Planetizen Newswire
Keep up with essential planning news and commentary, delivered to your inbox every Monday and Thursday.
Road Safety
A psychological experiment finds that warning signs depicting more movement gain more attention, making drivers navigate more carefully.
The Atlantic
The pavement along Old Route 66 in New Mexico will now play "America the Beautiful"—but only if you're driving the posted speed limit of 45 miles per hour.
ABC News
After five deaths, several states have stopped installing FHWA-approved guardrails which have been said "to turn into spears" when hit by vehicles. An Oct. 20 jury verdict awarded $175 million to a whistleblower to be paid by the rail manufacturer.
The New York Times
Bloomberg News investigates a rash of road deaths in the Midland-Odessa region, attributing the fatalities to underfunded road infrastructure, increased population, and truck traffic. A November ballot measure may provide some relief.
Bloomberg News
In his second global transportation donation meant to reduce death and injury from transportation, the former NYC mayor will take a decidedly urban focus by directing his foundation to select ten cities to receive $125 million, he announced Monday.
The Wall Street Journal
USDOT's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) yesterday publicized an advance notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPRM) and a supporting comprehensive research report on cutting edge V2V communications technology.
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
The high mode share of bikers in Boulder, Colorado allowed researchers to verify findings already documented by researchers in Europe.
PhysOrg
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.
Dallas Morning News
By allowing the use of a new vehicle safety communication system called V2V, the U.S. Department of Transportation and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration are hoping to protect drivers without overstepping privacy boundaries.
PBS NewsHour - The Rundown
Yesterday, Mayor de Blasio launched “Vision Zero”, a multi-agency effort to eliminate NYC's traffic deaths within a decade. With eleven deaths (seven of them pedestrians) already recorded in the new year, progress can't come soon enough.
Streetsblog
An inordinate amount of traffic fatalities occur in developing parts of the world. In some countries, road deaths have surpassed diseases like AIDS and Tuberculosis as a public health threat.
The Washington Post
A new study published in the New England Journal of Medicine examines which types of distractions lead to the most collisions. Researchers found that dialing while driving is the biggest safety hazard.
Los Angeles Times
A new study by IHS Automotive predicts that 54 million self-driving cars will be on the road by 2035, and that every car will be autonomous by 2050.
Los Angeles Times
A new report by the U.S. Department of Transportation's lead watchdog outlines the top challenges the department faces in the coming year. Expanding oversight and improving air, rail and road safety top the list.
Governing
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”?
The Atlantic Cities
Self-driving cars may still be several years away, but federal officials are already looking to restrict the ability of drivers to operate their cars to improve road safety. They're pushing for the adoption of new technologies to reduce human error.
Los Angeles Times
In honor of World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims, held yesterday, The Guardian highlighted innovative projects that are making the world's roads safer.
The Guardian
Forget all the statistics you've read about the rise in distracted driving, they'll never have the potency of this film by acclaimed director Werner Herzog on the impact of texting while driving on victims, their families, and the drivers themselves.
Fast Company Co.Create
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg's progressive transportation advocacy isn't limited to the five boroughs. From bike lanes in Turkey to auto-rickshaws in India, his philanthropy is funding transportation and road safety projects worldwide.
The New York Times
Leave it up to the fine folks at Copenhagenize, the cycling crusaders, to produce a fake commercial based on the real dangers of car driving, rather than the fantasy sold by car companies in their advertisements.
Copenhagenize
