The button is false

The story below reminded me how the talking pedestrian crossings around the inner harbor had to be programmed to say "No one has pressed the button." but they decided on "The button is false." A lot clearer and an improvement in pedestrian safety right? I'm not sure if they still do that but still, a totally different attitude than what's described below.
- B' Spokes

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MANY BOSTON, MA (& ELSEWHERE) PED WALK BUTTONS DO NOTHING
-> The Boston Globe reports the vast majority of walk buttons that dot downtown neighborhoods, don’t actually do anything. Officials say the city’s core is just too congested — with cars and pedestrians — to allow any one person to manipulate the cycle. Other major cities around the world, including New York, Seattle, and London, follow similar protocols. While pedestrians may be irked to learn they have been pressing what amount to placebo buttons, Boston officials say the setting is actually aimed at making life easier for walkers by eliminating the need to push a button at all. There was a time when pedestrians needed to press the device to ensure they got their turn. Now, traffic lights at many busy intersections are programmed to assume that pedestrians are constantly looking to cross. http://bit.ly/2vNQjgD

from CenterLines, the e-newsletter of the National Center for Bicycling & Walking.
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WHO PAYS FOR ROADS? A STATE-BY-STATE LOOK

-> State Smart Transportation Initiative reports all roads are subsidized, but to wildly varying degrees in each state. A new state-by-state study from the Tax Foundation found that user fees only cover a fraction of total road costs, ranging from 12% in Alaska to 76% in Hawaii. (How Are Your State’s Roads Funded?: http://bit.ly/2vNU2L9) While the report does not give a national figure, a previous version estimated user fees cover just 50% of road costs. http://bit.ly/2wGpd7l

from CenterLines, the e-newsletter of the National Center for Bicycling & Walking.

[B' Spokes: Maryland share of roads paid by user fees and taxes is 66.9%.]
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Hyperloopism is infecting everything; It’s time for sustainable alternatives.

By Lloyd Alter, Treehugger

...
Hyperloopism. The perfect word to define a crazy new and unproven technology which nobody is sure will work, that probably isn't better or cheaper than the way things are done now, and is often counterproductive and used as an excuse to actually do nothing at all. It appears to have been coined by Matthew Yglesias five years ago in the title of a post (The Trouble With Hyperloopism) but I can find no other uses of it on Google.
...

We actually do know how to fix things. We know how to make streets safe for pedestrians and stop murdering children; we know how to reduce carbon emissions to almost zero. But in the USA it appears that Hyperloopism is the religion of the day, and Elon Musk will solve it all. Somehow, I think people are going to be disappointed.

https://www.treehugger.com/urban-design/hyperloopism-infecting-everything-its-time-sustainable-alternatives.html
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Drivers Declare War on Walkers

By LEWIS MCCRARY, The Americain Conservative

Over the last decade, it’s become safer to drive and more dangerous to walk. That’s the conclusion of a new report on pedestrian safety released earlier this week, which documents that from 2007 to 2016, “The number of pedestrian fatalities increased 27 percent … while at the same time, all other traffic deaths decreased by 14 percent.”

Alarmingly, this is not just a medium-term trend, reports the Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA). In the U.S., “pedestrians now account for a larger proportion of traffic fatalities than they have in the past 33 years.”
...

http://www.theamericanconservative.com/urbs/drivers-declare-war-on-walkers/
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America’s Pedestrian Safety Crisis Isn’t Getting Any Better

By Angie Schmitt, Streets Blog

America isn’t making progress on pedestrian safety, with people on foot accounting for a steadily rising share of overall traffic fatalities.

In 2017, for the second year running, nearly 6,000 people were struck and killed while walking in the U.S., according to a new report from the Governors Highway Safety Association [PDF]. The pedestrian fatality rate remains about 25 percent higher than where it stood just a few years ago.

Other than the increase in driving mileage, there are few solid explanations of the factors at work. GHSA suggests distraction by mobile devices plays a role, as may impairment by marijuana, with pedestrian deaths rising more in states that have legalized weed. Neither explanation has been studied with scientific rigor, however.

One thing that’s certain is that city governments are in position to act on the problem, because pedestrian deaths are concentrated in urban areas. In 2016 alone, pedestrian fatalities in the 10 biggest U.S. cities rose 28 percent. In Los Angeles, the increase was 45 percent.

To reduce pedestrian fatalities, GHSA says states and local governments should focus on the following three areas.

[Just the headlines]

* More separation of pedestrians from motor vehicles
* Better visibility [s/b better nighttime iluumination]
* Reduce lethal motor vehicle speeds using engineering and enforcement

https://usa.streetsblog.org/2018/03/05/americas-pedestrian-safety-crisis-isnt-getting-any-better/
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A New Traffic Safety Paradigm

By Todd Litman, Planetizen

Despite numerous traffic safety programs, traffic death rates have not declined in a decade and recently started to increase. We can do better! A new paradigm identifies additional safety strategies that reduce both crash rates and risk exposure.

During this holiday season thousands of North Americans will be unnecessarily killed or severely injured in crashes. We could do much better!

The United States has the highest traffic fatality rate among peer countries, nearly three times the European average and easily twice the averages of Australia and Canada.
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https://www.planetizen.com/node/96324
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What and who are really behind all these pedestrian safety campaigns?

By Lloyd Alter, Treehugger

...
As it is now, the campaign language and programs promoted by the traffic safety organisations unabashedly victimise the individual (primarily pedestrians and cyclists) rather than speak out about the dangers of motorised vehicles. They also tend to ignore the one most obvious solution to lower road fatalities – a drastic reduction in the number of motorised vehicles on the road.
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Their baseline is clear. Cars are here to stay - everyone else either get out of the way or bubble wrap yourself. What this communication subculture doesn’t talk about is rather telling. Basically anything that would brand cars as the problem - or reducing the number of cars.
...

https://www.treehugger.com/walking/what-and-who-are-really-behind-all-these-pedestrian-safety-campaigns.html
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Put ‘people, not cars’ first in transport systems, says UN environment chief

Lack of investment in safe walking and cycling infrastructure not only contributes to the deaths of millions of people in traffic accidents on unsafe roads and poorly designed roadways, but also overlooks a great opportunity to boost the fight against climate change, a new UN environment report said today.
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https://news.un.org/en/story/2016/10/543292-put-people-not-cars-first-transport-systems-says-un-environment-chief
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