NEW BOOK: KILLED BY A TRAFFIC ENGINEER: A Livestream recording w/ the author Wes Marshall
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- Опубликовано: 2 окт 2024
- This is a conversation with Professor Wes Marshall about his new book from Island Press, Killed By A Traffic Engineer: Shattering the Delusion that Science Underlies Our Transportation System. It was recorded as a live stream, so we fielded as many questions as we could from the audience.
Thank you so much for tuning in! If you enjoyed this Livestream, please give it a thumbs-up, leave a comment below, and share it with a friend. If you'd like more content like this, please Subscribe to the Active Towns Channel, and be sure to "Ring" that notification bell to select your notification preferences.
Helpful Links (note that some may include affiliate links to help me support the channel):
- Killed by a Traffic Engineer (Island Press): islandpress.or...
- Killed by a Traffic Engineer by Wes Marshall in my shop: bookshop.org/a... or on Amazon: amzn.to/44l0SFh
- My first episode w/ Wes: www.activetown...
- My ride in Denver w/ Wes part one: • An examination of quic...
- My ride in Denver w/ Wes part two: • More quick build traff...
- My ride to Houten, NL: • My ride from Utrecht t...
- My interview Kylie, a Houten resident: • Hear from a Houten res...
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Credits: Video and audio production by John Simmerman
Music via Epidemic Sound: bit.ly/3rFLErD
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Background:
Hi Everyone! My name is John Simmerman, and I’m a health promotion and public health professional with over 30 years of experience. Over the years, my area of concentration has evolved into a specialization in how the built environment influences human behavior related to active living and especially active mobility.
Since 2010, I've been exploring, documenting, and profiling established, emerging, and aspiring Active Towns wherever they might be while striving to produce high-quality multimedia content to help inspire the creation of more safe and inviting, environments that promote a "Culture of Activity" for "All Ages & Abilities."
The Active Towns Channel features my original video content and reflections, including a selection of podcast episodes and short films profiling the positive and inspiring efforts happening around the world as I am able to experience and document them.
Thanks once again for tuning in! I hope you find this content helpful and insightful.
Creative Commons License: Attributions, Non-Commercial, No Derivatives, 2024
Thanks so much for this work fellas! To figure out how the humanity in our public spaces went missing feels like an insurmountable problem. But you're teasing it out, finding the individual threads we're all trapped by, probably testing your sanity in the process, and we all benefit from that. It's very very appreciated!
Awe, thanks so much, Kylie. And you are quite welcome. I look forward to seeing you soon.
Good discussion. Hoboken had an advantage of being sprawl-proof since it has natural boundaries. Plus, according to a priest I met there, "every block has its own personality. You can fit in no matter how crazy you are." Probably things have changed since I was there.
Thanks, Mark! I definitely need to visit... after my European trip. I'll email you the details as to when I'll be in Paris. Cheers! John
@@ActiveTowns I will send you photos of brand new fully protected bike-greenway that parallels where we rode, with none of those challenging entrances, as well as the finished protected lane that was only partly done when we rode it.
@@markcramer14 Nice!
Darn! I wish I could have been there for the livestream. It was great to watch after the fact, though. Amazing how decisions that affect our every day lives (street design and safety) are made.
You will really like this book. Thanks so much for watching and for your generous support! 🙏
Stop Subsidizing automobiles! let property owners and neighborhoods create tehir own infrastructure!
Well said! Subsidizing is the correct term for sure. Grant Ennis wrote a fabulous book on the subject. ICYMI here’s my interview with him ruclips.net/video/dP41Hsr4fMA/видео.html
Thanks so much for watching and commenting. Cheers! John
8:10 That evaluation and feedback loop - and the iterative design process - that is missing in traffic engineering is embedded in the user experience design and research approach. I truly think ux qualitative and quantitative research methods are the missing link in the field. This talk is helping me see exactly how, thank you for sharing.
So glad you enjoyed it, Hannah. And highly recommend that you read this book as it goes into much more detail about precisely what you are referencing. Also, I'd be happy to facilitate an introduction to Wes if you didn't meet him in Cincinnati at CNU. Cheers! John
Engineering still builds new subdivisions without separating cyclists from risk
Yep. Fundamental change is needed. Thanks so much for watching
Even the job title, “Traffic Engineer”, is a problem. People don’t think about foot traffic or bike traffic; for most people, “traffic” means being in a car, stuck behind other cars. At least call them “transportation engineers “. “Mobility Engineers” would be even better.
Indeed! It is unfortunate that the word "traffic" has been co-opted to be so negative... in the retail world, to your point, "foot traffic" or "bike traffic" means many people walking and cycling past your storefront, which is considered a very good thing. Thanks so much for watching and for commenting. Always much appreciated. Cheers! John
Great interview!
Thanks so much! Glad you enjoyed it and grateful that you tuned in!
I love the crumpled stop sign on the cover. That looks like how our roads really are.
We have similar problems in my neighborhood. The stroad is 45 mph, so some drivers are traveling at 55-60 mph.
There's a condo development with a decorative wall on either side of the entrance. The wall on the downstream side has a huge dent where a car didn't slow down enough to make the entrance. Good thing no no one was leaving at the time.
And the signal control box at my local corner was run over, despite being behind the sidewalk. The intersection was a four way stop for a couple of weeks. Honestly, I thought it worked better as a four way than a signalled intersection.
Wes was telling me the other day that he gifted a crumpled stop sign that looks similar to the one on the book cover. Thanks for tuning in, Claude. Cheers! John
Road signs posted behind visional obstructions, like overpasses, (when the sign is for the under road's use). The sign should be posted at the lead side of the overpass.
Traffic exiting and incoming in the same yield lane (about 1000 meters) on a highway; (traffic that are at different speeds at the same place - like trucker say it isn't the speed as much as the differences in speed).
Given the image at 52:30, if we designed pedestrian first, looking at those nice outdoor searing restaurants and such, i'd remove the car parking entirely, give all that space to the pedestrians to ensure enough room not only for terraces like that, but also to then walk around them. then if we collapse the middle turning lane, we have enough space left for bikelanes on either side, and two directions of car traffic in the middle.. however, looking at the character of the space, i'd suggest going down to one way for cars, with a bus contraflow lane.
Sounds like a plan 🙌
Berkeley civil here. yeah, a lot of it is obtuse and esoteric credentialing...
Indeed!
We need to dramatically raise our expectations for drivers.
Of course, there’s a chapter on this as well. Be sure to read the book if you haven’t already done so. Also, you might find my interview with Grant Ennis about his book Dark PR thought provoking ruclips.net/video/dP41Hsr4fMA/видео.html
The more i read and hear about the current state of traffic engineering, the more it feels like we've trained them as astrologists, but need them to act as astronomers.... trained them as alchemist when we really need them as chemists.
Yep. Well stated. Medicine started out as a pseudo-science, but for the most part, it evolved into an evidence-based profession. Not so much the transportation profession, especially with regard to the engineering profession and anything that challenges their long-held beliefs and dogma. Fortunately, thanks in part to leaders in the profession like Wes, Chuck Marohn, and Norman Garrick, things are starting to change, but the status quo is fighting back, and they fight dirty.
If we point a finger at human error, we must firstly ensure the training they received was effective, otherwise we are really blaming the engineers for the training they delivered to humans! Engineering managers driver training and licensing …….
Precisely. What love so much about this book, and you will too... is that it gets to the core, fundamental fact that these guidebooks are not based on good science when it comes to building safe systems.
33:30 ish 👍
Good discussion and a lot of information. Thanks!
Thanks so much for watching!
Loved living in Watertown. Walked all over for work, shopping, eating, going to parks etc. Only get back once in a while now, but it seems like there is always a new bike lane and upgrades all around
I definitely should take the Active Towns Tour there one day
Another fantastic guest! This explains so much!
Thank you! It really does... hopefully, this book helps to accelerate the much-needed reforms to the transportation engineering profession and, ultimately, how our streets are designed and built because it is not working as it's being done now. Cheers! John
Due to organisational restructure, I've recently moved from public transport based role to one that also incorporates roads. Lets just say its a different world, the stories I could tell... My question is how applicable is this book and its contents to other nations (in my case Australia)? I've visited the states many times and love it, but its about as car dominant as its possible to get.
Honestly, I think it pretty applicable to any nation that has itself to become car dominated.
Hmmm
Yep. There's a lot to think about. I highly recommend this thoughtful and self-reflective book that explores the history of a system and profession that contributes to 45,000 plus fatalities and millions of serious injuries each year in the United States - and yet there's virtually no awareness at our highest levels of government or within our populous at large.
very near my house they put up a small traffic circle - in a town that has very few of them...chaos has ensued with people not yielding and many near accidents... partly I think due to the larger crosswalk signs right before the yield signs that I think are missed.
Yeah, the key with traffic calming installations such as this that they need encourage slow speeds in the approach not just at the facility. With such authentic speed reduction strategies, like chicanes, the traffic circle will work much better and I always like remind everyone that at slow speeds, near misses are a non-issues and if a crash happens it’s more likely than not to result in much serious consequences, which ultimately should be the main goal of the profession, not to move cars faster, regardless of the carnage they cause. Thanks so much for tuning and commenting. I really appreciate it. Please share the video within your networks so others might consider a different reality for our streets. Cheers! John
30:17 What percentage of road safety money do you think goes into education as opposed to engineering?? I think a tiny fraction. I understand the argument you’re making here but education isn’t taking your money.
The whole point of the book is that the profession prioritizes the movement of cars over safety. And yes, to your point education is not taken seriously.