Traffic Calming: Can’t See the Forest for the Trees: NMA E-Newsletter #692
Sudden cardiac arrest is a national public health crisis. In its Heart and Stroke Statistics – 2022 Update, the American Heart Association notes more than 356,000 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests (OHCA) occur in the United States every year, close to 1,000 per day. The survival rate from onset to hospital discharge hovers around ten percent. OHCA […]
Citywide Speed Limit Reductions: Creating Violators in the Name of Safety: NMA E-Newsletter #691
By John Carr, NMA Massachusetts Activist An email claimed that a speed limit reduction in Portland, Oregon “resulted in lower observed vehicle speeds and fewer vehicles traveling at higher speeds.” I was suspicious because it is well known that speed limits and speed limit signs do not have a strong effect on traffic speed. My […]
Should Bikelash be Over? (and no, this is not an April Fool’s Joke)
Editor’s Note: This post originally appeared in December 2021 as an NMA Weekly Newsletter #675. If you would like to receive the one-topic newsletter from the National Motorists Association, subscribe today. Even before the pandemic, bike lanes were springing up all over the country in cities large and small. Most motorists weren’t happy, mainly because […]
Calm Before the Storm: NMA E-Newsletter #689
The city of Sarasota is located on the Gulf Coast of Florida, just south of Tampa. Its population has declined in recent years to about 55,000, according to the 2020 U.S. census, within 24 square miles of territory. During the winter months, the number of residents swells somewhat with the snowbird migration from the north. […]
The Changing Landscape of Speed Limits
By Shelia Dunn, NMA Communications Director Editor’s Note: This piece originally appeared as the cover story in the Winter 2022 Edition of the National Motorists Association’s quarterly magazine Driving Freedoms. If you would like to receive our magazine, please become a member of the NMA today! Advocating for speed limits based on sound traffic-engineering […]
And So It Begins—Vision Zero from the Top Down: NMA E-Newsletter #682
US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg recently announced that his department wants to drastically reduce deadly traffic accidents through vehicle and street design changes. The USDOT also plans to use $14 billion in funding from the passage of the bipartisan infrastructure bill to encourage the states to make extensive use of speed cameras to enforce lowered […]
More Speed Cameras, Lower Speed Limits, More Surveillance
By Lauren Fix, Car Coach Reports Does the infrastructure bill have another hidden surveillance initiative? Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg uses the infrastructure spending plan to promote speed cameras nationwide! The DOT has received $6 billion to issue grants to help cities and towns with road safety due to the $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill that Congress passed. […]
Traffic Safety is the Responsibility of All – Not Just Motorists
By Shelia Dunn, NMA Communications Director Editor’s Note: This post originally appeared in December 2021 as NMA E-Newsletter #674. Subscribe today if you would like to receive NMA’s one-topic E-Newsletter every Sunday! In October, California Governor Gavin Newsom vetoed AB122, a bill that would have enabled bicyclists to utilize the Idaho Stop (using stop signs as […]
Are Pedestrians Vermin? Philosophers Debate Anti-Automobilism: NMA E-Newsletter #678
In November of 2021, an obscure philosophy article was given inordinate attention in the press, propelled by press releases from anti-automobile activist groups. The article, “The vermin of the street: the politics of violence and the nomos of automobility” by Robert Braun and Richard Randell, appeared in the journal Mobilities, published online by Rutgers University. Its thesis […]
Should Bikelash be Over?: NMA E-Newsletter #675
Even before the pandemic, bike lanes were springing up all over the country in cities large and small. Most motorists weren’t happy, mainly because fewer travel lanes typically translated into longer trips through congested traffic. During the pandemic, the rate of cities building bike lanes and banning cars on streets rose dramatically. The anti-car crowd […]