Motor vehicle crashes claim over 30,000 lives per year, with related costs in the hundreds of billions. While we sometimes view that frightening statistic as inevitable, there are reasons to reexamine speed limits and how we set them.

In this article, Anna Maria Barry-Jester asks the question: where do speed limits come from? "Given the social and economic toll of speeding, one might assume that we set speed limits with careful calculations aimed at maximizing safety." However, she continues, "in most places, speed limits are largely determined by the speed most people feel safe traveling."
This average comfortable speed sits at a hypothetical 85th percentile: given the road, 85% of drivers will cruise below it and 15 percent will speed above it. But road engineers know this, and build margins of "safety" into new roads: "[the 85th percentile is] used to design a road to meet that speed at a minimum, with a factor of safety allowing for faster travel."
The article discusses a historical shift from keeping roads safe from cars, to keeping them safe for cars. "City speed limits were set below 20 mph until automakers and industry groups realized that such low limits were going to hurt sales. To change public opinion, campaigns were started to criminalize pedestrians in the road (jaywalking) and to shift the blame for accidents from cars to 'reckless drivers.'"
Nowadays, people are less willing to accept the auto-centric status quo, at least in cities. Recent efforts like New York's Vision Zero plan mark departures from our "culture of acceptance" around traffic fatalities.
FULL STORY: Why The Rules Of The Road Aren’t Enough To Prevent People From Dying

Trump Administration Could Effectively End Housing Voucher Program
Federal officials are eyeing major cuts to the Section 8 program that helps millions of low-income households pay rent.

Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.

Ken Jennings Launches Transit Web Series
The Jeopardy champ wants you to ride public transit.

Driving Equity and Clean Air: California Invests in Greener School Transportation
California has awarded $500 million to fund 1,000 zero-emission school buses and chargers for educational agencies as part of its effort to reduce pollution, improve student health, and accelerate the transition to clean transportation.

Congress Moves to End Reconnecting Communities and Related Grants
The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee moved to rescind funding for the Neighborhood Equity and Access program, which funds highway removals, freeway caps, transit projects, pedestrian infrastructure, and more.

From Throughway to Public Space: Taking Back the American Street
How the Covid-19 pandemic taught us new ways to reclaim city streets from cars.
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