Pedestrian safety

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

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.

Pedestrian safety

Streetsblog has migrated to a new comment system. New commenters can register directly in the comments section of any article. Returning commenters: your previous comments and display name have been preserved, but you'll need to reclaim your account by clicking "Forgot your password?" on the sign-in form, entering your email, and following the verification link to set a new password — this is required because passwords could not be carried over during the migration. For questions, contact tips@streetsblog.org.

More from Streetsblog USA

Federal Funding

Advocates Warn Short-Term Transit Cuts Could Foreshadow Deeper Long-Term Slashing

A deeper dive on the transit cuts in the latest federal transportation extension bill – and how advocates are fighting back.

Kea Wilson

September 29, 2026

Vehicle Safety Standards

We Don’t Need to Ban Pick Up Trucks to Take Action on Vehicle Safety

There’s so much middle ground and low hanging fruit as far as reducing deaths and injuries caused by super large consumer vehicles. Here are three modest safety half-measures that should be a no-brainer.