Miscellaneous
Hack attack: How vulnerable is your vehicle?
This week, news broke that two million people who use Progressive Snapshot (a small device that tracks a car’s path to help determine its car insurance rate) may be vulnerable to hacking. But Snapshot drivers aren’t the only ones who are open to a potential hacking attack: Two hackers who demonstrated in 2013 how they could hack […]
VMTs on decline since ’92, with men driving most by far
Call it the great American car devolution: Americans have been driving less since at least 2004 — if not earlier, according to a recent report by the Washington Post. While VMTs, or vehicle miles traveled, peaked 11 years ago, individual states’ VMTs peaked as far back as 1992. And among the drivers who are clocking […]
Study: Media distortion affects perceptions of transit safety
Public transit disasters may make for splashier headlines than car crashes, but in reality riding public transit is much safer than traveling by car — and the implications for community safety are enormous. A study from Todd Litman at the Victoria Transport Policy Institute reveals just how safe, and the estimates are startling: Bus riders are 60 […]
Lower oil prices wreak havoc on state budgets
This New Year’s Eve, motorists can celebrate at the pump, where the price of gas has, as of this writing, a national average of $2.273 per gallon, according to the AAA. In fact, except for Vermont, Alaska, and Hawaii, all states saw the average price of gas drop at least a dollar between June and […]
Is urban agriculture worth the space?
FastCo reports on Green Sense Farms, a warehouse outside of Chicago that produces soil-free produce to feed 20 million people, while urban farms are popping up from Cambridge, Massachusetts to Japan. The Ecologist encourages that “to reduce the pressure on the world’s productive land and to help assure long-term food security… city people are well […]
Vision Zero for cities symposium tackles traffic safety
Last week in Brooklyn, advocacy group Transportation Alternatives held the Vision Zero For Cities Symposium, a panel on Vision Zero, New York City’s movement to reduce traffic injuries to zero with the guiding principle that “No human being should be killed or seriously injured in traffic.” The event included leaders from the NYC Department of Transportation, […]
Remembering victims of traffic accidents worldwide
On Sunday, November 16, all member countries will celebrate the World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims, an effort led by the United Nations (UN). In Greece, the SOS Road Crimes group is asking participants to gather and bring well-worn shoes to remind others of “the traveler and his unfulfilled desires.” In London, the Brahma […]
Study: Drivers in India, China receptive to self-driving cars
A majority of drivers have great expectations — along with some safety concerns — for self-driving cars, reports a new University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute public opinion study. The study expanded on an earlier study targeting drivers in the U.S., Great Britain and Australia, adding 1,700 respondents throughout India, Japan and China. Researchers discovered […]
Why aren’t parents buying technology that protects kids in hot cars?
Parents who forget their kids in hot cars are viewed pretty harshly by others, but the sad truth is that it can happen to even the most loving parent or caregiver. Hot car fatalities claim an average of 38 kids per year in the US. From 1998 to 2013, 606 children in the age group […]
Mobile, AL considers instituting parking minimums
Neither Tuscaloosa nor Auburn—two cities in Alabama with significant college populations—have special zoning regulating parking for student housing, so why does Mobile farther south want to deviate from the norm? “Students require more parking spaces than our current code requires,” says Mobile councilmember Bess Rich, though she doesn’t cite supporting evidence. Rich’s argument rests on […]
Michigan Theater: Beat-up landmark or world’s most opulent parking lot?
Described in the press as “a jewel” and “the world’s finest” during its heyday, the fall of the Michigan Theater in Detriot is indicative of the city’s decline from a prosperous car manufacturing hub to a struggling economy. The derelict theater that once made headlines for its opulence and magnificence – and was built atop […]