Good day my good friend.
I start with an apology. Due to an error on behalf of the author that I can only put down to stupidity, some of you received two emails yesterday, and others didn’t receive any. Basically, I pressed a wrong button. If you missed out on yesterdays edition, you can view it by clicking on the preview below.
If you have any suggestions for interesting news items or bits of research to include in this newsletter, you can email me.
You should also join a lot of like-minded people at Mobility Camp in Bristol in September. Get your tickets now. Sponsorship slots are also available.
James
What is the deadliest road?
Quite a profound question in a way. Do you measure this by the total number of people killed? Do you factor in road lengths and traffic volumes? Maybe even speed and traffic mixes? And do you need to consider who it is the most deadly for, and whether the deaths of certain road users are ‘worth’ more? Needless to say, that there is no consensus on how to do this. But that doesn’t stop the popular media from trying.
According to Vox, the intersection of US-19 and Main Street in New Port Richey, Florida is the most dangerous road in America for pedestrians. New analysis by a price comparison website puts the roads of Powys and Ceredigion in Wales as the most dangerous in the UK. The North Yungas Road in Bolivia is often cited as the most dangerous in the world. But the reality is, we will likely never know what is the most dangerous road in the world. Why? Because even in death, we cannot agree on a methodology for road safety statistics.
If you want vehicles to reduce congestion, they need co-ordination. But that won’t happen
I know, this goes against long-established practice. We know that the way that you reduce traffic levels most effectively is to reduce the number of vehicles. But vehicles are part of our cities now, and no matter what we do, there will still be a need for some people and companies to drive. That is why traffic coordination and urban traffic management is such a well-established field. But this is not just a matter of vehicle co-ordination, as it is organisational co-ordination.
Research from MIT on on-demand mobility proposes something simple: have ride hailing companies coordinate on rides. Similar proposals have been put forward for Urban Freight Consolidation for many years. But they come up against the same fundamental issue: companies are competing with each other for customers, so why should they coordinate? And there is only two ways that you can get companies to do anything: make it profitable or change the law. Academic theory is great, but this is the reality of the market.
Random things
These links are meant to make you think about the things that affect our world in transport, and not just think about transport itself. I hope that you enjoy them.
Does entitlement make you more likely to cheat? New research challenges popular psychology idea (The Conversation)
How did commute patterns change in Arlington during the pandemic? (Mobility Lab)
Things the Flood Takes (The Daily Yonder)
Oh Deere: Farm hardware jailbroken to run Doom (The Register)
Rules of the road: The need for new quality standards for AI technology in healthcare (Policy@Manchester)
Something interesting
An old video, this one. Problems with parking in the cycle lane? Arturas Zuokas, the former Mayor of Vilnuis, Lithuania, sorted the problem by running a car over in a tank. Well…it was a spectacle anyway.
If you do nothing else today, then do this
Transportation for America has published this very good primer on the transport implications of the Inflation Reduction Act. You should check it out.
Mobility Matters 