Traffic Fatalities
Former Toronto Planning Director Jennifer Keesmaat is responding to rising pedestrian and bike fatalities in the "Vision Zero" city with a series of calls for action.
The Toronto Star
To end traffic fatalities while still enabling urban mobility, cars will have to slow down and people will have to travel by other modes.
Medium
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety released a study on May 8 that attributes the increased number of pedestrians killed in part to road design that allows for higher speeds, fewer intersections and pedestrian crossings and more SUVs.
The Washington Post
Over 2,000 people died from hit-and-run collisions on American roads in 2016, the highest since 2009, claiming a disproportionate amount of pedestrian and cyclist lives. One solution: more protected bike lanes.
CBS This Morning
Taking Vision Zero beyond the local level.
Curbed
Florida’s incremental steps toward complete streets have saved thousands of lives, but still left it one of the most dangerous states to walk in.
Streetsblog USA
Autonomous vehicles hold the potential to greatly reduce auto crashes. Advocates want them on the road as early as possible to reduce fatalities. Skeptics worry that the public will be guinea pigs during the testing—case in point: Elaine Herzberg.
San Francisco Chronicle
Experts who watched the videos taken by onboard cameras equipped in the Volvo SUV that hit Elaine Herzberg determined that Uber's automated driving system failed to perform adequately. The crash points to a need for regulations.
San Francisco Chronicle
Elaine Herzberg's death by autonomous vehicle on March 18 in Tempe was a "first," but what of the 224 pedestrians that died last year in Arizona, the nation's most dangerous state for pedestrians according to a 50-state report released Feb. 28?
Governors Highway Safety Association
After viewing the videos taken by two cameras equipped in the Uber autonomous vehicle that fatally struck 49-year-old Elaine Herzberg on Sunday, the chief concluded the crash was difficult to avoid. Also, lessons on the crash from David Leonhardt.
San Francisco Chronicle
New data from transportation research group TRIP, shows that fatalities involving at least one driver over 65 years old are up 22% in California.
SCPR
USDOT hopes to put decades of data collection to new use preventing fatal collisions by predicting when they might occur.
Eno Transportation Weekly
Around the world, car crashes are the tenth leading cause of death, and while the United States is spending money on transportation, that money isn't making the roads safer.
Curbed
Many cities say they've adopted Vision Zero, but the numbers show they aren't actually getting any safer.
Streetsblog USA
The 300-foot wide Queens Boulevard has been known as the Boulevard of Death. Since 1990, it has claimed 186 lives, 74 percent being pedestrians, including 18 in 1997 alone. A series of safety improvements have brought fatalities to zero since 2014.
The New York Times
It's not just death from gun violence where the U.S. is an outlier. The New York Times compiled traffic fatality data showing that other developed nations have greatly lower traffic death rates, which wasn't historically the case.
The New York Times
Bloomberg links the uptick in traffic fatalities throughout the United States to rising smartphone use while driving.
Bloomberg
You know the bumper sticker. It's the one that begins with the words "How's My Driving?" and ends with a 1-800 number.
The Onion
Traffic fatalities are increasing faster than any time since the 1960s, but it's hard to notice much concern from the United States.
Streetsblog USA
There have been 100 traffic-related deaths on Denver’s streets since 2016, according to the Denver Post, but the city has decided that there will be no more traffic-related deaths by the year 2030.
The Denver Post
