Monday’s Headlines to Start the Week
Road deaths are way up in many major cities this year. That, plus all the other news from the weekend.
By
Blake Aued
12:01 AM EST on November 30, 2020
- The U.S. DOT recently released its first-ever plan for preventing pedestrian deaths. Drivers killed over 6,000 people on foot last year, up 44 percent from 2010 (Transportation Today). Streetsblog’s Kea Wilson took it to task earlier this month.
- Despite the fact that one of his top advisers works for Uber, Joe Biden wants to make ride-hailing drivers employees with benefits. (Business Insider)
- Incoming Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is a big supporter of a carbon tax to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. (Quartz)
- A White couple who hurled racial slurs at a Black Uber driver for asking them to wear a mask have been fired, and the driver contracted COVID-19. (Atlanta Black Star)
- Ugh: Half-a-million pickup truck owners have disabled the emissions monitoring systems in their vehicles, which is worsening pollution, according to the feds. (NY Times)
- With more than a month to go in the year, New York City already surpassed its 2019 total of 220 traffic deaths (NY Post). Philadelphia’s road death toll has also topped 2o19’s already. Drivers have killed 119 people there, the most since 1997 (WHYY).
- Some sidewalks in San Francisco are slowly sinking into the bay. (SF Gate)
- Lost in the shadow of Project Connect, Austin voters also approved a $460-million bond issue for bike lanes, sidewalks, trails and other transportation projects. (Community Impact)
- Madison’s plan to put bus rapid transit lanes and stations in center turn lanes and medians will elevate the system’s profile and allow more bike lanes to be preserved. (Wisconsin State Journal)
- A year after Zyp left town, Birmingham has a new bike-share. (Alabama News Center)
- Tempe’s new streetcar is almost finished and expected to start running by mid-2o22. (AZ Big Media)
- A new bus rapid transit line in Waco could cut crosstown travel times in half. (Tribune)
- Well-known Washington, D.C. bike shop owner and ride organizer David Confer needs a liver transplant. (Bicycling)
- Australians say Uber Eats isn’t checking whether people have a properly maintained bike, or even know how to ride one, before hiring them to deliver food. (The Guardian)
Blake Aued has been doing Streetsblog's daily national news digest for years. He's also an Atlanta Braves fan, which enrages his editor in New York.
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