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It’s Time for the AP to Nix the Term “Accident” to Describe Car Collisions
Earlier this year, the NYPD adopted a policy to stop using the term "accident" to describe traffic collisions. The San Francisco police department made similar changes a few months later. The problem with the term "accident," of course, is that it implies no one was at fault -- that traffic injuries and deaths are just random, unpreventable occurrences. It's part of a cultural permissiveness toward dangerous driving, which in turn contributes to the loss of life.
December 11, 2013
Real Estate Trend: Parking-Free Apartment Buildings
A wave of new residential construction projects in places like Seattle, Boston, and Miami are showing that, yes, modern American cities can build housing without any car parking on site.
December 10, 2013
Enrique Peñalosa: Democracy Is Bus-Only Lanes and Protected Bikeways
I lived in Bogotá, Colombia, for about half of 2002. While I was there, a political party headquarters near my house was car-bombed, guerrillas attacked the presidential inauguration, and thousands of people were killed in routine violence. It was a stressful place to live.
December 9, 2013
How Do You Grade a Bike-Share System?
Bike-share has exploded in the last decade -- and in North America, just in the last few years. What started as a shaky concept in Amsterdam in the 1960s has matured into a viable transit option worldwide, with 600 systems offering more than 600,000 bikes.
December 6, 2013
Talking Headways Podcast, Episode 4: Car Brain
In this week's podcast, Jeff and I discuss the impressive turnout -- and possible pitfalls -- of London's "die-in" demonstration for bike safety. We try to contain our envy (but not our amazement) at Paul Salopek's seven-year walk tracing the path of Homo sapiens from the Rift Valley to Tierra del Fuego. And we discuss why even passionate transit advocates know what it means to be embarrassed about taking the bus.
December 5, 2013
Concrete Proposals for Raising Gas Tax Finally on the Table
After a lot of vague talk about transportation revenues since the passage of MAP-21 -- “everything is on the table” and “we need to think outside the box” -- real proposals are finally being presented.
December 3, 2013
Report: More Kids Are Walking to School
The long-term decline of walking and biking to school has been linked to the childhood obesity epidemic, a big share of morning rush hour traffic, and even kids' lack of attention in class. In 1969, 41 percent of children in grades K–8 lived within one mile of school, and of those kids, 89 percent usually walked or biked. By 2009, 31 percent lived within a mile of school -- and only 35 percent of them walked or biked.
December 3, 2013
New Software Lets You Virtually Stroll Down Streets That You Design
Folks across the blogosphere are geeking out over this new software created by Spencer Boomhower at the Portland firm Cupola Media. "Unity3D Visualization" lets users manipulate the features of a street and then evaluate the changes in an immersive animated display.
November 27, 2013
Talking Headways: A Streetsblog Podcast, Episode 3
This week, Jeff and Tanya take on the Atlanta Braves' terrible, no-good, very bad decision to move their stadium to Cobb County, Georgia. We discuss cities that are (and are not) shaped like wedding cakes, and whether that means you need to smoosh your spouse's face in it. Tanya makes a pedestrian-rights argument against high-heeled shoes (and Jeff abstains from taking sides). We parse the differences between "shared streets" -- without marked-out space for cars, bikes, and people on foot -- and vehicular cycling.
November 26, 2013
Fight Street Crime With Speed Bumps and Crosswalks
In Gabe Klein’s exit interview with Chicago Mag, the outgoing transportation commissioner predicted that in the next few years, cities will be paying more attention to the correlation between lawbreaking by drivers and other kinds of crime.
November 25, 2013