How to Calm a Street, Starting with Your Own Anger

Frustrated by cars speeding down your neighborhood street at 40 mph? Don’t blame the people driving the cars.

Ryan Crane: Malpractice and Accountability in Engineering—A Surgeon's Take

When a patient dies, doctors review if and how their own actions led to that patient’s death. Shouldn’t engineers be doing the same, when people die in car crashes?

Podcast, Marohn, ST Podcast, Top StoryStrong TownsApril 25, 2022Podcast, podcast, engineers, engineering profession, traffic engineering, Safety, safety, Pedestrian Safety, pedestrian safety, public safety, Public Safety, car crash

NTSB Chair After Car Crash: “There’s a Problem With That Road Design”

The chair of the National Transportation Safety Board, Jennifer Homendy, recently survived a car crash. And she’s not blaming it on reckless driving.

#SlowtheCars, Quednau, Roads and Streets, Top StoryRachel QuednauApril 6, 2022Safety, car crash, cars, traffic engineering, streets, Street Design, #SlowTheCars

Ignoring Induced Demand is Engineering Malpractice

In 2022, denying how highway expansions induce people to drive more should be considered professional malpractice.

#NoNewRoads, Engineering Profession, Marohn, Transportation, Top StoryCharles MarohnApril 4, 2022transportation, transportation spending, highways, freeways, Virginia, engineers, engineering ethics, engineering profession, traffic engineering, traffic projections, induced demand, #NoNewRoads

What’s Wrong with Engineering Values? (New Video Series)

This video series shows why engineers have such different priorities from the rest of us. As Planetizen puts it, “If you’re not yet outraged, prepare to be.”

Confessions Book, Transportation, Video, Top StoryRachel QuednauMarch 25, 2022transportation, Confessions of a Recovering Engineer, engineers, engineering profession, traffic engineering

Triple Threat: National Experts Destroy “Reckless Driving” Narrative

Jessie Singer, Jason Slaughter, and Chuck Marohn join together in this must-listen episode of The Politics of Everything to explain why people keep dying on our roads.

#SlowtheCars, Podcast, Transportation, Top StoryLauren FisherMarch 14, 2022Podcast, podcast, guest podcast, traffic engineering, Pedestrian Safety, pedestrian safety, Safety, safety, #SlowTheCars, transportation

Luke Crosswalker: Tactical Urbanist

When people were speeding at a neighborhood crosswalk, this neon hero stepped in to #SlowTheCars and protect local children on their way to school.

#SlowtheCars, Tactical Urbanism, Top StoryDanielle RichardMarch 11, 2022schools, Pedestrian Safety, pedestrian safety, Safety, pedestrians, pedestrian crossing, #PedestrianUnfriendly, #SlowTheCars, tactical urbanism, Tactical Urbanism, children, traffic engineering

The Reckless Driver Narrative Is Reckless. Stop Spreading It.

If we want safe and productive streets, we have to focus on the deadly design of our public spaces and not be distracted by the scapegoating narrative of the “reckless driver.”

Marohn, Transportation, Top StoryCharles MarohnMarch 7, 2022traffic congestion, traffic engineering, Pedestrian Safety, pedestrian safety, pedestrians, #PedestrianUnfriendly, Safety, safety, public safety, Public Safety, transportation

Red Light, Green Light, No Insight

When we hand our whole transportation system to engineers, we shouldn’t be surprised that the values of their profession override the values of the public. It’s time for a new paradigm.

#SlowtheCars, Member Post, Transportation, Top StoryMichel Durand-WoodMarch 4, 2022transportation, public transportation, engineers, engineering profession, traffic engineering, canada, Canada, Winnipeg, Confessions of a Recovering Engineer, #SlowTheCars

We Need to Embrace Traffic Congestion, Not Fight It

We’ve spent trillions fighting congestion so that it’s easy to drive everywhere. But we’re fighting a losing battle, and simultaneously losing our ability to walk anywhere.

#NoNewRoads, #SlowtheCars, Infrastructure, Transportation, Marohn, Top StoryCharles MarohnFebruary 21, 2022congestion, traffic congestion, traffic engineering, #SlowTheCars, #NoNewRoads, American Jobs Plan, infrastructure spending, Infrastructure, infrastructure, transportation

How Traffic Engineers Can Finally Tame Stroads

This engineer offers a strategy for slowing down cars that could be a bridge between what communities want and what engineers want.

#SlowtheCars, Engineering Profession, Roads and Streets, Strategies, Transportation, Top StoryMike BrownFebruary 15, 2022traffic engineering, engineers, engineering profession, Pedestrian Safety, pedestrian safety, STROADS, streets, Street Design, Brainerd MN, #SlowTheCars

Why Do We Have to Handle 30,000 Trips per Day?

When engineers say a street must accommodate a high volume of traffic, what they really mean is, "The design of this street must prioritize the convenience of commuters over all else."

Driving Went Down. Fatalities Went Up. Here's Why.

Americans drove less during the early months of pandemic, yet traffic fatalities increased—and have yet to go back down. And the “official” explanations for it are completely wrong.

#SlowtheCars, Coronavirus, Engineering Profession, Marohn, Roads and Streets, Transportation, Top StoryCharles MarohnJanuary 10, 2022traffic congestion, traffic engineering, engineers, Safety, transportation, car crash, coronavirus, Coronavirus, #SlowTheCars

How to Solve Traffic Congestion: A Miracle in Louisville?

Kentucky and Indiana wasted a billion dollars on highway capacity that people don’t use or value.

#NoNewRoads, City Observatory, Infrastructure, Transportation, Top StoryJoe CortrightDecember 1, 2021traffic congestion, traffic engineering, toll roads, freeways, freeway widening, City Observatory, highways, highway spending, kentucky, Indiana

More Highways, More Driving, More Emissions

Fact: New roads always produce new driving. Say hello to “induced demand.”

10 Reasons to Not Trust ODOT's Environmental Claims

Oregon’s Department of Transportation is making phony claims that widening highways reduces pollution. Here’s why they’re wrong.

Designing Streets with the Human Mind in Mind

Humans are messy, complicated, and unpredictable: why doesn’t our street design account for that?

Engineering Profession, Pattison, Walkability, #SlowtheCars, Top StoryJohn PattisonOctober 14, 2021pedestrian safety, pedestrians, pedestrian crossing, #SlowTheCars, Springfield, risk, engineering profession, traffic engineering

Other Engineers Make Their Confessions

Today we share some of the confessions we’ve received from readers both involved in and victimized by America’s broken transportation system.

Engineering Profession, Confessions Book, Top StoryStrong TownsOctober 1, 2021Confessions of a Recovering Engineer, confessions book, engineering profession, engineers, traffic engineering

Confessions of (Another) Recovering Engineer

Fellow “recovering” engineer Kevin Shepherd offers his confessions: “Looking back now, I can say that many projects I designed actually hurt people and their communities.”