pedestrians
Exactly How Much Less America Walks Than Other Countries, In Five Charts
Two mobility researchers took on the daunting task of standardizing a messy range of global data on walking. Check it out.
April 14, 2023
Researchers Are Sounding the Alarm About Heavy EVs — Even in Europe, Where Cars Are Far Smaller
The swelling size of the average car on the road is threatening the environmental potential of EVs more than proponents may realize, a prominent watchdog group warns.
April 3, 2023
Vision Zero Under the Microscope: Why Aren’t Road Fatalities at 0 Yet?
Washington D.C. has failed to bring down road fatalities because its Vision Zero program is hampered by limited infrastructure improvements, low funding and inconsistent oversight, part one of a new report reveals.
March 29, 2023
How Bike/Walk Laws ‘Arrest’ the Mobility of Black Americans
Black pedestrians, bicyclists and micromobility users are subjected to a far wider array of dangerous laws than many sustainable transportation advocates may realize, a new report finds — and repealing them alone is not enough to guarantee them the freedom of mobility they need and deserve.
March 28, 2023
New Tool Maps Sidewalks From the Sky — And Encourages Cities to Fill The Gaps
Cities across America will soon be able to easily map their pedestrian infrastructure using the power of artificial intelligence — and challenge them to have a long overdue conversation about why those networks have such an acceptable number of gaps. Now there are no excuses.
March 27, 2023
Study: Cognitive Screenings for Aging Drivers Cut Some Crashes — But They Have a Disturbing Downside
Simply taking away the licenses of older drivers who show signs of dementia without addressing the dangers of the car-dependent communities in which they live may not deliver as many safety benefits as policymakers hope, a new study suggests — and it may spike the number of death among seniors who walk and bike, too.
March 14, 2023
Report: US Pedestrian Death Rate Increased 9x Faster Than Population During COVID
Pedestrian deaths are continuing to skyrocket as the pandemic drags on — and since 2019, analysts say the death rate for walkers has eclipsed the rate of population growth by a factor of at least nine.
According to the latest fatality estimates from the Governor's Highway Safety Association, U.S. drivers killed 3,434 people on foot in the first six months of 2022, an increase of five percent over the same period the prior year — and a staggering 18 percent increase over the number of walkers who died in early 2019, the last year before the pandemic.
The group also pointed out that those numbers can't easily be explained by non-traffic-related factors, noting that since "2019, the last pre-pandemic year, pedestrian fatalities have surged 18 percent in just three years – nine times faster than U.S. population growth."
February 28, 2023
Kids’ Psychology Affects How They Behave Around Cars — And Regulators Should Take Note
The feds have taken steps to understand how a wider range of bodies are likely to fare in a car crash. But as regulators finally begin to look outside the car, some researchers think it's time they start thinking about our brains, too — particularly when it comes to kids.
February 1, 2023
Want Drivers to Stop at Crosswalks? Slow Them Down First
Many motorists yield to pedestrians in crosswalks — but not when they're driving at deadly speeds, according to a new study that shows the need to slow down car drivers with broader road design changes, and not just more signs and paint.
January 11, 2023
Cincinnati Hires Dedicated In-House Crew To Build Pedestrian Infrastructure
In what could be a model for cities across America, Cincinnati is creating an in-house team to build safer streets for people who walk and roll, and vaulting over one of the most common roadblocks to saving vulnerable road users lives.
January 5, 2023