the real philosophy behind many road safety strategies.

October 21, 2022 - The Onion

Pedestrians and cyclists in busy city crosswalk with blurred motion

Vision Zero Cities Journal 2022: Traffic Safety Guidance for a Safer Future

The Vision Zero Cities Journal provides information on traffic safety innovations and the global movement toward Vision Zero.

October 21, 2022 - Vision Zero Cities Journal

Stoplight with green light and "no right turn on red" pictograph on overhead signal

How Right Turns on Red Became the Norm

Born out of the oil crisis of the 1970s, the practice of turning right on red lights is a uniquely American—and uniquely dangerous—custom.

October 20, 2022 - Slate

City of Las Vegas

Downtown Las Vegas Begins Complete Streets Work

Stewart Avenue will undergo a makeover to make it safer and more accessible for pedestrians.

October 12, 2022 - 8 News Now

Street Construction

Opinion: Traffic Calming Shouldn’t Be Optional

Road infrastructure that fails to make dangerous driving behavior feel risky to drivers is ineffective in protecting pedestrians and people on bikes.

September 21, 2022 - Streetsblog Chicago

Pedestrians

A Legal Perspective on Transportation Safety

Legal scholars are showing how the federal government frustrates pedestrian safety.

September 19, 2022 - Michael Lewyn

Crosswalk button with illustration of visually impaired pedestrian

The Sound of Silence: Designing Electric Vehicles for Safety

Near-silent electric vehicles pose a danger to people with visual impairments, so engineers are studying ways to make the vehicles audible while maintaining the benefits of quieter streets.

August 17, 2022 - The New Yorker

Salt Lake City

Salt Lake City Streets To Get Traffic Calming

After a 19-year hiatus, the city is restarting its traffic calming program to combat the growing pedestrian death crisis.

August 17, 2022 - The Salt Lake Tribune

Vision Zero

How Communities Can Leverage Federal Vision Zero Funding To Make Streets Safer

Two safe streets advocates give their recommendations for how to effectively use the $1 billion in annual funding available through a federal grant program.

August 10, 2022 - Streetsblog USA

Fremont Street

Las Vegas To Launch Vision Zero Initiative

The city is calling for public input to develop strategies for reducing traffic deaths and making Las Vegas safer for all road users.

August 9, 2022 - KTNV

20 miles per hour speed limit sign in school zone

Tacoma Lowers Speed Limits as Part of Vision Zero Plan

The city voted to reduce speed limits on residential and some arterial streets in an effort to improve traffic safety and reduce the risk of death or serious injury when crashes occur.

August 8, 2022 - The Suburban Times

"No turn on red" sign

D.C. Could Legalize ‘Idaho Stop,’ Ban Right Turns on Red

Proposed legislation would allow cyclists to treat stop signs as yield signs and eliminate right turns on red in an effort to reduce cyclist and pedestrian fatalities.

August 2, 2022 - The Washington Post

Aerial view of I-10 junction over swamp near New Orleans, Louisiana

Louisiana Road Safety Plan Highlights Impaired Driving, Reckless Behavior

The plan focuses traffic safety efforts on distracted and impaired driving, seatbelt wearing, and speeding, with a small nod to infrastructural factors.

July 31, 2022 - Plaquemine Post South

Protected Bike Lane Los Angeles

Caltrans Releases Complete Streets Action Plan

The agency’s detailed list of actions highlights the many changes needed to truly implement Complete Streets principles into California road construction and maintenance.

July 19, 2022 - Streetsblog California

Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools

This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.

Planning for Universal Design

Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.

Top Books

An annual review of books related to planning.

Top Schools

The definitive ranking of graduate planning programs.

100 Most Influential Urbanists

The who's who of urbanism, according to Planetizen readers.

Urban Planning Creators You Should Know

A short list of voices on social, video, and podcasting platforms.