Great thread and summary of the US #TrafficSafety Crisis

To the extent the US is exceptional it is in the resistance agencies & leaders show to recognize the profound failure of our status quo. Bad plans, bad standards, and bad outcomes are too often on autopilot & hard to stop

Great article & summary of how transportation across the rest of developed world has continued to get much safer, while the US has in fact been getting more dangerous in recent years creating a massive (imo embarrassing) safety gap between us & Europe, Japan, Canada, etc.

TransportationGov GHSA In sum, other countries offer an array of successful road safety strategies, just waiting to be copied.

But first the US must be humble enough to admit the failure of its road safety status quo. Only then can we start fixing things.
bloomberg.com/news/features/…

TransportationGov GHSA Further, the US cannot expect car tech to magically end crashes, avoiding an overdue reckoning with failures around vehicles, roads, and enforcement.

As Finns have shown, tech isn't necessary to save lives.
twitter.com/DavidZipper/st…

TransportationGov Meanwhile, prominent US safety leaders (like GHSA's leader here) often downplay global comparisons, claiming the US is inherently different due to 'culture.' linkedin.com/feed/update/ur…

On the contrary, sky-high US road deaths are due to policy choices -- which we can change.

With the US so atrocious at road safety, you’d think its leaders would eagerly import lessons from abroad.

Instead, TransportationGov recently launched a new initiative to share US “best practices” with the world. Good luck with that.
twitter.com/USDOT/status/1…

Compared to other countries, the US focuses more on PSAs and “education campaigns,” wasting millions of $ in the process.

Asking people to drive safely doesn’t work; you have to build safe roadways and vehicles (and enforce rules consistently).
slate.com/business/2022/…

Many US cities and states have adopted Vision Zero, but they’ve flubbed implementation compared to European peers.

In Finland, a cross-disciplinary panel investigates every road crash to find contributing factors. In the US that almost never happens.
bloomberg.com/news/articles/…

Unlike most rich countries, the US transit ridership was dropping even before the pandemic. Because rail & bus trips are much safer than driving, less transit leads to more crashes.

As I explained here, Japan’s excellent train service reduces road deaths.
bloomberg.com/news/articles/…

A reality check

wnyc.org/story/dot-comm…

Anyone who’s been around for a while remembers the disruption in the late 70’s. Detroit had gone all-in on huge gas-guzzling vehicles. Small Japanese imports started hitting the market. The auto industry is ripe for massive disruption and I’m here for it!! Again.

Nelson Lewis, Chief Engineer of the NYC Board of Estimate, summarized feedback on 1916 conference topic 'The Automobile and the City Plan.'

1. Cars don't pay their way.
2. Too much space given to cars.
3. Cars make streets unsafe for pedestrians.

This could be 2022.

Got rid of the second car and down sized the other car. The money saved went towards paying for the e-cargo bike. That was over a year ago and we haven't looked back.