Driving Us To The Grave

These statistics should be a wake-up call for the US. While the automotive industry continues to promote driving as a lifestyle, and gas prices are low, the love affair continues while people die.

America’s Car Culture is Literally Shortening Your Life: Study

By Angie Schmitt Aug 24, 2018

The U.S. has been falling behind its peer nations on traffic safety and now life expectancy as well. There’s a connection. Graph: WHO

“Driving is driving us to the grave.

Life expectancy at birth declined steeply in the U.S. in 2015 and 2016, a new British Journal of Medicine study reports — a finding that was attributed partly to the opioid crisis, but also to America’s ongoing traffic violence problem.”

“So while the opioid addiction grabs headlines, cars have quietly remained a leading killer. In 2015, for example, the U.S. traffic fatality rate jumped 9 percent. And in 2016, it jumped again 5.6 percent, wiping out nearly a decade of improvements. It was the biggest two-year jump in 50 years.

Traffic fatalities have long been a leading cause of death of Americans, and in 2015, they were the 13th leading cause of death in the U.S. overall. But because cars kill a disproportionately high number of younger people, they rank seventh in total years of life lost.

https://usa.streetsblog.org/2018/08/24/americas-car-culture-is-literally-shortening-your-life-study/

September 12, 2018August 31, 2018

What’s Up With NJ Transit?

NJ Transit Makes Deposit on Its Future While Digging Itself out of Hole

https://nextcity.org/daily/entry/nj-transit-makes-deposit-on-its-future-while-digging-itself-out-of-hole?utm_source=Next+City+Newsletter&utm_campaign=15c62fbdd5-Issue_286_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_fcee5bf7a0-15c62fbdd5-44033881

September 11, 2018September 10, 2018

CBS This Morning: Distraction On The Dashboard!

It’s not just about texting while driving…and it’s getting worse all the time. Car manufacturers are touting the comforts and tech of a living room experience inside your new car. And yet there’s continued victim blaming of pedestrians texting while walking?

Are high-tech dashboards the new culprit in distracted driving?

A just-released study looks at how new in-car technology is taking our eyes off the road. Consumer Reports focuses on vehicle “infotainment systems,” including touch screens and controllers on the dashboard.

September 9, 2018August 31, 2018

Lowering Speed Limit Works

Encouraging study shows that lowering speed limit helps reduce speeding. Asbury Park will be reducing speed the limit city-wide.

Study: Lowering the Speed Limit … Works To Reduce Speeding

By Angie Schmitt Aug 29, 2018

“Here’s some encouraging news for cities trying to reduce speeding: New research from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety shows that lowering posted speed limits appears to be effective at reducing driver speeds.

The IIHS study compared speeds before and after Boston lowered its speed limit from 30 mph to 25 mph in January, 2017 — and the results were clear: “Vehicles exceeding 25 mph, 30 mph, and 35 mph all declined at sites in Boston, with the largest reduction in proportions of vehicles exceeding 35 mph,” wrote the study authors Wen Hu and Jessica Cicchino.”

September 8, 2018August 31, 2018

Mid-block Crosswalk

*Editor’s note: jaywalking is fake. In addition, in NJ it is not illegal to cross mid-block as long as the pedestrian is not obstructing oncoming traffic. So mid-block pedestrian crosswalks should be unnecessary, but drivers and pedestrians do not know the law.

South Street is getting ‘midblock’ crosswalks to make it safer for pedestrians

However, there are no plans to install the traffic-calming measures elsewhere — yet.

Max Marin Aug 29, 2018

“In a city where the mentality is often “cars over everything,” the freshly painted crosswalk stripes on South Street halfway between Ninth and 10th are an unusual but welcome sight.

The markings form a midblock crosswalk — a clunky phrase, but simple enough concept in urban design. They facilitate road-crossing in areas where corner crosswalks just don’t cut it. In this particular case, the thinking went, people have been jaywalking * across this stretch near Delhi Street to get to Whole Foods for the nearly two decades of the grocery store’s existence, so why not alert oncoming drivers and guarantee safer passage for pedestrians?”

September 7, 2018August 31, 2018

More Bikes=Safer City

Bike parking facilities are in demand in Utrecht-there are more bikes than people and more than a quarter of all trips are made by bicycle. The key takeaway here is that the more bicyclists are the safer everyone will be. But it wasn’t always a bicycle culture in The Netherlands. There’s hope for the US.

By Christopher F. Schuetz Sept. 6, 2017

If You Build It, the Dutch Will Pedal

More important for the nation’s bottom line, the country’s preference for the bicycle could save its economy $23 billion each year, according to a recent study done at Utrecht University and published in the American Journal of Public Health. The study suggested that the Netherlands’ vigorous cycling habits prevented 6,500 premature deaths each year.”

September 6, 2018August 31, 2018

Debate About Helmet Use Rages On

Wear a helmet if you want to. But…

As the debate around cycle safety, and in particular helmet use, continues to rage, British Cycling policy advisor, Chris Boardman, writes about the danger of introducing compulsory helmet laws.

All over the world, countries with the highest use of safety gear are the most dangerous for cyclists. Wherever helmet use has been made compulsory, there has been no corresponding drop in head injury unless there is also a drop in cycling rates.

September 5, 2018August 31, 2018

Helmet Debate Is Distraction From Real Safety Issues

Chris Boardman was appointed Greater Manchester’s first ever commissioner for walking and cycling in 2017. Known s “The Professor, Boardman is a British former racing cyclist who won an individual pursuit gold medal at the 1992 Summer Olympics, broke the world hour record three times, and won three stages and wore the yellow jersey on three separate occasions at the Tour de France. In 1992, he was awarded an MBE for services to cycling.

Chris Boardman: “Helmets not even in top 10 of things that keep cycling safe”

by John Stevenson, February 17, 2014

British Cycling policy advisor says it’s time to stop distracting helmet arguments and concentrate on real safety issues…

“We’ve got to tackle the helmet debate head on because it’s so annoying,” he said. “It gets a disproportionate amount of coverage. When you have three minutes and someone asks ‘Do you wear a helmet’ you know the vast majority of your time when you could be talking about stuff that will make a difference, is gone.”

September 4, 2018August 31, 2018

Smaller Firetrucks Get The Job Done

Many calls to a fire station are not fire related emergencies, so a huge rig with thousands of gallons of water isn’t needed to respond. Safety to pedestrians, bicyclists and other motorists is a benefit in situations where a smaller truck can do the job.

Fire departments are adopting Vision Zero, so why shouldn’t you?

Posted by Bike/Walk Central Florida on May 31, 2018

“The good news is that, even without smaller fire vehicles, city planners and fire officials can work together in this conscious effort to improve safety, not only for people walking, but for all road users. Let San Franciso and Portland stand as examples of what can happen when groups work together (hint: everyone wins).”

America’s Car Culture is Literally Shortening Your Life: Study

NJ Transit Makes Deposit on Its Future While Digging Itself out of Hole

‘Peak Car’ and the End of an Industry

As the debate around cycle safety, and in particular helmet use, continues to rage, British Cycling policy advisor, Chris Boardman, writes about the danger of introducing compulsory helmet laws.

Fire departments are adopting Vision Zero, so why shouldn’t you?