It’s Me, Wednesday’s Headlines, Hi, I’m the Problem, It’s Me
Is the next Taylor Swift, Drake, Bad Bunny or (insert popular artist here) album drop going to kill you?
By
Blake Aued
12:06 AM EDT on August 19, 2026
- Apparently downloading music is more important to some drivers than not killing people, because researchers found that traffic deaths rose by about 15 percent on the release dates for major albums, and the trend was even more pronounced among young people. (CNN)
- A University of Minnesota study found that cheap infrastructure like bollards and curb extensions made drivers more likely to slow down and stop for pedestrians.
- Drivers have killed 28 people in Washington, D.C. already this year, topping last year’s number of 25 for all of 2025 (DC News Now). In Maryland, motorcycle deaths are up, but overall traffic fatalities are trending lower than last year’s (WTOP).
- Despite “near universal” support among visitors, Seattle is scaling back car-free hours at Pike Place because some merchants perceive that sales will drop over the winter. (The Urbanist)
- Kansas City needs to find a stable source of funding for transit instead of bailing out its transit agency at the last minute over and over. (KCUR)
- Tailpipe emissions in Utah have fallen by 73 percent since 2011, even as the population and miles driven have grown, thanks to a cleaner type of gasoline. (KUER)
- Nashville is committing another $100 million to Choose How You Move transportation projects. (Fox 17)
- A Nebraska fund is offering loans to businesses affected by Omaha streetcar construction. (KMTV)
- Charlottesville officials and cyclists are calling for safer conditions. (Right Now)
- Florida wants cities to get rid of their rainbow crosswalks, but apparently faux brick is fine. (Suncoast Searchlight)
- Villanova students are using virtual reality to study how drivers would behave before going through the expense of building new infrastructure. (NBC Philadelphia)
- An Outside contributor writes about how her Denver family became a one-car household.
- The U.S. could’ve had high-speed rail 120 years ago. (CT Mirror)
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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