The FHWA Road Diet Desk Reference (http://1.usa.gov/1jcx4Tz) provides a snapshot of what the Road Diet configuration looks like, describes how it decreases potential vehicle conflicts, explains why Road Diets are an important tool for improving safety and mobility on roadways, and gives examples of localities that have seen safety benefits from applying the Road Diet configuration.

A recent McKinsey & Company article notes there are signs that America’s city dwellers are beginning to change the way they get around. It looks at seven forces that are reshaping urban mobility, and considers how these forces are playing out in different types of cities. The article concludes with a set of ideas for how US city leaders can help improve travel—and the lives of their residents and provides ideas for how city leaders can plan ahead. Visit http://bit.ly/2aMdhIU. At the bottom of this abstract you can download the full report on which this article was based.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has released its 2014 Summary of Motor Vehicle Crashes at http://1.usa.gov/291QBWd. The portion of non-occupant (pedestrian, bicyclists, and other cyclists) fatalities increased from 13 percent to 18 percent between 2005 and 2014.

According to the report, on average, a pedestrian is killed in a motor vehicle crash every 108 minutes, and one is injured about every 8 minutes. Using 2010 data, the most recent available, the tangible economic cost for pedestrians’ crashes is $11.5 billion and for bicyclists’ crashes is $4.4 billion. The comprehensive costs, including quality of life factors, are $65 billion for pedestrians’ crashes and $21.7 billion for bicyclists’ crashes.

Traffic fatalities are on the rise up again, with an increase of 8.1 percent in the first half of 2015, according to the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (http://1.usa.gov/1lWDhEr). NHTSA officials attribute the problem to driver (or passenger) error — drunk driving, speeding, failure to wear seatbelts — but did promise “new initiatives to protect vulnerable road users such as pedestrians and cyclists.” The hazards NHTSA flags are real, but Robert Steuteville at Better Cities & Towns says the agency is also overlooking another major culprit: dangerous street design, propagated by an engineering profession that’s still pushing a “bigger is better” agenda… http://bit.ly/1Q037E2

On October 1, 2015, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) released its revised potential eligibility requirements for bicycle and pedestrian projects under Federal Transit, Federal Highway. and US Department of Transportation program funds. You can review the revised table at the FHWA’s Bicycle and Pedestrian Program page:  http://1.usa.gov/1CbwYjx