Recent Streetsblog USA posts about Safety

America Has a Terrible Traffic Safety Record Because We Drive Too Much

By Angie Schmitt | Sep 8, 2016 | 54 Comments

Even though the U.S. traffic fatality rate per mile driven has fallen by two-thirds in the last 50 years, America today still has the deadliest road system per capita in the developed world. Much of the improvement from safer driving and better emergency care has been wiped out by increases in total traffic. The American approach to traffic safety has emphasized seatbelt use, vehicle standards, […]

Portland Wants to Rethink Speed Limits By Factoring in Walkers and Bikers

By Angie Schmitt | Aug 25, 2016 | 29 Comments

For cities trying to get a handle on traffic fatalities, dangerous motor vehicle speeds are an enormous problem. Once drivers exceed 20 mph, the chances that someone outside the vehicle will survive a collision plummet. But even on city streets where many people walk and bike, streets with 35 or 40 mph traffic are common. Cities looking […]

Retired Fire Chief: Make American Firetrucks Fit City Streets, Not Vice Versa

By Angie Schmitt | Mar 22, 2016 | 12 Comments

It’s a sad irony that fire departments, while essential to public safety, are often a major obstacle to safer streets in American cities. When cities try to redesign streets to reduce traffic injuries and get drivers to travel at safer speeds, the local fire department often steps in to prevent changes that it believes will hinder the movement of its enormous trucks. Fire departments […]

Feds Propose Major Rule Changes to Eliminate Barriers to Safer Streets

By Angie Schmitt | Oct 8, 2015 | 22 Comments

Applying highway design standards to city streets has been a disaster for urban neighborhoods. The same things that make highways safer for driving at 65 mph — wide lanes, “clear zones” running alongside the road that have no trees or other “obstacles” — make surface streets dangerous and dreadful for walking, killing street life. The one-size-fits-all approach to […]

What If Traffic Engineers Were Held to Safety Standards Like Carmakers?

By Angie Schmitt | Sep 23, 2015 | 44 Comments

It’s been a rough few days for auto makers. News broke last week that Volkswagen will be fined because the carmaker manipulated the data from its diesel vehicles to make emissions look lower, deceiving U.S. environmental regulators. And on Thursday, General Motors reached a $900 million settlement with the Justice Department for covering up a defect in its ignition switches that claimed the lives of at […]

The Appalling Rollback of Truck Safety Provisions in the DRIVE Act

By Tanya Snyder | Aug 28, 2015 | 21 Comments

A battle is brewing over the Senate transportation bill’s approach to truck safety. Though large trucks are involved in crashes that kill nearly 4,000 people a year — a number that has grown by 17 percent over the past five years — the DRIVE Act actually rolls back what few protections exist. The bill would allow […]

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