“Those issues together are at the root cause of a lot of the traffic safety challenges we see across the country,” Lydon said. In regards to MDOT’s list of driver responsibilities, Lydon shared two recommendations for engineers that would effectively influence driver speed, increase traffic safety, and lower the number of traffic deaths:Ĭoordinate land use and transportation system design to reduce driving as much as possible.ĭesign streets and roads in a manner that eliminates the worst outcomes of not following the above seven recommendations made by MDOT. MDOT is failing in their responsibility to lower traffic death rates when they place the responsibility of traffic safety and speed solely on the driver’s ability to be aware.” “Engineers, and especially professors who are teaching engineers, should be showing leadership by thinking about their own responsibility in designing safe streets to bring down traffic death rates. “This is really distasteful,” said Chuck Marohn, president of Strong Towns. … The reduction rate for 2022 is great, but we need to find ways to get the number lower." He told Clarion Ledger: "We need to inform more drivers on the severity of driving under the influence and the new traffic laws and policies. Lydon says that even though these recommendations can have a safety benefit, by only addressing the things that drivers can do, it takes away from the root problem: Street design and land use are the true influencers of traffic speed and safety.Īmir Molan, assistant professor of civil engineering at the University of Mississippi-with a specialization in highway safety and traffic analysis-also places the responsibility of creating safe streets on drivers, not the engineers designing them. Instead, they tell drivers to “check your blind spots be aware of long stopping distances, always buckle up, drive at a safe speed stay focused and avoid distracted driving always use your signals maintain your vehicle.” In an article for Clarion Ledger, MDOT offers seven recommendations of safety precautions drivers can take to prevent crashes and fatalities, but not once does MDOT mention the role of unsafe street design in contributing to these tragedies. “They’re putting the onus on people using the roadway system, and not the actual design of it,” said Mike Lydon, author, advocate, and founding principal of Street Plans. Instead, they place the weight of death rates on drivers, telling them it’s their responsibility to create safer streets by being better stewards of the law. Despite that, recent statements from both traffic engineers and the Mississippi Department of Transportation (MDOT) show a failure to take responsibility for how unsafe street design contributes to fatality rates, according to national street safety experts. Mississippi streets are among the most dangerous in the U.S., seeing a total of 341 deaths in the first half of this year.
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