Brad Aaron

Within half an hour of Thursday's noontime motorist rampage in Times Square, Governor Cuomo was on the scene. At 1:30 p.m., Mayor de Blasio convened a press conference with Police Commissioner James O'Neill and Fire Commissioner Daniel Nigro, confirming the awful toll: one person killed and 22 injured, with four victims in critical condition. Given the high-profile location, the number of victims, and recent instances of people using vehicles to kill for ideology, it's understandable that yesterday's crash drew so much attention. But it's important to recognize that as terrible as the Times Square carnage was for a single incident, the same human toll occurs on a daily basis on NYC streets -- it's just dispersed across the city.

If you spend much time at community meetings, or you're a Leslie Knope fan, you know that public forums are often where open-mindedness goes to die.

When it comes to making it easier and safer for people to get around on foot, is your city covering the basics? If you live in the U.S., odds are the answer is "Not by a long shot."

Next week, leaders in Portland will decide whether to move forward with a long-awaited bike-share system. Assuming it proceeds, Portland's bike-share is going to be an unusual one.

Gwinnett County is outpacing the Atlanta region in population growth. People who live there need transit to get to work, so much so that a recent poll found that 63 percent of likely voters were in favor of expanding MARTA service into the county.

Professional sports stadiums put a strain on transportation networks. While good transit service to games can lessen the traffic burden and help everyone get to sports venues more easily, this often imposes additional costs on transit agencies. Despite all the public subsidies pro sports teams receive, they rarely help pay for this service.

Want to talk to your kids? Stick them in the car.

Today the Streetsblog Network is mourning Deb Hubsmith, who died this week at age 45.

What if the United States treated traffic violence like the public health issue it is? According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, that would entail building bike infrastructure and slowing down drivers.

Traffic fatalities in the U.S. increased by 14 percent through June of this year compared to the first six months of 2014, and serious injuries jumped by 30 percent, according to the National Safety Council [PDF]. At the current rate, the group says, nationwide road deaths would top 40,000 for the first time since 2007.