Traffic Safety

Tall Vehicles: Unsafe at Any Speed
Vehicles with taller front-end designs are more likely to injure pedestrians even when traveling at lower speeds.

Santa Monica Lowers Speed Limits
Posted speed limits will be reduced by 5 miles per hour on dozens of the city’s streets.

How Well Will San Francisco’s Daylighting Program Work?
Unlike other efforts to prevent cars from parking near intersections to improve visibility and road safety, San Francisco has no plans to install physical infrastructure to keep vehicles out of danger zones.

Greenways Plus Highways: A Deadly Combination
The design of intersections between major roadways and bike and pedestrian paths can have fatal consequences.

London Launches Electric Buses
The new buses can charge at either end of their route in minutes without returning to garages for charging.

How “Proven Safety Countermeasures” Save Lives
A bill named in honor of a U.S. diplomat killed while on her bicycle would let state DOTs access full federal funding for road safety projects.

Portland Traffic Deaths Increased Despite Vision Zero Efforts
Traffic deaths in Portland, Oregon almost doubled between 2018 and 2023.

San Francisco Implements ‘Daylighting’ at Intersections
Vehicles are prohibited from parking within 20 feet of a crosswalk as part of the city’s Vision Zero efforts to eliminate traffic deaths and make roads safer.

Jacksonville Takes Action on Vision Zero
The city is implementing its first-ever Vision Zero Action Plan in an effort to reduce pedestrian and cyclist deaths and serious injuries.

Pittsburgh Agencies Collaborate on Vision Zero Projects
The city reduced pedestrian deaths to seven in 2023.

Reducing Driving Speeds Requires More Than Lowering Posted Speed Limits
Without additional changes to roadway design, lower speed limits only slightly reduce driving speeds.

Study: Bike Lanes Improve Road Safety
Bike lanes delineated with bollards or traffic cones are most likely to slow drivers and reduce crashes between cars and bikes.

Olympia Draft Transportation Plan Zeroes in on Complete Streets, Bike Infrastructure
The city’s comprehensive plan update could signal a shift in transportation planning priorities to a more comprehensive approach that ensures safer roads for all users.

NHTSA Opens Investigation Into Tesla’s Autonomous System
The agency will probe the “Full Self-Driving” system in the wake of crashes that include a pedestrian death.

Chicago Could Join Other Cities in Lowering Speed Limits
Lowering speed limits by just 10 miles per hour can have a major impact on traffic safety.

Banning Right Turns on Red: Lessons From Atlanta
How road safety activists passed a law that could make roads much safer.

California Transportation Commission Reluctant to Incorporate Complete Streets Guidelines
The agency plans to update its road design guidelines by the end of the year — before a new law that prioritizes pedestrian and cyclist safety takes effect.

DC’s Traffic Cameras Are Working, but Not a Panacea
Automated enforcement is reducing speeding, but bigger changes to street design and the built environment are needed to make the District’s streets safer and more pleasant for people walking.

Milwaukee Road Safety Efforts Paying Off
The city is seeing fewer speeding violations after installing traffic calming measures and boosting enforcement to limit reckless driving.

Iowa Outlaws Most Automated Speed Cameras
The Iowa Department of Transportation has rejected a majority of applications to continue speed camera programs in cities across the state based on a new state law that requires state-issued permits for automated traffic enforcement.
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