Comments on: New Report on Old Roads Uses Old Assumptions http://dc.streetsblog.org/2009/07/06/new-report-on-old-roads-uses-old-assumptions/ Your daily source for national transportation policy news and analysis. Thu, 09 Feb 2012 23:57:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: mattotoole http://dc.streetsblog.org/2009/07/06/new-report-on-old-roads-uses-old-assumptions/comment-page-1/#comment-76491 mattotoole Tue, 07 Jul 2009 03:57:46 +0000 http://dc.streetsblog.org/?p=7621#comment-76491 South Carolina has the second highest DUI rate in the US. DUI is the cause of 50% of all fatal accidents, also much higher than average. The main nighttime activity in Myrtle Beach seems to be driving from bar to bar -- which you can do 'til dawn. So instead of straightening the roads and removing the trees, why not target the drunks who keep hitting them? South Carolina has the second highest DUI rate in the US. DUI is the cause of 50% of all fatal accidents, also much higher than average. The main nighttime activity in Myrtle Beach seems to be driving from bar to bar — which you can do ’til dawn. So instead of straightening the roads and removing the trees, why not target the drunks who keep hitting them?

]]> By: Mark http://dc.streetsblog.org/2009/07/06/new-report-on-old-roads-uses-old-assumptions/comment-page-1/#comment-76441 Mark Mon, 06 Jul 2009 18:32:17 +0000 http://dc.streetsblog.org/?p=7621#comment-76441 Uh huh. This "report" came out the same day that AASHTO sounded off on the 18 month extension. Something about how an extension is not the appropriate place for reforms. (The only reforms they are interested in relate to financing the Trust Fund.) LaHood, in blogging about this report, at least mentioned he'd follow up with a blog posting about behavioral factors. Road conditions factoring into 20k deaths per year is a highly suspect figure. Overlay Figure 2 with other metrics like: alcohol related crashes, speed related crashes, and divestment in bike/ped facilities. Bet those red states get even redder. If that is the case then we can argue that, contrary to what a former Secretary of Transportation asserts, there is a correlation between underinvestment in bike-ped facilities, and increased deaths among drivers. Or we could leave that to The Onion. Uh huh. This “report” came out the same day that AASHTO sounded off on the 18 month extension. Something about how an extension is not the appropriate place for reforms. (The only reforms they are interested in relate to financing the Trust Fund.)

LaHood, in blogging about this report, at least mentioned he’d follow up with a blog posting about behavioral factors. Road conditions factoring into 20k deaths per year is a highly suspect figure.

Overlay Figure 2 with other metrics like: alcohol related crashes, speed related crashes, and divestment in bike/ped facilities. Bet those red states get even redder.

If that is the case then we can argue that, contrary to what a former Secretary of Transportation asserts, there is a correlation between underinvestment in bike-ped facilities, and increased deaths among drivers.

Or we could leave that to The Onion.

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