Brad Aaron
Brad Aaron began writing for Streetsblog in 2007, after years as a reporter, editor, and publisher in the alternative weekly business. Brad adopted New York's dysfunctional traffic justice system as his primary beat for Streetsblog. He lives in Manhattan.
Recent Posts
One Year Later, Bratton’s NYPD Rarely Enforcing Key Vision Zero Law
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Last weekend marked the one-year anniversary of the Right of Way Law, also known as code Section 19-190, which made it a misdemeanor for motorists in New York City to harm people who are walking and biking with the right of way. The law is a legislative centerpiece of Mayor de Blasio’s Vision Zero initiative. It […]
What’s the Actual Cost of Amtrak’s Trans-Hudson Gateway Project?
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Five years after New Jersey Governor Chris Christie spiked the ARC transit tunnel to redirect money to roads, politicians are finally discussing how to go about upgrading rail capacity between Jersey and Midtown Manhattan, currently limited to a pair of century-old tunnels under the Hudson River. But just about every announcement related to the proposed Gateway Project comes with a […]
MTA Bus Driver Kills Senior in Midtown; NYPD, Media Blame Deceased Victim
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An MTA bus driver killed a senior in Midtown this morning. At around 9:40 a.m. Rochel Wahrman, 69, was crossing W. 57th Street between Broadway and Eighth Avenue south to north when the driver of a westbound X5 hit her with the left side of the bus, according to reports. From the Daily News: The […]
Safe Streets Pioneer Deb Hubsmith Has Died
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Today the Streetsblog Network is mourning Deb Hubsmith, who died this week at age 45. Deb founded the Safe Routes to School National Partnership, a nationwide program that is saving the lives of children endangered by reckless drivers. If you’ve advocated for or cared about safer streets in the last 10 to 15 years, chances […]
NYPD: No Charges for Driver Who Killed Woman on Midtown Sidewalk
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Update: Newsday identified the driver as Dimas Debrito. A driver who hit three people on a Midtown sidewalk, killing a 24-year-old woman, was not charged with a crime by NYPD or Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance. On Monday August 10, at around 4:24 p.m., Mallory Weisbrod was walking along Second Avenue at E. 49th Street when […]
CDC: Make Cycling Safer With Protected Bike Lanes and Lower Speed Limits
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What if the United States treated traffic violence like the public health issue it is? According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, that would entail building bike infrastructure and slowing down drivers. Last week the CDC released a report on the long-term mortality rate among U.S. cyclists. The study covers 38 years of U.S. DOT data — […]
Confounded by Spike in U.S. Traffic Deaths and Injuries? Look Around
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Traffic fatalities in the U.S. increased by 14 percent through June of this year compared to the first six months of 2014, and serious injuries jumped by 30 percent, according to the National Safety Council [PDF]. At the current rate, the group says, nationwide road deaths would top 40,000 for the first time since 2007. […]
Governor Larry Hogan’s Red Line Derailment Will Cost Maryland $100M
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We have an update on one of the year’s biggest stories on the Network. Remember when Maryland Governor Larry Hogan killed the long-planned Baltimore Red Line so he could spend the funds on road projects? Washington says that decision is about cost the state $100 million in federal funds. Progressive Railroading reports that U.S. Senator Barbara Mikulski asked Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx whether […]
Driver Pleads to Felony in Hit-and-Run Death of Manhattan Pedestrian
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A driver who killed a Union Square pedestrian pled guilty to a felony hit-and-run charge this week. Doohee Cho, 33, was crossing Fifth Avenue between E. 15th and E. 16th streets in the early morning hours of September 28, 2014, when Macgyver Beltran hit him with a Chevrolet sedan, according to published reports. Police arrested […]
To Become a Sustainable City, Atlanta Must Face Its Parking Addiction
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Does Atlanta want to be a sustainable, transit-oriented city? The answer has a lot to do with how it addresses parking. Following up on “Atlanta’s Parking Addiction,” a recent column in the alt-weekly Creative Loafing, Darin at ATL Urbanist points out that much of the city’s new downtown streetcar route is lined with vehicle storage, rather than housing […]
The U.S. Made Cars Safer, and It’s Past Time to Do the Same for Streets
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If you have a well-worn copy of Ralph Nader’s seminal “Unsafe at Any Speed” on your bookshelf — and who doesn’t? — you know that in the mid 20th century U.S. auto companies were hostile to the idea of designing safer cars. Introducing basic features like padded dashboards and collapsible steering columns, the thinking went, would […]
50,000 Portlanders Turn Out to Preview the Car-Free “People’s Bridge”
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On Sunday residents of Portland got a preview of Tilikum Crossing, a.k.a. the “Bridge of the People,” described by Michael Andersen of BikePortland as “the first bridge in the United States to carry buses, bikes, trains, streetcars and people walking but no private cars.” Tilikum Crossing is the first bridge constructed over the Willamette River in […]