Why measuring traffic deaths alone doesn’t paint a full picture.
In a piece in Next STL, Christian Frommelt argues that planners and transportation officials shouldn’t rely exclusively on crash statistics to understand road safety conditions in their cities. “We need metrics that keep us accountable and crash data alone is inadequate in implementing serious, sweeping change.”
For Frommelt, “Measuring modal share—the proportion of people walking/rolling, biking, taking public transit, and driving—will help determine whether car-dominant planning continues to supplant overall health and safety.” Moreover, Census data only shows modal share for commutes to work, obscuring the many other types of trips that people take to grocery stores, schools, healthcare facilities, entertainment venues, parks, and more.
In St. Louis, where Frommelt lives, a new Complete Streets bill could help the city gather more information about those metrics and assess how infrastructure investments are paying off for pedestrians, cyclists, and other road users. Measuring mode share more accurately can also unlock federal funding opportunities.
FULL STORY: Why Crash Statistics are Inadequate for Planning Safer Streets
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.
Pedestrian Deaths Tick Down — But Rose 58 Percent in the Last Decade
Road fatalities fell by a meager 4 percent in the first half of 2023.
How Cities are Spending Safe Streets Funds
New federal grant programs are injecting millions of dollars into road safety projects in an effort to stem the alarming growth of traffic deaths on U.S. roads.
The state-sanctioned urbicide of Austin
People don’t kill cities. Freeways do.
US to reduce Colorado River water deliveries to Mexico
A new Colorado Treaty amendment reduces Mexico’s Colorado River water allocation by 250,000 acre feet.
New Jersey’s second-largest city bans standalone data centers
Jersey City will continue to allow co-location facilities, such as those meant for research institutions that store their own data.
Amtrak not solely to blame for New Jersey commuter rail's unreliability, report finds
A new study from the Garden State Initiative found that NJ Transit’s budget grew 20% across a 4 year period, but reliability declined significantly over the same period.
EPA erases limits on planet-warming pollution from power plants
Under Monday’s plan, power plants would still have some limits on how much mercury, arsenic and other contaminants they can emit.
Phoenix announces new on-demand transit service, more frequent RAPID buses
Both new services will launch in October, and are part of Phoenix's Project Effective Access Solutions for Easing Congestion.
FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?
After describing his path towards focusing on walkability as the essence of good planning, Jeff Speck marches through his five principal reasons for making more walkable places.
Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold
The course focuses on the opportunities and imperatives that shape reinvention of mall sites.
Eagle County Government
Harvard University Graduate School of Design
Nashville Planning Department
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
The Pocatello Development Authority
The Urban Renewal Agency of the City of Pocatello
Journal of the American Planning Association