Safety

About 350 pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists are killed each year by large trucks in this country. Big freight trucks are incompatible with cities in many ways, bringing danger, pollution, noise, and traffic congestion. They park in bike lanes and have shockingly big blind spots, putting everyone around them at risk. And yet, most cities haven't found a way to reconcile the need to move goods with all their other priorities.

In this week's podcast, Jeff and I discuss the impressive turnout -- and possible pitfalls -- of London's "die-in" demonstration for bike safety. We try to contain our envy (but not our amazement) at Paul Salopek's seven-year walk tracing the path of Homo sapiens from the Rift Valley to Tierra del Fuego. And we discuss why even passionate transit advocates know what it means to be embarrassed about taking the bus.

The long-term decline of walking and biking to school has been linked to the childhood obesity epidemic, a big share of morning rush hour traffic, and even kids' lack of attention in class. In 1969, 41 percent of children in grades K–8 lived within one mile of school, and of those kids, 89 percent usually walked or biked. By 2009, 31 percent lived within a mile of school -- and only 35 percent of them walked or biked.

In Gabe Klein’s exit interview with Chicago Mag, the outgoing transportation commissioner predicted that in the next few years, cities will be paying more attention to the correlation between lawbreaking by drivers and other kinds of crime.

The official 2012 death toll is out for our nation's poorly-designed, auto-centric transportation system. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, traffic injuries on the nation's roadways claimed the lives of 33,561 people. The headline of the agency's press release, "NHTSA Data Confirms Traffic Fatalities Increased In 2012," is quickly walked back by the subhed, which attempts a silver lining: "Highway deaths over the past 5 years remain at historic lows."

This week, in the midst of a government shutdown, at least one thing was moving and shaking in Washington: the first-ever Walking Summit. Sponsored by Kaiser Permanente, America Walks, the Safe Routes to School National Partnership and several other national groups, the conference sold out more than a month before showtime, the enthusiastic response surprising even the organizers. Today, despite the shutdown, many of the 400 participants are walking the Hill, meeting with their lawmakers to advocate for federal support for walking -- though many meetings have been canceled, especially on the Senate side.

Andy Clarke is the president of the League of American Bicyclists. This article originally appeared on the League's blog.