The Overhead Wire Daily | January 11th, 2024

Apparently conspiracy theorists can change national transportation policy. In England, Ministers of the Department for Transport used the 15 minute city conspiracy theories and backlash as a basis for policy, orienting policy towards drivers. Amazingly, people didn’t take the rhetoric of leaders seriously and thought it was just hot air, but lately when people say they are going to do something, we should probably believe them.

Also, I would highly recommend taking the time to read this deep dive piece in New York Times Magazine about dangerous driving in the United States. It’s a great look at collective trauma, history, peer pressure, and current issues around traffic safety. Because of the focus on driver attitudes and a lack of patience, I do wonder whether we can solve the issue of traffic deaths. I think we can, and we shouldn’t stop trying, but it will be hard. Especially if we only think about it from a design lens and not enforcement, education, and even public health.

I consistently go back now to the safe systems pyramid idea Kari Watkins and David Ederer shared on the podcast. Kinetic energy is what causes traffic deaths, but as the article points out, there’s a whole lot of ways it’s generated.

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