Jason King was in a Madison Avenue crosswalk when a dump truck driver backed into him and dragged him 30 feet. King's death prompted then-Senator Carl Kruger to take action -- not for tougher penalties for deadly driving, but for a ban on listening to music while walking. Photo: DNAinfo

But a closer look reveals some major caveats. First, the study relied on notoriously unreliable media reports to come up with 116 cases, between 2004 and 2011, in which pedestrians were killed or injured while wearing headphones (total U.S. pedestrian deaths during those years numbered in the tens of thousands). The majority of victims cited in the study were struck by trains, not cars, which as much as anything could call into question the perils of walking on train tracks — or the need for safer pedestrian thoroughfares.

Researchers noted that the overall use of headphones probably increased during the study period. If the study has any evidence that not wearing headphones is safer than wearing headphones, none of the press accounts we’ve seen have picked it up.

Then there’s this detail, reported by NPR:

The study is not the last word on the subject, the researchers concede. Because the data are drawn from media reports, they cannot say conclusively whether accident victims might have also had mental problems or drivers might have been at fault, for example.

Come again? With no accounting for driver error, this study isn’t worth the paper its printed on. In taking motor vehicles and their operators out of the equation, you might as well pin pedestrian deaths on Chuck Taylor tennis shoes or Orbit chewing gum.

Even if you start from the premise that the onus is on pedestrians to protect themselves from powerful multi-ton vehicles, the findings here are suspect at best. And though lead author Richard Lichenstein acknowledges that the study is basically a conversation-starter, the road to hell is paved with good intentions. Stories like the ones circulating today lend credence to the idea that traffic crashes are as unpreventable as natural disasters, and the best we can do is remain vigilant and hope we don’t die. When a paper like the New York Post sees a chance to pen a victim-blaming headline, it doesn’t sweat the small print.

Exhibit A is from Geico, which as usual doesn’t use cars in its ads for car insurance. Instead, in this spot the company’s ubiquitous cartoon spokeslizard is depicted walking the center line of the Brooklyn Bridge bike-ped path, extolling the value of Geico auto, RV and motorcycle insurance. Then comes the caveat — “You want to find a place to park all these things? Fuhgeddaboudit! This is New York.” — before the lizard is almost squashed by a cyclist who yells at him for being in the way.

Whether you’re from the city or not, you’re in on the joke: New York is a place where space is tight and people are on the move. But also: You don’t need a car to live here, and in fact, you’re probably better off without the hassle.

President Obama with daughter Malia on Tuesday. Not pictured: Secret Service SUVs. Photo: Jim Watson/AFP/Getty via Transportation Nation

This week marked the 109th anniversary of the first presidential motorcade, starring Theodore Roosevelt. If you’ve ever wondered why TR’s successors so rarely ditch their limos in favor of human-powered transport, read on. Staged photo op or no, it seems being elected president is a great way to spoil a family outing.

Copy from Politico’s Carrie Budoff Brown via the White House Press Office. Emphasis added.

The First Family took a leisurely ride Tuesday morning through Manuel F. Correllus State Forest.

After about a half-hour wait, shortly after 11 a.m., the pool got a glimpse of the president, decked out in a helmet, sunglasses, a black polo shirt and dark jeans.

But first up: First Lady Michelle Obama and daughter Sasha took the lead, passing first by the pool, which was assembled in knee-deep grass off a concrete bike path. Neither said anything to the reporters, photographers and TV cameras recording them.

Several minutes later, the president and daughter Malia rode by.

“Hello, everybody,” Obama said to the pool and about two dozen or so less-famous bikers who greeted him.

“Any word on Qadhafi’s whereabouts?” yelled the Associated Press’s Mark Smith.

The president didn’t take the question, choosing instead to keep his focus on the small group of cheering spectators as he moved further down the path.

The full procession through the park offered a stark contrast that underscored the strange existence of a president.

Shortly before Michelle and Sasha Obama arrived, two trucks carrying Secret Service agents rode along the same narrow concrete path usually reserved for bikers and walkers. A rolling caravan of agents and staff followed on bikes ahead of the president and Malia, who were then followed by several more SUVs full of agents.

“Can you imagine living like that?” one female biker asked her fellow onlookers.

Less than three weeks after being sworn in, Emanuel joined his transportation commissioner, Gabe Klein, for the groundbreaking of the city’s first protected bike lane. What’s good for cyclists, says Emanuel in this news clip, is good for the city.

More than that, Emanuel has thrown down the gauntlet to other big-city leaders. By declaring his intent to make Chicago the most bike-friendly city in the nation, and walking the walk from the outset, he has effectively placed the onus on his peers to keep up. For an idea of how high Emanuel has set the bar, he’s talking 25 miles of protected bike lanes per year — more than New York City has installed to date.

While New York, Boston, Philadelphia, D.C., San Francisco and Los Angeles have all made strides recently, none that we can think of have been accompanied by this level of high-visibility commitment from their respective mayors. Emanuel campaigned on transportation reforms and is enacting livable streets policy right away, without apology. As if making a city’s streets safer and more accessible is the most obvious thing in the world.

Go Rahm go.

If you’ve been watching the NCAA men’s basketball tournament, which resumes tonight, you’ve probably seen this Subaru spot, called “Baby Driver.” In it, a distressed father leans into the passenger side window, imploring his preschool-age daughter to be careful on the road — stay off the freeways, put the phone away — to the point that she interrupts with a sweetly impatient “Daddy, o-kay.” When he gives up the keys, we see the child as a present-day teenager. As she backs out of the driveway, to the obligatory strains of an acoustic guitar, the word “love” pops up on the screen. It dissolves into the Subaru logo as dad’s voice intones: “We knew this day was coming. That’s why we bought a Subaru.”

From his body language and tone of voice, the way he watches helplessly as she drives away, you’d think his daughter was shipping out for Afghanistan. What the voice-over might as well have said was, “No one wants their kids to drive. We know it’s incredibly dangerous. So we bought a Subaru in hopes that our child won’t die.”

If you can get past the myth of driving as an unavoidable rite of passage, you have to hand it to Subaru on this one. Based on the YouTube comments, it’s pulling a lot of heartstrings. And the emphasis, at least, is on safety (albeit for those inside the Subaru). Contrast that with the current campaign from fellow March Madness sponsor Dodge, featuring commercials like the one after the jump. Given its celebration of sociopathic behavior — watch as the Charger plows heedlessly through urban crosswalks at “movie car chase” speeds — we wonder if the narration by Michael C. Hall, TV’s favorite serial killer, is more than coincidence.

It’s enough to keep a Subaru dad awake at night.

Many intersections with red light cameras are marked, but that's not enough to appease drivers intent on breaking the law and getting away with it. Photo: Tampa Tribune

A new study shows that, despite their supposed reputation as government revenue collectors, red light cameras are saving lives.

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety found that red light cameras prevented 159 deaths between 2004 and 2008 in 14 of the largest cities in the U.S., and that 815 deaths would have been prevented had cameras been operating in all U.S. cities with a population of over 200,000.

Says the IIHS:

The researchers found that in the 14 cities that had cameras during 2004-08, the combined per capita rate of fatal red light running crashes fell 35 percent, compared with 1992-96. The rate also fell in the 48 cities without camera programs in either period, but only by 14 percent.

Based on that comparison, the researchers concluded that the rate of fatal red light running crashes in cities with cameras in 2004-08 was 24 percent lower than it would have been without cameras. That adds up to 74 fewer fatal red light running crashes or, given the average number of fatalities per red light running crash, approximately 83 lives saved.

The study also found that crashes in cities with red light cams declined even at signalized intersections where no cameras were present — leading to a projected total of 159 lives saved — while collisions in cities that used no cameras showed a slight increase.

The IIHS says criticism of the cameras is overblown and ignores the human toll of traffic collisions. A Washington Post story on the IIHS report notes a AAA survey that found just eight percent of D.C. drivers in opposition to red light cameras. Yet the merits of lifesaving traffic tech tend to be drowned out by the vocal minority. “Somehow, the people who get tickets because they have broken the law have been cast as the victims,” says Adrian Lund, president of IIHS. “We rarely hear about the real victims — the people who are killed or injured by these lawbreakers.”

Most of those victims are not the drivers who cause the collisions. Nearly two-thirds of those killed by red light runners in 2009 were occupants of other vehicles, passengers in the red light runners’ vehicles, pedestrians or cyclists.

As if to prove Lund’s point, the Post reports that two Virginia lawmakers have proposed legislation restricting cities’ use of red light cameras in their state. In contrast to AAA’s New York branch, which recently panned efforts to step up automated speed enforcement, AAA Mid-Atlantic supports red light cameras, and has denounced the Virginia bills.

Lexus has suspended sales of its GX 460 after Consumer Reports issued a "don't buy" warning earlier this week. Apparently the luxury SUV's electronic "stability control" system can fail to correct drivers taking turns too quickly, resulting in a rollover risk. Times car blog Wheels reports:

Mr. Champion [Consumer Reports auto testing director] said that the problem came to light at the magazine's test track in East Haddam, Conn., while looking for "any nasty habits that might catch a driver out." He explained, "We want a car to be benign."

Speaking of nasty habits, the problem might well have come to light during this commercial shoot. Far from presenting the GX 460 as benign, Lexus hawks it as the nimble vehicle every upwardly-mobile mom needs to whip through city streets teeming with urban dangers (and cleared of urban traffic, natch). Strap in, precious, we're goin' to lacrosse practice!

So we have a carmaker promoting its product as a street-legal racing machine, and a consumer watchdog group telling the public it should not be driven as advertised -- or better yet, not driven at all.

We've tapped this vein before, but until "Closed Course/Professional Driver/Do Not Attempt" marketing goes the way of the "healthy" cigarette ad, supposed fail-safe features -- mostly designed to protect those inside the car -- will continue to be so much window dressing. Like those pedestrians in Batmom's peripheral vision.

If you work in a city, ride to work and home again on a bicycle! Don't stay indoors so much of the time -- keep outside more and you'll be happier and your brain will be clearer. You can think better. Worries, the "blues," etc., will vanish. You must be healthy to be happy. A bicycle will give you a store of health, and enable you to face life's battles with strength, courage, confidence, and enthusiasm.

You can find the actual catalogue page here. Find out more about Mead, once famous for its mail-order "Ranger" line, here and here. Enjoy.

Diez

In
an Asheville courtroom last week, Diez pled guilty to shooting Simons
during a July 26 roadside confrontation. Said to be upset that Simons
was riding his bike with his 3-year-old child, Diez fired his .38
caliber pistol as Simons walked away after the two exchanged words. The
bullet struck Simons’ bike helmet, narrowly missing his skull. 

In August, a grand jury reduced charges
against Diez from attempted first degree murder to felony assault.
While assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill certainly sounds
like an offense worthy of a lengthy prison term, the presiding judge
apparently agreed that this was a case of a stand-up guy having a bad
day. Mountain Xpress reports:

Convictions
on such a charge result in an average 20-39 months in
prison for the defendant. But in the sentencing, Superior Court Judge
James Downs found that Diez’s military service, along with testimony
from former
colleagues about his good character, were mitigating factors, and chose
to sentence him to 15-27 months instead. Downs suspended all but four
months of that sentence unless Diez breaks the law again in the next 30
months.

Diez must also undergo anger management counseling and pay Simons $1,200 "for damage to his eardrum."

The
slap on the wrist issued to Diez has some worried that authorities have
pretty much declared open season on area cyclists. Asked Brian Jones,
who along with his wife is a regular victim of harassment and worse at the hands of local motorists: "If a cyclist shot a fireman, judge or prosecuting attorney in his
head, in front of his family, what sentence do you think he/she would
receive."

The
travesty in Asheville comes amid continuing reports of
driver-on-cyclist violence, with, as Sarah noted this morning, recent
incidents in Tulsa and Miami.

The first time I saw this ad I thought my eyes and ears were deceiving me. But no, there it is: a young woman holding a cellphone toward the camera as "nüvifone" maker Garmin beckons viewers to "communicate while navigating."

"With my nüvifone, I can take calls from my friends while I'm driving to them," she says as she's shown piloting an SUV with two passengers, one of whom accepts an incoming call on a phone mounted to the windshield. (Note to Garmin: Hands-free is not brain-free.)

Maybe the most egregious aspect is the "Do not drive while distracted" disclaimer -- which pops up as the young woman is depicted driving while distracted.

Toyota wants you to know that it’s here for you. And not just as a
car maker, as the company explains in this spot, ironically entitled
"Community."

Like GM before them, Toyota wants to make sure you realize just how much their company means to you. Here’s our voice-over:

"We acknowledge you are coming to despise automobiles,
but your nation depends on our industry for so many jobs that, even if
we only manufactured cardboard cut-out cars that you had to carry down
your few remaining walkable Main Streets, you’d still need us,
America."

Accompanying the ad is the aggressively cloying and patently manipulative "Beyond Cars"
web site –
which if nothing else should serve as an irresistible culture-jamming
target. What do we see, Toyota? For starters, we see a world where your product doesn’t kill people.

And you? What do you see?

Livable streets prodigy Elli Giammona. Photo: The Missoulian

Elli is a 9-year-old in Missoula, Montana who a couple of years ago began to question why she couldn’t bike to school.
When her mother explained that it wasn’t safe because the road leading
from their home to Hellgate Elementary — a typical suburban arterial,
from the looks of it — didn’t have a sidewalk, Elli took action.

With
encouragement from her mom and the help of her younger sister and older
brother, she petitioned Missoula County, gathering signatures and
composing a letter explaining the benefits of a walkable Mullan Road. The Missoulian reports:

The letter is dated Jan. 14, 2009, around the time [county public works director Greg] Robertson was
looking for a project eligible for American Reinvestment and
Recovery Act dollars. Criteria? A quick turnaround, a project in
the urban area, and one uncomplicated by problems like right-of-way
negotiations and extra environmental reviews.

"Honestly, I didn’t have any other projects for consideration at
the time that would have met the criteria," he said.

Long story short: A new trail is expected to be finished in time for Elli to ride it to school next fall.

Not
only has Elli made it safer for herself and her neighbors to ride a
bike or take a walk, she’s also made plain how completely the stars
must align for something as simple as a car-free ribbon of asphalt to
become reality. (Even now, the planned Missoula trail won’t connect
with the school because of right-of-way costs.) Just a few decades ago
a kid riding or walking to school would be considered the epitome of
American wholesomeness. Now it’s a symptom of child neglect, in part because of infrastructure so obviously inhospitable that even a 7-year-old gets it.

Maybe,
above all, Elli Giammona and her family have given us hope for a future
in which full-grown adults get it too. One where it won’t take an act
of Congress to get a child to school safely.

Today was International Walk to School Day, and according to this Audi commercial, if you participated you're a big loser.

In all seriousness, this has to be one of the most obnoxious spots we've featured on Streetsblog. Basically, per Audi: If you take transit, you're a glutton for punishment; if you ride a bike, you're a hapless weenie.

But Audi owners? They're just like you: "trying to do their part" for the environment. Only they do it by driving a $30,000, fossil fuel-burning, CO2-emitting private automobile. Though it is "clean diesel" -- you can pretty much drink that stuff, right?

If you’ve got some free time at your desk over the next couple of days, drop in on the U.S. DOT distracted driving summit.

There
are plenty of platitudes flying around about the obvious need for
"awareness" of how dangerous it is to operate a multi-thousand pound
projectile while reading or typing, but there are lots of of
interesting tidbits too. This morning, for example, a AAA rep declined
to say whether his group supports a national texting ban, while a Utah transit official suggested that those who want to text while commuting should consider public transportation.

You can follow the event through tomorrow afternoon via webcast or Secretary Ray LaHood’s live-blog feed.

(editor’s note: The idea of opening streets to bicyclists and pedestrians by closing them to vehicular traffic for temporary car-free parties has become such a mainstream idea in places such as New York and San Francisco that even Fox News is joining in on the fun.  Head’s up Mayor Villaraigosa!  Below is NYC Streetsblog’s Brad Aaron’s coverage of the coverage is below.)

How much of a non-event was this year’s Summer Streets in terms of media critique? In this Fox News piece, via Crooks and Liars,
the story isn’t traffic tie-ups or wacky spandex-clad elitists or
howling business owners, but the fact that more everyday New Yorkers
are taking to the streets on two wheels. Summer Streets, it seems, has
become a mainstream event in just its second year. Reported the Downtown Express at the beginning of August:

"I
thought last year it was going to cause havoc in the community," said
John Fratta, chairperson of Community Board 1′s Seaport/Civic Center
Committee. "For the most part I was pretty pleased. It was a nice
event." He said he supports the event this year.

The Fox segment does refer to the questionable Hunter College study on unsafe cyclist behavior (without acknowledging more revealing data on the causes of bike-car collisions),
and there’s a completely unsupported ticker squib that attributes
complaints over spending on bike infrastructure to unnamed "critics."
But these feel like token attempts to "balance" an otherwise positive
story.

Who knows, maybe in a year or two even Steve Cuozzo will have to re-read his old columns to remember what he hated so much about car-free Times Square.

Picking up on a thread from earlier this week on how street design can be used to prevent high-speed crashes in dense urban environments, today on the Network we hear from Streetsblog New York regular "Andy B from Jersey," via WalkBikeJersey Blog.

On a recent drive along the Jersey shore, Andy found Route 35 packed with people, and the street ill-suited to accommodate them.

A 21-year-old pedestrian was killed at this Ocean City, NJ intersection in July. Locals say design changes are needed to prevent future casualties. Photo: pressofAtanticCity.com

Talk of pedestrian and bicycle traffic! It was everywhere and coming from every conceivable direction. This was particularly true in the Lavallette and Ortley Beach areas. Despite the volumes of bike and pedestrian traffic facilities for them were extremely minimal and often in poor condition. Bike lanes are nonexistent and even sidewalks were intermittent. Bicyclists came from every direction with only one of over a hundred having any lights even though it was completely dark by this time. Pedestrians were also hard to see, including ones making every effort to use the marked crosswalks. Local authorities did try to help pedestrians by placing construction barrels in the roadway to accent crosswalks but at night this seemed (to me at least) to cause more confusion.

With repairs coming soon at some point it is time for NJDOT to step up and come up with a Context Sensitive Solution for this highway that suits the needs of all roadway users and increases safety for all.

Traffic enforcement and equitable street design shouldn't be an either/or proposition, but what is the proper balance? Can citizens prod law enforcers and urban planners to work together to improve conditions for all road users? If so, where do we begin?

Also today, Transit Miami finds that Quito, Ecuador, is getting it right when it comes to people-friendly streetscaping, while UrbanCincy ponders the merits of signal timing in keeping speeds down. And WashCycle reports that Roanoke, Virginia, cyclists bulked up their bikes to illustrate how much street space is required for the average driver.

In Portland, fears of liability turned Safe Routes to School to "Safer Routes." Photo: BikePortland.org

"It’s pervasive throughout the country and we’re hearing about it more
and more,” [Ping] said. The problem, according to Ping, is that many school
principals and administrators feel that biking and walking to school is
simply unsafe. They are concerned about being held liable for anything
that happens during the trip to and/or from school.

In addition to studying the current scope of the problem, the Safe
Routes National Partnership is putting together a team of legal experts
who will craft a legal statement directed at school principals,
outlining why improving biking and walking options will not increase
their liability exposure. They hope the legal statement will also help
allay the fears that lead to bike ban policies in the first place.

Though, as Ping points out, principals can’t actually stop students
from walking and biking, they can use their influence to discourage it.
Administrators can also deny students a decent place to store their bikes during the school day. But if the issue is safety and liability, what about those high school parking lots?

Ping said one safe routes advocate he heard from countered a bike ban
in their community by asking the principal whether or not he felt
liable for kids who drive to school. “That’s a great way to push back
on this idea.”

In a somewhat related post featured on the Network today, Car Free With Kids sings the praises of raising a toddler on transit. Also: The Overhead Wire notes light rail progress in Houston, while Streetsblog LA finds controversy over one Metro rail line; Gateway Streets maps "desire paths" in St. Louis’s Forest Park; and NY Examiner analyzes another case of motorist-on-cyclist violence, this time in Staten Island.

To
get an idea of how a new funding package might fare in the Senate,
Freemark has compiled a scorecard of key transportation votes — which
he’s dubbed the Transport Index 2009. As with most issues, the Index
finds that support for investment in sustainable modes and maintenance
of existing infrastructure is split along party lines.

In response to the President’s State of the Union Address in February, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal (R) criticized the stimulus, arguing that it was "larded with wasteful spending."
He pointed to the $8 billion devoted to high-speed rail as a
specifically unnecessary expenditure. It became clear at that moment
that the road to an improved American transportation system would not
be a straight shot. How will the members of the Senate react when they
are forced to consider expanding the federal commitment to
transportation? That’s what this Transport Index is intended to
anticipate.

The health reform debate of the last several
weeks has made evident the fact that Republicans in Congress will be
able to rile up an intimidating opposition to legislation proposed by
the Democratic Party. Though Democrats have 60 seats in the Senate — a
number that is large enough to vote down a potentially fatal filibuster
– the sudden arrival of thousands of right-wing demonstrators on scene
at town hall meetings has slowed down and problematized the passage of
any legislation.

Would Republicans stage a similar temper
tantrum if the Congress embarked on a massive transportation program?
It’s unclear, but Mr. Jindal’s reaction in February indicates that it’s
a distinct possibility.

What do you think of this ranking
system? Can Democratic senators from Montana, North Dakota, and
Arkansas be counted on to support a bill that invests in urban transit?

More on the Network: Hard Drive details how a bike shop owner in Portland, Oregon has instituted his own Cash for Clunkers program; Urban Review STL looks at how towns are messing up Main Street; Copenhagenize anticipates the arrival of "bicycle superhighways"; and Plan Philly reports on a city plan to speed bus travel.

Photo: TITIG/Flickr

The
coalition points to a June League of American Bicyclists report that
heralds cycling as a $133 billion industry, putting some 1.1 million
Americans to work and contributing $17.7 billion in federal, state and
local taxes annually, in addition to the $46.9 billion cyclists spend
on bike tourism:

The report is brief but
it does a great job pointing to the economic/health benefits of
bicycling while dispelling myths commonly used to oppose bicycle
infrastructure investments. For example a study of bike lanes on Bloor
St. in Toronto concluded that the addition of bike lanes would be
unlikely to harm local business and predicted that commercial activity
on the street would likely increase. Three-quarters of merchants
surveyed on the street believed that business activity would improve or
stay the same if a bike lane replaced half of the on-street parking.

You can find the LAB report, with plenty of U.S. success stories, here.
If there is a downside to this bit of positive economic news, it could
be that in one of America’s most hospitable cycling towns — Portland,
Oregon — would-be pedalers may have a tough time finding an affordable starter ride. Cash for beater bikes, anyone?

In other news, Smart City Memphis laments that city’s refusal to abandon sprawl-inducing land use patterns; Second Avenue Sagas delves into this week’s subway station ceiling collapse; Streetsblog San Francisco offers analysis on the potential positive effect of the transit strike near miss; and Cycling Solution reports on livable streets improvements in Budapest, Hungary.