Leah Shahum
Recent Posts
Secretary Pete Calls on U.S. Mayors To End Traffic Deaths
| | No Comments
In his January 20, 2023 speech to the annual U.S. Conference of Mayors in Washington, DC, Secretary Pete (formerly Mayor Pete) focused primarily on what he called “maybe the most acute and devastating problem in our entire transportation system….We need to talk about roadway deaths in America.” Here are a few highlights from his address.
On This World Day of Remembrance, Get Angry — And Take Action
| | No Comments
Sunday, November 20th is the annual World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims, which will see a record number of U.S. communities come together to demand change to stem the mounting roadway safety crisis. Here are four ways we can take action.
OPINION: How To Use the Money Available for Safe Streets
| | No Comments
With roadway deaths at a historic high, it is time to stop accepting excuses — and start operating from the knowledge that all road deaths are preventable.
Five Key Lessons From Europe’s Vision Zero Success
| | No Comments
Cross-posted from the Vision Zero Network From the moment that Vision Zero began capturing attention in American cities, we’ve heard many admiring references to its success in Europe, particularly in its birthplace of Sweden. I’m fortunate to have the opportunity to research those experiences and their lessons for the growing number of American communities working […]
How Mayor Lee Can Make 2012 a Landmark Year for Bicycling in SF
| | 18 Comments
With Mayor Ed Lee inaugurated yesterday to his first full term, Streetsblog is asking leading advocates and experts to lay out their ideas for how the mayor can move San Francisco’s transportation policy forward. Leah Shahum, executive director of the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition, kicks things off with today’s installment. Before he took the city’s lead […]
Lessons from Amsterdam: How SF Can Bicycle Toward Greatness
| | 27 Comments
It’s not often that you get to take your idea of utopia out for a test ride. But that’s what I was lucky enough to do for seven months last year while on sabbatical in Amsterdam. After more than a decade of helping to build the vision of San Francisco becoming a world-class bicycling city, […]
Dispatch from Paris: The Delights of Vélib
| | 11 Comments
Editor’s note: This is the second part in an occasional series of dispatches from Europe from Leah Shahum, the executive director of the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition, who is on sabbatical there. I’ve visited Paris four times in the past 25 years, but it was not until a recent trip a few weeks ago that […]
Lessons from Copenhagen for Bicycling in the Bay Area
| | 22 Comments
Bicyclists — and blue bike lanes and physically separated bikeways — abound in Copenhagen, where biking makes up 37 percent of the trips to work and school. Photos by Leah Shahum Editor’s note: This is the first in a series of dispatches from Copenhagen and Amsterdam from Leah Shahum, the executive director of the San […]