Tuesday’s Headlines See the Light

It's always been harder to see in the dark, so that doesn't explain why drivers are killing more people at night lately.

By Blake Aued

12:01 AM EST on December 12, 2023

Early winter sunsets and lack of streetlights are two of many reasons why evenings are so dangerous for walking. Photo: Detroit Public Lighting Authority

The New York Times looked into why pedestrian deaths at night are rising even faster in the U.S. than other times of day. There are lots of explanations — darkness itself, dangerous roads, bigger vehicles, drivers fiddling with their phones on their way home from work — but Streetsblog's Kea Wilson hit on one the Times missed: Walkers are safer in numbers, but Americans walk a lot less than they used to.
More stories are trickling out about the Biden administration's recent $8 billion passenger rail announcement (Route Fifty).
- Washington and Oregon officials had hoped for $198 million for high-speed rail connecting Portland, Seattle and Vancouver, but had to settle for a $1 million planning grant (The Urbanist).
- The feds also denied funding for lines from Salt Lake City to Las Vegas and Boise (Salt Lake Tribune).
- Chicago received $94 million for Union Station and planning money for improvements on lines to Indianapolis and Ontario (Audacy).
A new poll shows that Bay Area voters aren't willing to pay higher taxes to fund transit unless the region's 27 agencies become more seamless to ride. (San Francisco Chronicle)
Baltimore's light rail shutdown raises questions about why the Maryland DOT didn't upgrade its 30-year-old rail cars earlier. (Banner)
The Port of San Diego wants to turn some rental car parking lots into an entertainment district with a TopGolf and a park along the bay. (Times of San Diego)
An Orlando transportation engineer writes that even when streets are designed to be safe, it doesn't matter if drivers are distracted. (Sentinel)
Seattle police are looking for the driver or drivers who appeared to deliberately target pedestrians in two separate vehicular assaults. (KING 5)
A Bakersfield man, irate that a road was closed, plowed his truck into a Christmas parade, injuring three people. (Bakersfield Now)
When drivers killed six pedestrians in West Hartford last year, it convinced city officials they needed a Vision Zero plan. (CT Insider)
After installing one protected bike lane, Santa Monica's mayor proclaimed that the SoCal city is coming for Amsterdam's crown as the bike capital of the world. (Momentum)
In preparation for congestion pricing, Streetsblog NYC editor Gersh Kuntzman has donned his metaphorical bat-mask once again and is back to the "criminal mischief" of fixing obscured license plates. (C u rbed)