Brad Aaron
Brad Aaron began writing for Streetsblog in 2007, after years as a reporter, editor, and publisher in the alternative weekly business. Brad adopted New York's dysfunctional traffic justice system as his primary beat for Streetsblog. He lives in Manhattan.
Recent Posts
Yesterday’s Times Square Toll Was Terrible — But So Is a Typical Day of NYC Traffic Violence
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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.
What Mister Rogers Can Teach Us About Cities and NIMBYism
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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. Bill Lindeke of Twin City Sidewalks has been thinking about the contrast between urban NIMBYism and the ideals espoused by Fred Rogers, host of the legendary Pittsburgh-based public television show “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood.” […]
Attention Cities: To Encourage Walking, Don’t Overlook the Basics
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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.” Tim Kovach writes that his hometown, Cleveland, is getting good press for a zoning update intended to make parts of […]
Portland’s Bike-Share System Will Be an Interesting One to Watch
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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. Michael Andersen of BikePortland has everything you need to know in a series of posts on the proposed system (check them all out here). He reports that it would launch next summer with 600 bikes […]
Suburban Atlanta Pol: Why Fund Transit When We Can Wait for Robo-Cars?
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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. Gwinnett’s transportation director has asked for funds to restore bus service […]
The Public Funds Sports Teams, But Teams Won’t Fund Transit to Games
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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. It doesn’t have […]
Raise Your Kids in the Car, Says Stupefyingly Awful Web Site
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Want to talk to your kids? Stick them in the car. That’s the word-for-word headline atop a recent post on Driving, a Canadian web site that also believes lowering speed limits in cities — you know, those places where kids and parents walk — is “an exercise in futility,” because drivers. Both columns were penned by the […]
Safe Streets Pioneer Deb Hubsmith Has Died
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Today the Streetsblog Network is mourning Deb Hubsmith, who died this week at age 45. Deb founded the Safe Routes to School National Partnership, a nationwide program that is saving the lives of children endangered by reckless drivers. If you’ve advocated for or cared about safer streets in the last 10 to 15 years, chances […]
CDC: Make Cycling Safer With Protected Bike Lanes and Lower Speed Limits
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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. Last week the CDC released a report on the long-term mortality rate among U.S. cyclists. The study covers 38 years of U.S. DOT data […]
Confounded by Spike in U.S. Traffic Deaths and Injuries? Look Around
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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. […]
To Become a Sustainable City, Atlanta Must Face Its Parking Addiction
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Does Atlanta want to be a sustainable, transit-oriented city? The answer has a lot to do with how it addresses parking. Following up on “Atlanta’s Parking Addiction,” a recent column in the alt-weekly Creative Loafing, Darin at ATL Urbanist points out that much of the city’s new downtown streetcar route is lined with vehicle storage, rather than housing […]
The U.S. Made Cars Safer, and It’s Past Time to Do the Same for Streets
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If you have a well-worn copy of Ralph Nader’s seminal “Unsafe at Any Speed” on your bookshelf — and who doesn’t? — you know that in the mid 20th century U.S. auto companies were hostile to the idea of designing safer cars. Introducing basic features like padded dashboards and collapsible steering columns, the thinking went, would […]