Friday’s Headlines Are Blinded By the Light

The Ringer takes a deep dive into why headlights are so bright now and the community of people trying to tone them down.

12:31 AM EST on December 6, 2024

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If you think car headlights are blinding these days, you're right — average brightness has doubled since the advent of LEDs about 10 years ago. And it's probably causing a lot of crashes, although no one is sure how many. (The Ringer)
Most of the deadliest cars on the road are compacts, according to National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. But keep in mind that the NHTSA only considers people inside the vehicle, not the cyclists or pedestrians they hit. (Jalopnik)
Amtrak set records for ridership and ticket revenue in fiscal year 2024, adding 300,000 trips over pre-pandemic levels. (Smart Cities Dive)
A bipartisan YIMBY caucus is forming in Congress. (Colorado Public Radio)
Car tires are responsible for a quarter of the microplastics in the environment. (The Conversation)
Only one in four Americans get enough exercise, which public transit can promote. Transit users walk more and have lower obesity rates than drivers. (Niskanen Center)
Loud traffic noise like revving engines are not just annoying, they have harmful health effects as well. (streets.mn)
The Federal Highway Administration announced that Tesla-style charger plugs will be the standard for EVs. (Electrek)
If Portland residents cut out one of every five car trips, it would save 67 lives and each household almost $1,500 a year. (BikePortland)
North Carolina is spending $3.7 billion on 11 miles of freeway express lanes near Charlotte. (Equipment World)
Experts pointed to voters' economic concerns as the reason transit referendums in two suburban Atlanta counties failed. (Saporta Report)
A new Massachusetts law allowing Uber and Lyft drivers to form a union takes effect next month, and they're already organizing. (WGBH)
Kansas City has finished laying track for a streetcar extension that's now entering the months-long testing phase. (KCUR)
Utah's TRAX light rail system turned 25 years old. (Axios)
Ridership on Pacers Bikeshare in Indianapolis is up 50 percent, thanks to new e-bikes and free annual passes for Marion County residents. (WRTV)
Madison, Wisconsin now has an all-electric bus system, 90 years after it tore up its all-electric streetcar network. (CleanTechnica)
Anchorage is reopening its downtown bus station after a hotel redevelopment project died, once again giving riders a place to wait inside. (Daily News)
In Ann Arbor, when people put out their trash, the carts often block a bike lane. Now the city is banning the practice. (MLive)