Traffic Fatalities

Despite all the dire—sometimes hysterical—warnings about the safety risks of bike share, the country's bike share systems boast a flawless fatality record. Compare that record with, for instance, driving or riding non-bike-share bikes.

August 14, 2014 - Reuters via Yahoo News

The National Coalition for Safer Roads "is partnering with organizations and communities across the country to raise awareness about the dangers of red-light running during National Stop on Red Week."

August 4, 2014 - National Coalition for Safer Roads

A new feature on Transportation Nation will highlight the tragedy of traffic fatalities in New York City, by profiling the people who passed and the traffic circumstances that took them.

July 31, 2014 - WNYC: Transportation Nation

Pedestrian safety in Philadelphia is a mixed bag. While it can often be a pleasant, pedestrian-friendly city, recent pedestrian deaths have highlighted the ongoing need to improve the safety of the Philadelphia's sidewalks and streets.

June 23, 2014 - Philadelphia Inquirer

Delivering the first example of a critical component of Mayor Bill de Blasio’s “Vision Zero” program, New York will lower the speed limit from 30 to 25 along Atlantic Blvd, which cuts through Brooklyn and Queens.

April 10, 2014 - WNYC: Transportation Nation

The Texas Department of Transportation is responding to a recent increase in the number crashes caused by distracted driving in the state by increasing the presence of a multi-media campaign aimed at changing behavior.

April 8, 2014 - Dallas Morning News

A new study that compares how each of the 50 states regulates dangerous motorist behaviors has found that those with the toughest laws have the least traffic deaths. So why don't more states adopt “evidence-based policies”?

December 11, 2013 - The Atlantic Cities

Sarah Goodyear describes the greater implications of the carnage caused by a motorist intent on mowing down as many pedestrians as possible on the Venice boardwalk in L.A. on August 03. It wasn't the first time a car caused mayhem in a public space.

August 10, 2013 - The Atlantic Cities

At the same time that vehicular fatalities have ridden a decade-long decline in the U.S., a troubling trend has seen pedestrian fatalities increase. A $2 million U.S. DOT grant program will target 22 cities with acute pedestrian safety problems.

August 7, 2013 - The Atlantic Cities

A study from the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development shows that traffic fatalities across the world have reached an all-time low. However roads in the U.S. are less safe than in 28 other countries, including Serbia and Greece.

May 30, 2013 - WNYC: Transportation Nation

After a decade of steady declines in traffic-related fatalities in New York City, amid a focused effort to improve traffic safety, Robert Kolker examines why such deaths spiked upward of 23 percent in the past year.

November 28, 2012 - New York Magazine

After six consecutive years of decline, traffic deaths are rising dramatically across America, reports Ashley Halsey III.

October 3, 2012 - The Washington Post

Despite years of consistent decline, and a variety of efforts aimed at improving safety, traffic fatalities spiked by 23 percent last year in New York City. Matt Flegenheimer examines what may be causing the increase.

September 26, 2012 - The New York Times

A couple of months ago, I wrote a blog post comparing the safety of inner suburbs and outer suburbs. (See http://www.planetizen.com/node/56468 ) My post showed that (in least in the metropolitan areas I looked at) inner suburbs were safer than outer suburbs, because violent deaths from murder and traffic combined were lower in the former.

July 15, 2012 - Michael Lewyn

As cycling expands rapidly in the second-most dense city in America, the infrastructure to support this growth has not kept up, inflaming tensions over the ownership of public space, reports Maria L. La Ganga

June 18, 2012 - Los Angeles Times

Sarah Goodyear reports on the Windy City's ambitious plan to eliminate all traffic fatalities in the city within 10 years.

May 29, 2012 - The Atlantic Cities

William Lucy of the University of Virginia has written extensively on the question of whether outer suburbs are safer than cities or inner suburbs; he argues, based on traffic fatality data, that outer suburbs are certainly less safe than inner suburbs, and maybe even less safe than cities. (1)  However, Lucy’s analysis is not particularly fine-grained: it analyzes data county-by-county, rather than town-by-town. What’s wrong with this?  Often, suburban cities within a county are quite diverse: some share the characteristics of inner suburbs (e.g. some public transit) while others look more like exurbs.  So I wondered whether there is any significant 'safety gap" between inner and outer suburbs. 

April 29, 2012 - Michael Lewyn

Sarah Goodyear offers a brief history of urban development in postwar Europe, and tells of just how close the bicycle capitals of the West came to putting cars before people.

April 28, 2012 - The Atlantic Cities

Atlantic Cities offers a review of ten of the worst urban transportation failures to take place in American cities in 2011.

December 30, 2011 - Atlantic Cities

The FHWA says that 40% of all traffic accidents happen at intersections, and many of those are caused by left turns. A new type of intersection called the "diverging diamond" takes left turns out of the picture.

October 12, 2011 - Slate