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Articles on Pedestrians

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Retractable bollards can be used to signal priority areas on streets for smaller vehicles, cyclists and pedestrians. Eugene Nekrasov/Getty images Plus

Ever-larger cars and trucks are causing a safety crisis on US streets – here’s how communities can fight back

Cars are getting bigger on US roads, and that’s increasing pedestrian and cyclist deaths. A transport scholar identifies community-level strategies for making streets safer.
Pedestrians pass the aftermath of a crash in Gaza City in the Gaza Strip on Oct. 11, 2021. Majdi Fathi/NurPhoto via Getty Images

Deaths and injuries in road crashes are a ‘silent epidemic on wheels’

Traffic crashes kill and injure millions worldwide every year and are a major drain on economic development. Improving road safety would produce huge payoffs, especially in lower-income countries.
People navigate cities in much the same way animals navigate their environments. Max Böhme/Unsplash

Cellphone data shows that people navigate by keeping their destinations in front of them – even when that’s not the most efficient route

As you’re walking through city streets on your way to work, school or appointments, you probably feel like you’re taking the most efficient route. Thanks to evolution, you’re probably not.
If a vehicle was coming through this intersection would this pedestrian have right of way? Stephen Di Donato/Good Free Photos

Why Australian road rules should be rewritten to put walking first

Most people do not know the right-of-way rules, but a starting point should be that pedestrian needs and safety take priority. Current road rules are biased towards driver convenience
People expect drivers to stop for them at pedestrian crossings, but what if they know autonomous vehicles will stop any time someone chooses to step in front of them? Varavin88/Shutterstock

Nothing to fear? How humans (and other intelligent animals) might ruin the autonomous vehicle utopia

How will people respond once they realise they can rely on autonomous vehicles to stop whenever someone steps out in front of them? Human behaviour might stand in the way of the promised ‘autopia’.
Le Pont-Neuf et la Pompe de la Samaritaine, vue du quai de la Mégisserie, painting by Nicolas Raguenet (circa 1750-1760). Musée Carnavalet

Car-free Paris? It was already a dream in 1790

The debate over the place of cars in cities may seem recent, but pamphlets published during the French Revolution show that the battle was raging before the first automobile even saw the light of day.

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