There is also property tax and sales tax so it’s not just car “specialty” taxes that are paying for roads.
Continue reading “Portion of income tax that goes toward highways”
New York as the greatest, greenest big city [video]
Found via Greater Greater Washington
avoiding car-centered language: a directive
by Jarrett Walker
In 1996, the City Administrator of West Palm Beach, Florida, Michael J. Wright, issued a directive to his staff on how to avoid biased language in the descriptions of transportation investments and policies. It’s four pages, sharply written, and may well be the smartest bureaucratic directive you’ll ever read. Here it is in PDF. (Thanks to Peter Bilton at the Vorhees Transportation Center at Rutgers for pointing it out.)
It pulls no punches:
Much of the current transportation language was developed in the 1950’s and 1960’s. This was the golden age of automobiles and accommodating them was a major priority in society. Times have changed, especially in urban areas where creating a balanced, equitable, and sustainable transportation system is the new priority. The transportation language has not evolved at the same pace as the changing priorities; much of it still carries a pro-automobile bias. Continued use of biased language is not in keeping with the goal of addressing transportation issues in an objective way in the City.
Biased words, as identifed in the directive, include improvement, upgrade, enhancement, deterioration. The problem with these words is that they imply an idea of good or bad that may not be universally shared. So for example:
Upgrade is a term that is currently used to describe what happens when a local street is reconstructed as a collector, or when a two-lane street is expanded to four lanes. Upgrade implies a change for the better. Though this may be the case for one constituent, others may disagree. Again, using upgrade in this way indicates that the City has a bias that favors one group over other groups. Objective language includes expansion, reconstruction, widened, or changed.
And in the spirit of my last post:
Traffic is often used synonymously with motor vehicle traffic. However, there are several types of traffic in the City: pedestrian traffic, cycle traffic, and train traffic. To be objective, if you mean motor vehicle traffic, then say motor vehicle traffic. If you mean all the types of traffic, then say traffic.
The directive even nails the widespread misleading use of the word accident.
Accidents are events during which something harmful or unlucky happens unexpectedly or by chance. Accident implies no fault. It is well known that the vast majority of [vehicular traffic] accidents are preventable and that fault can be assigned. The use of accident also reduces the degree of responsibility and severity associated with the situation and invokes a inherent degree of sympathy for the person responsible. Objective language includes collision and crash.
(Yes, crash sounds emotive while accident sounds cool, so it’s easy to assume that accident is more objective or factual. But sometimes the facts are emotive, and only an emotive word will accurately describe them. The directive even notices that avoiding the emotive word can constitute an emotional bias in the other direction: “Sheila was in a car accident!” “Oh no, I hope she’s OK!” “Well, she killed three cyclists, so she’s pretty upset!” “How terrible! I’ll send her some flowers.”)
If you have seen either (a) a better explanation of these principles or (b) a coherent refutation of them by a transportation authority, please post a link. I’m aware of Todd Litman’s comments on this (here, page 5) and I know it’s come up in other academic literature. Still, the West Palm Beach document is important because it’s a directive. Many people in transport bureaucracies are not comfortable with academic thought — especially about linguistics, which is usually outside their training. But they are very accustomed to directives; they may find that the commanding tone of the West Palm Beach directive makes it easier for them to think about and react to.
Read this document, discuss it, and forward it! Yes, I know you’ve thought about this before, and maybe even written about it. But remember: language evolves only through relentless repeitition! Today, repetition is a matter of quoting, forwarding and linking. So quote, forward, and link!
Continue reading “avoiding car-centered language: a directive”
Tea Party TV
By Aaron Naparstek
It’s football season and that means it’s the only time of year that I’m watching the same television programming as guys who like Sarah Palin. If you’ve got 180 seconds to kill and you want a concise, entertaining glimpse at the American collective unconscious, here were the three most outstanding ads of the day…
Dodge Challenger Freedom:
Perhaps you are unaware of this piece of American history. Just a few years after the original Boston Tea Party, George Washington led his Continental Army into battle against the British Red Coats on a winter day somewhere near Lake Tahoe. The snobby, elitist looks were wiped right off the British officers’ faces as they saw the Americans charging over the hill with their 475 horsepower, 6.4 liter HEMI’s, rocking 11 miles per gallon.
Bo and Luke Duke drove a Dodge Challenger too, just like George Washington. They called it The General Lee because, you know, General Robert E. Lee was all about freedom — unless you happened to be the property of a Southern plantation owner. Electric cars? High speed rail? Let the Chinese figure out that shit. Because “Here’s a coupla things America got right: Cars and freedom.” Yes, they actually came right out and said it. The only way this ad could be more brilliant is if it’s airing during NBC’s new show, “Outsourced.” Incidentally, Chrysler is now owned by Italians. Watch…
…
Two Breeds Of Biker [video]
Investigative Series on Transpo Safety Overlooks Most Vulnerable Travelers
from Streetsblog Capitol Hill by Angie Schmitt
Anyone who’s ever navigated a crosswalk at a major suburban arterial, or pedaled forward while a semi-truck speeds past at arm’s reach, knows what it’s like to travel dangerously. So it’s disappointing to learn that a new investigative report on transportation safety skirts over the perspective of cyclists and pedestrians.
A new report explores transportation safety, mainly from the perspective of the windshield. Photo: News 21
In their 21-part Traveling Dangerously in America series, the Center for Public Integrity and News 21 take a critical look at the federal agency responsible for major crash investigation and safety recommendations: the National Transportation Safety Board. The report exposes a lack of coordination between government transportation agencies and offers specific recommendations — for planes, trains and automobiles.
Richard Layman at Rebuilding Place in the Urban Space, points out the oversight:
The series misses important mobility safety issues concerning walking and biking — mobility modes that don’t typically involve the National Transportation Safety Board, which focuses on high profile accidents involving railroads, transit, airlines, highways, and other infrastructure.
So systematic and systemic failures in dealing with pedestrian and bicycle related accidents, such as weak accident investigation procedures on the part of most local police departments, where police officers, perhaps without intending to do so, tend to favor the motor vehicle when investigating, and gaps in the law that favor motor vehicle drivers at the expense of pedestrians and bicyclists, remain unaddressed.
There is no equivalent of the NTSB advocating for fairer treatment and greater concern when it comes to pedestrians and bicyclists.
The report does, however, make some recommendations that could improve bike and pedestrian safety by holding motorists to higher standards. For example, the series presses for the installation of black boxes inside motor vehicles that would record data that could be used to determine fault in an accident.
Layman also makes the point that local blogs, like WashCycle and Greater Greater Washington in the DC area, are drawing attention to the issue of bicycle and pedestrian safety even as government agencies and the media sidestep the topic.
Continue reading “Investigative Series on Transpo Safety Overlooks Most Vulnerable Travelers”
Why an additional road tax for bicyclists would be unfair
This is the first installment of a regular column about all things bicycle by Elly Blue.
"Should cyclists pay a road tax?"
That was printed on the side of one of Portland, Ore.’s MAX light rail trains as it sailed back and forth across the region for six months in 2009.
The question was designed to provoke, and it did. "We already do!" I would grumble every time I saw it.
It’s true. And, fair being fair, we overpay.
Say you own a car. You’re shelling out an average of $9,519 this year, according to the American Automobile Association (most other estimates are higher). Some of those costs — a percentage of gas, registration, licensing, and tolls — go directly to pay for roads. And it hurts. You doubtless feel every penny.
The thing is, that money only pays for freeways and highways. Or it mostly pays for them — a hefty chunk of change for these incredibly expensive, high maintenance thoroughfares still comes from the general fund.
Local roads, where you most likely do the bulk of your daily bicycling, are a different story. The cost of building, maintaining, and managing traffic on these local roads adds up to about 6 cents per mile for each motor vehicle. The cost contributed to these roads by the drivers of these motor vehicles through direct user fees? 0.7 cents per mile. The rest comes out of the general tax fund.
Continue reading “Why an additional road tax for bicyclists would be unfair”
Cyclist visibility at night: Perceived visibility may not match reality
Abstract
Visibility limitations make cycling at night particularly dangerous. We previously reported cyclists’ perceptions of their own visibility at night and identified clothing configurations that made them feel visible. In this study we sought to determine whether these self-perceptions reflect actual visibility when wearing these clothing configurations. In a closed-road driving environment, cyclists wore black clothing, a fluorescent vest, a reflective vest, or a reflective vest plus ankle and knee reflectors. Drivers recognised more cyclists wearing the reflective vest plus reflectors (90%) than the reflective vest alone (50%), fluorescent vest (15%) or black clothing (2%). Older drivers recognized the cyclists less often than younger drivers (51% vs 27%). The findings suggest that reflective ankle and knee markings are particularly valuable at night, while fluorescent clothing is not. Cyclists wearing fluorescent clothing may be at particular risk if they incorrectly believe themselves to be conspicuous to drivers at night.
Continue reading “Cyclist visibility at night: Perceived visibility may not match reality”
MADD marks 30 years of effective road safety advocacy
[B’ Spokes: It’s been on the cycling advocates wish list to be effective as MADD so this might have some relevance in that people can make a huge difference.]
from Welcome to the Fast Lane: The Official Blog of the U.S. Secretary of Transportation by Ray LaHood
Yesterday, I was honored to join hundreds of victims and advocates on the West Lawn of the US Capitol to mark the 30th anniversary of Mothers Against Drunk Driving.
It was an event of mixed emotions. On the one hand, we could celebrate the more than 300,000 lives saved by MADD since 1980. But, on the other, we were there to remember the thousands of victims killed by drunk drivers on America’s roads every year.
We have come a long way. Since 1980, drunk-driving related fatalities have dropped by more than 40%. Between 2006 and 2009 alone, they declined by 20%. And we owe much of the progress we have made to the effective advocacy MADD has demonstrated–at the local, state, and federal levels–for 30 tireless years.
But we have a long distance yet to travel. Impaired drivers are involved in nearly one-third of all roadway deaths. That means almost 11,000 people were killed in 2009 when drunk drivers ignored the law, ignored common sense, and ignored the personal responsibility that is part and parcel of our driving privileges.
Clearly, our work is not done. And any progress we continue to make will almost certainly be in partnership with those who gathered yesterday on the Capitol lawn in support of MADD.
We need those advocates to keep holding our feet to the fire, to keep demanding sound laws, to keep pushing for stronger enforcement, and to keep reminding Americans that it is not okay to drink and drive.
Congratulations to MADD C.E.O. Kimberly Earle, MADD President Laura Dean-Mooney, and all the members of MADD–past and present. You have made America’s roads significantly safer for all of us.
Continue reading “MADD marks 30 years of effective road safety advocacy”
“Forgiving” Distracted Driving Won’t Keep Our Streets Safe
from Streetsblog.net by Angie Schmitt
On Monday, the U.S. DOT released a report concluding that the number of deaths caused by distracted drivers dropped 6 percent in 2009 — from 5,838 the previous year to 5,474. The report was a prelude to the agency’s second national summit on distracted driving, where the message from Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood was very clear: Distracted driving is preventable and enforcement works. LaHood pointed to a pilot enforcement program in Syracuse that has cut texting and cell phone use behind the wheel by about 40 percent.
Over at the National Journal’s transportation experts blog, Greg Cohen, president of the American Highway Users Alliance, wasn’t convinced that enforcement and driver responsibility are the answer. Writing that “we should admit that we all get distracted sometimes” and “enforced legislation and education can only go so far,” Cohen argued that engineering cars and roads to be more “forgiving” of driver inattention and carelessness is the way to go.
Should cars and streets be designed to send the message that these activities are okay? Photo: Seattle Weekly
Cohen’s post prompted this response from Andy Clarke, president of the League of American Bicyclists:
I’m not interested in trying to walk or ride along the street as part of some giant fairground bumper car game where drivers feel like they can crash with relative impunity. I want drivers (and cyclists) to pay attention, drive carefully, and NOT crash. The focus for me has to be on improving driver behavior, attention and responsibility.
We have come a long way in improving the safety of vehicle occupants. Indeed, you could be forgiven for wondering why we aren’t doing dramatically better already after the introduction of seat belts, air bags, anti-lock brakes, crumple zones, roll-over protection and the like. After 50 years of highway design that has widened, and straightened roads; removed all manner of roadside obstacles (like killer trees); installed collapsible poles and safer guardrailing; limited access and crossings; rumbled, signed and marked roads with ever-increasing levels of visibility and reflectivity. After quite incredible improvements in medical treatment and EMS services in the event of crashes. Really, where have all the benefits to all these great developments disappeared? Why have we still been killing 40,000-plus people a year for decade after decade?
One possible answer could be that we are a nation of generally lousy, distracted, careless drivers who really don’t take the responsibility of driving seriously and are not held to account for that behavior individually or collectively. That needs to change, and focusing on distracted driving is a welcome opportunity to do just that.
Elsewhere on the Network today: Following the recent death of Green Party Senate Candidate Natasha Pettigrew in a hit-and-run collision with a motorist, Baltimore Spokes reports that Maryland has some of the country’s most lenient vehicular manslaughter laws in the country. A Commute Orlando blogger analyzes the road conditions on a local thoroughfare after witnessing a motorist hit a cyclist. And the Seattle Transit Blog reports that tax revenue declines as a result of the recession will delay Seattle’s 15-year voter-approved transportation plan.
Continue reading ““Forgiving” Distracted Driving Won’t Keep Our Streets Safe”