Pedestrian Safety

Nova Scotia Cracks Down on Jaywalkers—Advocates React As Expected

The provincial government has taken draconian measures on jaywalkers in an effort to curb pedestrian injuries and fatalities.

January 23, 2016 - BuzzFeed News

Fixing Seattle's Most Dangerous Road

In-depth coverage of the improvement efforts underway on Seattle's Rainier Avenue.

January 1, 2016 - KCTS

Critiquing Minneapolis' Pedestrian Infrastructure Efforts

Is a city with its own fair share of high profile projects on the way doing enough to ensure the safety of pedestrians?

December 30, 2015 - MinnPost

Pedestrian Overpass

What's Wrong With Removing Sidewalks in the Name of Pedestrian Safety?

Broken Sidewalk analyzes an example of the kind of street design decisions continuing to encroach on pedestrian infrastructure around the country. The case study: Ninth Street in Louisville.

December 23, 2015 - Broken Sidewalk

Pedestrians

When 'Vision Zero' Conflicts With Local Politics

Community leaders sometimes present the biggest obstacles when and where the rubber hits the road on Vision Zero traffic safety improvements. New York City Mayor de Blasio is pushing for more power for the DOT.

December 17, 2015 - StreetsBlog NYC

The Dallas City Councilmember Standing Up for Pedestrians

A hearing on pedestrian infrastructure in Dallas—which is proving exceptionally deadly this year—reveals the sharp political divide on how to make streets safe for walking.

October 5, 2015 - The Dallas Morning News

'Vision Zero' Requires More Data in Washington, D.C.

Advocates say traffic safety data collection practices in Washington, D.C. don't meet national standards. They also say it will be hard for the District to meet its vision zero goal by 2024 if the problem persists.

September 3, 2015 - WAMU

Construction Zone

Zaha Hadid Reimagines the Sidewalk Shed

Attempts to make over the conventional sidewalk shed are pretty but costly. Will Hadid's High Line canopy catch on?

August 28, 2015 - The New York Times

Making Traffic Circles Safe for Pedestrians

A post for Greater Greater Washington details the ongoing conversation about how to improve pedestrian safety around Grant Circle.

August 22, 2015 - Greater Greater Washington

Speed Limit

The Origins of Speed Limits

Motor vehicle crashes claim over 30,000 lives per year, with related costs in the hundreds of billions. While we sometimes view that frightening statistic as inevitable, there are reasons to reexamine speed limits and how we set them.

August 2, 2015 - Five Thirty Eight

Phoenix Sales Tax Measure Key to County's Transit Future

On August 25, voters in Phoenix and Maricopa County will determine the outcome of Proposition 104, a transportation sales tax measure that would raise $17 billion for a wide variety of transportation improvements, including extended light rail.

July 29, 2015 - ABC 15 (Phoenix)

CicLAvia Crowd

Open Streets Events Enjoy Coast-to-Coast Popularity

New York City and San Jose have expanded or added rules that temporarily close some of their streets to automobile traffic. This continues a string of successes for the open streets movement.

July 15, 2015 - Next City

Vintage Taxi

Uber Vehicles are Not Taxis, Even When They Want To Be

A June 16 vote by the San Francisco MTA to improve safety will allow taxis, along with bicycles and Muni buses, but not ride-hailing services to make turns onto the downtown's main thoroughfare, Market Street, has upset San Francisco-based Uber.

June 18, 2015 - San Francisco Chronicle

San Francisco to Prohibit Cars From Turning Onto Market Street

The Safer Market Street project is one of a package of traffic safety projects underway in San Francisco to achieve a Vision Zero goal to eliminate traffic deaths by 2024.

June 12, 2015 - SFGate

Red Light Camera

To Protect Pedestrians, Keep the Cameras

Active Transportation Alliance, a Chicago pedestrian advocacy group, urges Mayor Rahm Emanuel to improve red light cameras rather than remove them. Despite complaints from drivers, well-advertised cameras can reduce pedestrian fatalities.

May 29, 2015 - Chi.Streetsblog

Two Brothers Walk to School

How Developers Can Help Make Streets Safe for Children Again

It will take a broad coalition of interests to once again make it safe for "free-range kids" to walk and bike on the streets of American communities.

May 14, 2015 - Patrick L. Phillips

Oakland Crosswalk Engineering Mistimes Walkability Goals

A well-informed, social media savvy observer is shedding light on a seemingly small change with big impacts on the quality of life available to pedestrians along Oakland's streets.

May 13, 2015 - Gejl Accident Attorneys

What Makes Left Turns So Dangerous?

After breaking down the reasons why left turns are so dangerous, it's also obvious how difficult a problem they are to solve.

May 13, 2015 - WNYC

Complete Streets

Bike Lanes Help Sidewalks, Too

A growing body of evidence shows that bike lanes put more people on bikes while also helping those people on bikes stay off sidewalks. The latest example: Honolulu.

May 11, 2015 - People for Bikes

Survey Says: Invest in Walking in East Portland

The results of a multi-lingual survey of residents in East Portland produced surprising results about which transportation investments are most desired.

May 2, 2015 - Bike Portland

Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools

This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.

Planning for Universal Design

Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.

Top Books

An annual review of books related to planning.

Top Schools

The definitive ranking of graduate planning programs.

100 Most Influential Urbanists

The who's who of urbanism, according to Planetizen readers.

Urban Planning Creators You Should Know

A short list of voices on social, video, and podcasting platforms.