We need to stop saying “road safety is a shared responsibility.” Highway engineers, automakers, and policymakers have the power to reduce the sky-high number of US crash deaths. Individual road users don't. My latest in @fastcompany.com 🧵 www.fastcompany.com/91233037/who... - ThreadSky

davidzipper.bsky.social • 99 days ago

We need to stop saying “road safety is a shared responsibility.”

Highway engineers, automakers, and policymakers have the power to reduce the sky-high number of US crash deaths. Individual road users don't.

My latest in @fastcompany.com 🧵

https://www.fastcompany.com/91233037/whos-really-to-blame-and-who-isnt-for-americas-traffic-death-epidemic

Comments

sprocketz.bsky.social•99 days ago

Great post!!! What drives me batty is that we already KNOW much of this in the US from lessons learned in the aviation sector. It used to be "pilot error" blamed for most things, but then they realized the error is just a link in a chain of events that could have been prevented to avoid the incident

humantravl.bsky.social•98 days ago

It’s a clunky term, but “shared responsibility” isn’t about all road users have the same responsibility. It’s about engineers and politicians (traffic & car engineers) having responsibility for the systems they design, implement and manage. #visionzero

wojno.bsky.social•98 days ago

Start holding drivers accountable. Manslaughter should mandate a jail sentence

kilroywas-here.bsky.social•99 days ago

cars

jsfindlay.bsky.social•89 days ago

Interesting how the same people that advocate for corporate personhood don’t have that extend to their having personal responsibility for their actions. It’s almost like they want the rights of citizens but without accountability or something.

spudman.bsky.social•98 days ago

The engineers don’t have power. Policymakers do. And yes I realize some policy makers started in engineering. But people need to understand that engineers design to a speciation prescribed by policy makers.

spudman.bsky.social•98 days ago

Sure politicians are getting into the details, but if a engineering group tried to unilaterally sneak in traffic calming or put a lower posted speed, their executive leadership would get roasted by politicians and told to undo it. Seriously. Politicians overrule engineering decisions all the time.

gladlife.bsky.social•99 days ago

Incredible amount of parallels between this and corporations blaming individuals for their "Carbon footprint" (the two are inextricably linked of course). Obviously, we should all be doing what we can as individuals to prevent road violence (and reduce emissions)

gladlife.bsky.social•99 days ago

But, no matter what we do as individuals, the problem is principally (if not entirely) caused by those that design and control these systems.

davidzipper.bsky.social•99 days ago

For context, the US approach toward road safety is an objective failure.

Americans are far more likely to die in a crash than people in other rich countries.

https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2023/8/25/23844717/america-safe-air-travel-car-safety-accidents

kris-inwood.bsky.social•99 days ago

Why is Chile so high?

mchuge.bsky.social•98 days ago

They aspire to US levels of motor vehicle safety

jared.leeong.me•99 days ago

I'm all for better infrastructure and alternative modes of transportation and #fuckcars and all that, but I'm curious what this stat would look like if it were deaths per estimated miles driven

inklake.com•99 days ago

Don't call them 'crashes' - call them 'freedom bumps'.

davidzipper.bsky.social•99 days ago

The “shared responsibility” line, repeated often by transportation leaders, is part of the problem.

It sounds innocuous, but it lumps together those who *design* the road safety system (car co’s, engineers, policymakers) and those who *use* it to travel.

https://www.transportation.gov/sites/dot.gov/files/2022-02/USDOT-National-Roadway-Safety-Strategy.pdf

davidzipper.bsky.social•99 days ago

In reality, it’s the transportation and policy professionals who have real power to prevent crashes.

There’s little that someone walking can do to be safe on a road built without sidewalks, nor can the driver of a sedan protect herself when struck by a megatruck.

annemariedooley.bsky.social•99 days ago

Can you imagine visiting a hospital and being told you have equal responsibility for not being injured or acquiring an infection? There are no “accidents” in medicine. Only adverse events or complications that are a systems issue to be fixed.

davidzipper.bsky.social•99 days ago

Albert Bandura described how “diffusion of responsibility” makes people less likely to act if they think others could do so.

That’s what's happened with US road safety. When told things need to change, powerful groups say “Not just us – everyone must act!”

If everything is a priority, nothing is.

davidzipper.bsky.social•99 days ago

By blaming pedestrians and drivers for crashes, automakers and road engineers dodge responsibility for their dangerously designed cars and streets.

They've been doing it for decades.

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/11/deadly-myth-human-error-causes-most-car-crashes/620808/

davidzipper.bsky.social•99 days ago

A better approach: *Assume* humans will make mistakes, and take steps to ensure those mistakes aren’t fatal.

That’s the European idea of Vision Zero, which has succeeded in places like Warsaw.

In the US, resources are wasted expecting road users to be perfect.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2024-11-01/warsaw-touts-vision-zero-progress-as-traffic-deaths-fall-citylab-daily

rmchase.bsky.social•99 days ago

This bar chart is much more effective than the trend lines chart of US vs other countries I normally use.

dhambrick63.bsky.social•99 days ago

What years does this cover?

ewh161.bsky.social•97 days ago

Support greater road safety by asking the California Highway Patrol to require side underride guards on all semitrailer and box-type trucks in California. Whether you drive, walk, or ride, it's time to protect all road users and STOP underrides!
https://www.calbike.org/calbike-continues-campaign-for-safer-vehicles/

sjasonwang.bsky.social•99 days ago

But clearly in other developed nations with road death rates a fraction of ours, their pedestrians must all be wearing bright colored clothing and smartphones don't exist!

rational.bsky.social•99 days ago

It's an excuse. Traffic engineers should be presumed liable for every injury or death that occurs on a road they approved

realsrd2020.bsky.social•99 days ago

*What’s* really to blame
Texting
#

katiemccaskey.bsky.social•78 days ago

Related, please write about Virginia's awful pedestrian safety campaign! https://www.dmv.virginia.gov/news/dmv-unveils-new-pedestrian-safety-campaign-youre-not-a-duck

willcjohns.bsky.social•99 days ago

Wait, but what if this minimally lessens throughput?? 😱

moldybasil.bsky.social•99 days ago

Glad to see someone is asking the important questions smh my head

johnnyrode.bsky.social•98 days ago

Today I read in the news that Oslo and Helsinki had zero traffick deaths last year. They redesigned the streets, signs etc

#6'Elon

kevinverhoff.bsky.social•99 days ago

“Shared responsibility” absolves drivers, engineers, automakers, and policy from taking responsibility. Its usage is meaningless.

dhambrick63.bsky.social•99 days ago

💯💯 As in medicine, there's absolutely no way to "engineer" your way out of a problem when people are involved.
- People need to take responsibility for their actions & stop blaming "the system".

kevinverhoff.bsky.social•99 days ago

I think you missed what I was trying to say there

s.ophi.ee•99 days ago

Wrong. Engineering controls (e.g. road or vehicle design) are the first line of defense in a safety system that. They don't have to be perfect to be effective.

dhambrick63.bsky.social•95 days ago

Okay, thanks

philsustainability.bsky.social•99 days ago

Mass transit is road safety

qitty1.bsky.social•99 days ago

I have always heard that speed is often the killer, and yet it's perfectly legal to sell and register cars for road use that go faster than anyone ever needs. But my freedom! 🙄 I remember when seatbelts and carseats came out. People hated that too, but they got over it and more people survived.

pedalindy.bsky.social•98 days ago

I'm against cars that can go 150 the same way I'm against assault rifles. We can engineer appropriate limits and mandate this design and it will save so many lives in both cases.

qitty1.bsky.social•98 days ago

So true. It's a case of managing basic social boundaries. My rights end where yours begin.

indigomirage.com•98 days ago

Wait til you hear about what's being inflicted on Toronto by the Ontario premier.

kentlucas.bsky.social•98 days ago

Hate that damn phrase. Plus it isn’t clear what it even means.

cityengineer.bsky.social•79 days ago

Agreed but we need to start saying that low density development is bad for road safety because it generates cars which is why we drive 50% more miles per capita than Europe. That’s a big safety problem in and of itself.

nixbora.bsky.social•99 days ago

Great article! I am very pessimistic of any of these measures happening in the near future (looking at the agenda of incoming regime) -hopefully more can be done in city / municipal levels. Also… I noticed you don’t have a “Bluesky” icon in the media links part 🤔

pppatticake.bsky.social•99 days ago

📌

pppatticake.bsky.social•99 days ago

“the “shared responsibility” line as a shield, deflecting criticism by pointing to the need for others to act, too.

By attempting to hold everyone accountable for safety outcomes, the shared responsibility framework effectively holds no one accountable. “

pppatticake.bsky.social•99 days ago

US does not do this : “The idea is that if there are too many crashes, too many injuries, and too many deaths, the system designers go back and redesign the system,”

pppatticake.bsky.social•99 days ago

US does NOT do this:”Vision Zero revolves around the idea that people will inevitably make mistakes, which should not be fatal. Prioritized policies include lower speed limits and narrower lanes that can prevent catastrophic outcomes when something goes wrong on the road.”

pppatticake.bsky.social•99 days ago

“Ignoring the underlying causes of crashes and instead laying blame on individual road users is an ingrained and counterproductive American habit supported by powerful groups eager to escape the spotlight. “

pppatticake.bsky.social•99 days ago

Exactly: “In reality, the duty to prevent collisions should fall on the road engineers, car companies, and public officials who create the system in which people drive, bike, or walk—and not on road users themselves. “

wvangeest.bsky.social•99 days ago

https://bsky.app/profile/wvangeest.bsky.social/post/3lbbfrljljs2t

barely.bsky.social•98 days ago

Great book about this https://islandpress.org/books/killed-traffic-engineer#desc

shebikes21.bsky.social•99 days ago

Absolutely agree and while we are at it, lets have our local police and insurance companies stop telling us to wear high viz and be safe. Instead let’s have our cities build us safe cycling infrastructure with good lighting and place the onus on drivers to drive safely.

siblek.bsky.social•99 days ago

Agree totally in the uk insurance companies are allowed to get away with using non hi vis as mitigation to decrees pay outs awful state of afairs

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