Why Americans Don’t Walk: A Forgotten Centennial
“Nobody walks in LA,” sang Missing Persons in 1982. The New Wave band could have been singing about most of America. How did it get this way? Why is it so hard to walk in most American cities, towns and suburbs? Why does the United States have the wors...
By
Peter Norton
9:02 PM PST on January 20, 2025
“Nobody walks in LA,” sang Missing Persons in 1982. The New Wave band could have been singing about most of America. How did it get this way? Why is it so hard to walk in most American cities, towns and suburbs? Why does the United States have the worst pedestrian safety record among peer countries? And what can we do about it?
We tell ourselves a story: Americans love driving. We wanted it this way.
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