Welcome to Monday.
We’ve got another great week in store. But before we get started let’s take a look at the most noteworthy stories we came across last week…
Cities liable for unsafe streets: In what advocates are calling a “landmark” decision, a state court has found that New York City is party liable for a fatal traffic crash because the street where it happened was dangerous by design.
Jar-gone: “Road diet”, “pedestrian”, “smart cities” — these are just a few bits of jargon that many transpo advocates and experts would like to toss into the wastebin.
Ask him anything: Outgoing US Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx did a Reddit AMA where he called for a “fundamental redesign” of transportation funding and a whole lot more.
Speeding 101: FiveThirtyEight has a great primer on the history and science behind speed limits and why the way they are set is part of the problem.
Don’t mind the signal: For some crazy reason lawmakers in Ohio thought it would be a good idea to allow people using cars to go through red lights under certain circumstances. What could possibly go wrong?!
Crime rates and changing neighborhoods: It’s a miracle: An entire article about the causes of gentrification and there’s no mention of bike lanes.
Let’s do the numbers: Bookmark this one for upcoming debates in Oregon about transportation funding. A city planner points out how simple math proves the best investments are biking, walking and transit.
Gorge bike industry: Until we read this story we had no idea there was a (big) little company nestled in the Columbia River Gorge that has found a niche making bikes for police officers and security services.
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Transit doing its job in Seattle: For cities to flourish they need to not just get tough on car control, they need to have high quality transit. The latest from Streetfilms profiles how Seattle is doing in that regard (hint: pretty darn good).
Systematic Safety: Noted traffic safety academic Peter Furth narrates this excellent new video on the principles of Vision Zero.
Where cars don’t work: Madrid is the latest city in Europe to make bold plans to rid a section of its central core of cars.
Both, not either/or: Our old friend Michael Andersen lays out the case that bike boulevards (aka neighborhood greenways) on sidestreets work much better when done in addition to not instead of protected bike lanes on main streets.
Protected intersection boom: Andersen also wrote about how the installation of protected intersections is skyrocketing across the U.S.
105 years old and riding strong: If you were completely off media this past week you might have missed this heart-warming story about a 105-year-old French man who pedaled 14 miles in an hour.
Greenway visions in Motor City: Great plans start with great visions like this one shared by the Detroit Greenways Coalition.
City planning and public health: There’s growing buzz among planners and researchers that public health concerns might help tip the scales away from auto-dominated places.
Danger in safety: This article about how safety precautions in football equipment actually make the sport more dangerous — a phenomenon known as the “Peltzman effect” — could be applied to automobiles.
Thanks to everyone who shared suggestions.
— Jonathan Maus: (503) 706-8804, @jonathan_maus on Twitter and jonathan@bikeportland.org
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