Status Updates From Killed by a Traffic Enginee...

How Much Is Your Life Worth?
“In 1975, the USDOT estimated a a life as being worth $1.4 million in today’s dollars. When the USDOT value of life reached $2.5 million in 1998, it suddenly made sense to (add more safety measures)….The USDOT now uses $11.8 million. Interestingly, every federal agency seems to value life differently.”

“In 1942, only 30 percent of cars could exceed 40 mph. By 1957, almost 90 percent could do so.”

“Unfortunately, the pedestrian is to blame for trying to cross a street that the three E's couldn't figure out how to make safe.”

“Unfortunately, the pedestrian is to blame for trying to cross a street that the three E’s couldn’t figure out how to make safe.”

“We have faith in those who came before us. We trust that those who came before us knew what they were doing. Those who came before us, however, didn't know much. How do I know they didn't know much? They said so ... time and time again.”

“Killed by a Traffic Engineer?
…What traffic engineers are guilty of is creating a transportation system whose designs remain largely based on plausible, but unproven, conjecture.”

“Misidentified priorities lead right into how we mismeasure transportation… At best, we can sat that we have conflicting objectives in transportation. Sure, traffic engineers want to improve safety, but before doing so, we want to minimize congestion, maximize mobility, minimize costs, and so on.
Safety is never first on the list.”

“More Americans [have] died on US roads than in all US conflicts combined, including the American Revolution.”

“So when somebody speeds on this wide and straight street, crashes, and kills someone, it’ll get chalked up as one of the 90-plus percent of human error crashes. The driver made the mistake of speeding.

Who cares if the engineer designed a street built for speed, just begging you to go fast, as long as the guidebook was followed?”

“Traffic engineers don’t want you to peek behind this curtain, because most traffic engineers have no idea what’s behind it.”

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