Killed by a Traffic Engineer: Shattering the Delusion that Science Underlies Our Transportation System

by Wes Marshall

are hindered and delayed by traffic congestion”).7 In the 1930s, Paul Hoffman urges “better enforcement of legal restrictions upon pedestrians” and for “cities to arrest and convict pedestrians.”8 Midcentury Portland, Oregon, also decided that the best way to “protect its pedestrians” was to arrest 15,196 of them for crossing against the signal and another 9,923 for crossing between intersections. In a 1952 Traffic Quarterly paper, the mayor of Portland says that starting in early 1945, “police officers began to make straight arrests for pedestrian violations.” What do they mean by a violation? They mean everything because “there is no such thing as a ‘minor’ traffic violation.” But guess what? The mayor then tells us that “the city of Portland has nearly 100 percent pedestrian observance of traffic signals.”9 What happened to traffic fatalities in Portland? Between 1944 and 1945, they increased by more than 50 percent, from 46 deaths to 70.