- Feeling safer driving a huge SUV is a luxury available only to the rich, and there are diminishing returns. According to The Economist, for each life saved by being inside one of the heaviest vehicles in a crash, a dozen lives are lost. (State Smart Transportation Initiative)
- Drivers who use Tesla's Autopilot and similar technology are distracted about 30 percent of the time instead of keeping their hands on the wheel like they're supposed to, according to a study by MIT and the insurance industry. (Quartz)
- Autonomous vehicles don't actually drive themselves — because they need fleets of engineers on standby to take over if necessary. (Jalopnik)
- The price tag for a new West Seattle light rail line has ballooned from $2.3 billion in 2016 to about $7 billion now, meaning Sound Transit can no longer afford to build it without new funding. (Seattle Times)
- Houston buses are late a third of the time, which makes it even harder for riders who are already facing two-hour commutes to get to work. (Landing)
- Denver's transit agency is kicking Greyhound out of its Union Station bus terminal because it says the company keeps abandoning buses and passengers. (Denverite)
- The Regional Transportation District could cut costs and boost ridership on a Denver-Boulder-Longmont light rail line by partnering with a nearby agency working on a Pueblo-Fort Collins line. (Colorado Public Radio)
- Dallas officials are split between wanting to fully fund DART and those who support restructuring the regional transit agency to cut funding. (KERA)
- A Philadelphia bill would raise fines for drivers who block bike lanes. (CBS News)
- NEXT Pittsburgh details the auto industry and early motorists' war on pedestrians, with a local twist.
- Paris is simplifying transit fares so that any bus, subway or train ride in the city or region will cost a little less than $3. (Connexion)
- London Mayor Sadiq Khan plans to ban cars from the famed Oxford Street shopping district, which he says will revitalize the area and encourage spending. (The Guardian)
- When London restricted polluting vehicles around schools, kids started to walk and bike more. (Grist)
Today's Headlines
Friday’s Heavy Metal Headlines
Fatalities are seven times higher when a vehicle collides with a large pickup truck as opposed to a compact car, according to The Economist.
By Blake Aued
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