Recent Streetsblog USA posts about Safety

Congress to America: “Get a Car!”

By Ben Goldman | Feb 29, 2012 | 3 Comments

Photographer and blogger Jay Mallin, whose video of Woodbridge, VA police ticketing injured pedestrians was picked up by Streetsblog NYC a year ago, has turned his attention to the congressional transportation debacle. Mallin’s new video is entitled “Get a Car,” and is named for the apparent message of the House transportation bill, and, to a lesser […]

Nothing to Fear But Drivers’ Lack of Fear

By Anne Lutz Fernandez | Feb 17, 2012 | 13 Comments

Recently, I shared with a car enthusiast friend that I would never enjoy driving as much as he did, in part because cars scared me a little. I had experienced crashes and lost loved ones to them, I explained, which had a lasting effect. This struck him as both silly (who’s afraid of cars?) and […]

Blumenauer: Don’t Let American Streets Remain Unsafe Routes to School

By Angie Schmitt | Feb 15, 2012 | 3 Comments

Right now the House is debating the GOP leadership’s oil drilling-with-a-side-of-highways bill, which may or may not survive the House floor. A lot of folks are upset about this proposal, which would eliminate dedicated federal funding for transit, biking, and walking, open up some of the country’s environmental treasures to oil drilling and delay infrastructure […]

NTSB: States Should Ban Hands-Free Calls While Driving

By Tanya Snyder | Dec 15, 2011 | 27 Comments

In Missouri last year, a 19-year-old driving a pickup at 55 mph sent or received 11 texts in the 11 minutes immediately before he caused a deadly crash. The ensuing collision killed the texting driver as well as a 15-year-old student who was on a high-school band trip to the Six Flags amusement park in […]

2010 Traffic Fatalities Could Fill 70 Jumbo Jets. And This Is Good News?

By Ben Goldman | Dec 9, 2011 | 3 Comments

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced yesterday that 32,885 people lost their lives on our nation’s roads in 2010. While a staggering toll, this represents the lowest total number of traffic fatalities since 1949. “We’re making historic progress when it comes to improving safety on our nation’s roadways,” said LaHood in a statement, also pointing out […]

Mapping the Consequences of Our Automobile Addiction

By Tanya Snyder | Nov 23, 2011 | 27 Comments

Leave it to the Brits to create an incredible tool for examining America’s own crisis of traffic fatalities. Behold this somber map, made by ITO World, a UK-based transportation information firm. Each dot on the map is a traffic-related death. The entire eastern United States is blanketed with them. The purple dots represent vehicle occupants […]

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