Timothy Welch, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau
With the Clean Car Discount under threat, more large, polluting and dangerous vehicles will hit New Zealand roads. That will further discourage walking and cycling.
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.
Some councils have installed zebra crossings at selected T-intersections, where they do improve safety. The problem is they also add to the existing confusion at other intersections.
The Hoddle Grid that dictates the flow of vehicles and people in central Melbourne has had its day. It can be remade to reduce the dominance of cars and create a liveable city for the 21st century.
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.
Carlo Ratti, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
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.
While the road toll has come down over the decades, it’s largely a result of fewer car occupants dying. Pedestrian deaths have barely changed for a decade, but they remain a road safety blind spot.
COVID-19 has underscored the value of parks and public spaces. A new survey shows that US mayors have gotten the message, but post-pandemic plans for public spaces remain largely undefined.
Instead of free parking, our post-COVID CBDs need a big vision to become attractive destinations that aren’t car-friendly at the expense of being people-friendly.
Pedestrians are wary of autonomous cars, but they trust traffic lights. Researchers suggest driverless cars could communicate directly with the signals to make their own actions more predictable.
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
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’.
In many cities, convention holds that there’s a lane for walking and a lane for standing on the escalator. But human systems engineers suggest this isn’t the most efficient option for the system.