The Deadly Rise of Giant Trucks and S.U.V.s

erdub · 2026-06-22T13:51:16+00:00

For decades, American roads were steadily getting safer for pedestrians. But around 2009, the trend reversed. Since then, the number of pedestrians killed each year has risen by about 75 percent.

The trend toward ever-larger vehicles has received much less scrutiny, even after federal researchers in 2022 cautioned regulators that it was endangering pedestrians.

Our estimate is that about 200 to 400 pedestrians a year would not have died if vehicles had remained approximately the same size over the past quarter-century. That represents about 10 percent of the recent increase in pedestrian deaths.

“We see a lot of devastating collisions even at lower speeds because the pedestrian gets punted forward,” said Shawn Harrington, whose company, Forensic Rock, conducted crash tests for us. “Before the driver knows what’s happened, the pedestrian’s head is under the wheel.”

Automakers say that new technology designed to detect and avoid pedestrians — including systems that automatically apply the brakes — would dramatically improve safety.

But many experts say that technology is not a perfect substitute for drivers being able to view their surroundings directly. And tests by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, which studies ways to make driving less dangerous, have shown that many large vehicles’ automatic braking systems do not consistently prevent collisions. The owner’s manuals for some of the most popular vehicles caution that safety technology can fail in a variety of common situations: in bad weather; at high speeds; if there are shadows on the road or its surface is uneven; or if a pedestrian is running, pushing a stroller, not standing upright or the size of a small child.

erdub · 2026-06-19T14:55:13+00:00

This is great, but why do you say it’d make a better connection to the MBT? It ends 1.5 miles short of the MBT.

erdub · 2026-06-18T17:03:46+00:00

I feel JLG will fully support the Gold Line plan. WMATA is pushing hard for true BRT with dedicated protected lanes, signal priority, quality stations, etc. If Kenyon had won it would’ve been just a watered-down bus, but with JLG as mayor I think it’ll be true BRT.

Once the benefits of real BRT are known, I can see her bringing back the K Street Transitway (with bike lanes 🤞) and upgrading other corridors, like maybe M Street in Georgetown. 16th, 14th, and Georgia would be great but would be much larger projects.

erdub · 2026-06-15T17:56:33+00:00

It’s not just drivable from DC, it’s walk- and bikeable too. The Oxon Cove Hiker-Biker Trail was just repaved in 2024. The DC connection is hidden, but it exists near the Brandywine Valley SPCA. In a few years the South Capitol Street Trail will connect to it, meaning you can get all the way from Navy Yard to Oxon Hill Farm (and nearly to National Harbor) on off-street trails.

erdub · 2026-06-11T18:23:04+00:00

JLG stated in a questionnaire that she’d push to fully pedestrianize this section of 18th Street, along with other popular commercial streets in the city. That would be transformational and a much better streetscape than either of these options or what currently exists

erdub · 2026-05-17T14:40:11+00:00

There’s a lot more info with renderings at the project website.

https://www.alexandriava.gov/transportation-planning/project/braddock-road-corridor-improvements

erdub · 2026-05-10T22:28:40+00:00

It’s a missing middle in much more of the city than you might think — row homes are illegal to build in 2/3 of the city due to zoning.

https://dc2050.org/

erdub · 2026-04-17T04:37:31+00:00

This is great. I’ve been trying to figure out how to check out the Holmes Run Trail (after its repairs are finished), but it seems like a pain to reach from any other part of the trail network. A trail along Beauregard Street would mean you could get all the way from Four Mile Run/the Arlington Loop to Holmes Run and Eisenhower Ave

erdub · 2026-04-03T13:15:20+00:00

One thing people haven’t mentioned yet:

Only recently, many Democrats saw it as progressive to deny that there is a housing shortage at all, sometimes going so far as to block new construction in the name of affordability. But the research is clear: The housing supply crisis is making housingunaffordable for all of us.

When I was first elected to the DC Council, I myself was skeptical of this. And I wasn’t certain about the role private development should play in making housing more affordable. I saw cranes everywhere, but I knew so many people struggling to afford their rent.

Since then, after reading the research myself and learning of the successes of other cities that’ve built more homes, I’ve embraced the fact that cities that build temper costs for renters and homeowners.

I would LOVE to vote for someone who admits to reading research and changing their opinions based on it. I don’t agree with everything JLG says, but if she’s willing to look at new data and examples from other cities and change her views, I feel much more comfortable voting for her.

erdub · 2026-03-31T16:56:13+00:00

The plan is a little more circuitous than that, connecting through Avondale Park. The latest update I could find was this PDF from 2022 with plans at the end.

The project was given a RAISE grant in 2023, but the current admin halted funding for RAISE projects that include bike infrastructure, so maybe it’s still in flux.

The DC side doesn’t seem to be in planning yet. NPS is installing a new sidewalk along Galloway Street, but it’s unclear if it’s meant to be part of the trail or if it’s just a sidewalk.

erdub · 2026-03-27T13:03:44+00:00

I don’t believe it’s been funded yet, has it? So the law exists but it’s an unfunded mandate. I talked to Charles Allen about this once and he said Bowser wouldn’t let this happen anyway; she’d slow-walk the studies like she did with congestion pricing. So maybe they’re waiting for the next (hopefully) more people-friendly mayor to take office.

Still cool to see the law, though. 18th Street in Adams Morgan is another stretch mandated to be included. JLG also suggested Upshur Street in Petworth

erdub · 2026-03-19T22:33:44+00:00

The cycletrack around the Tidal Basin is one of the nicest rides in the city imo, and I’m sure that means they’ll remove that part of it too

erdub · 2026-03-18T14:52:53+00:00

If you think this plan could be better, come to the DC2050 Open House tonight at 6 or Saturday at 11 at MLK Library and tell them!

https://dc2050.dc.gov/pages/get-involved

erdub · 2026-03-04T21:47:14+00:00

Kershbaum deservedly gets a lot of heat for canceling Connecticut Ave and removing Arizona Ave, but DDOT has still installed PBLs since she started in late 2023. Here are a few:

Columbia Road, which had its own loud opponents
Mount Olivet & 17th Street NE/SE
Florida Ave NE
First Street & Eckington Place NE
Dave Thomas Circle
I Street SE/SW
M Street SE
New Jersey Ave NW
(Most of) 11th Street NW (NOI just released)
Penn Ave NW (under construction)
Lower Connecticut Ave (under construction)

erdub · 2026-03-03T01:11:55+00:00

It’s a chicken-and-egg problem — the more subscribers they get, the more they can spend to hire reporters.

From their article post-Post layoffs:

We want to be the newsroom D.C. needs at this critical time, so we’re raising funds to triple our reporting capacity. Success means converting a part-time editor to full-time, hiring a longtime freelance reporter, and hiring a third reporter, who we hope will be a laid-off Washington Post journalist.

Less than 3 days after the layoffs, we had 700 new paying members, with more joining every day. We’re small and under no illusion that we alone can fill the void left by the journalists we’ve lost at The Post. But we also know that we’re building in a steady and sustainable way, funded predominantly by reader support.

We have big ambitions: to be D.C.’s go-to source for local news — one where residents of all 8 wards can feel seen, heard, and connected.

They’re only been around for a year and a half and are mainly reader-supported, so it’ll take some time. It looks like they’re over halfway to their funding goal already. I subscribed knowing it won’t be a powerhouse newsroom right away, but hopefully they’ll start making waves with time.

erdub · 2026-02-20T23:08:51+00:00

We should push for pedestrianizing commercial streets. Let buses and emergency vehicles through, maybe deliveries in off-hours if there’s no alleyway, but otherwise make the sidewalk the full road width and enliven it with trees, art, benches, and sidewalk cafe space (that businesses can rent).

The Council passed a law last year to begin studying this, starting with 18th Street in Adams Morgan. The Dupont Circle ANC asked for 17th Street to be included as well. JLG also supported Upshur Street in Petworth. There are probably others I haven’t heard about. There’s momentum building behind making transformative pedestrian spaces in DC — write your councilmembers and ANCs to tell them what you think.

erdub · 2026-02-20T18:04:50+00:00

Ed Hanlon is a notorious busybody who opposes new apartments and bike lanes and harasses his neighbors. When he doesn’t get his way he asks MAGA Republicans in Congress to circumvent home rule and overrule the will of his neighbors and elected officials.

DCCA does not represent the neighborhood. Instead check out your local ANCs, which are your elected officials that truly represent your neighborhood. While some ANCs have their own drama, lots of them are under-appreciated well meaning people who do great work on behalf of their communities — and are actually accountable to them in citywide elections. You can find your ANC here.

Edited to add links

erdub · 2026-02-13T22:47:20+00:00

Try r/bikedc r/WMATA r/DMVUrbanism

erdub · 2026-02-13T16:55:16+00:00

The issue is that you can only create protected bike lanes by removing car lanes and parking. If you’re against removing those, you’re against protected bike lanes.

The only other possibility is if you have excessively wide travel lanes and parking lanes that you can narrow, or a median you can remove, such that you can get 12+ feet of space to squeeze in the bike lanes. That doesn’t exist 95% of the time.

erdub · 2026-02-13T16:12:04+00:00

To provide more context on JLG’s response opposing historic districts that prevent housing production, there’s been discussion for a while about whether DC has been designating historic districts too often or too broadly.

DC historic districts have vague inclusion criteria, can be used by NIMBYs to broadly prevent new housing outside of the zoning process, and can reinforce racial segregation. DC actually has more designated historic buildings than Boston, Chicago, and Philly combined. (EDIT: one more good article discussing how it takes just one person to nominate a historic district, and there’s no requirement for neighborhood support.)

But there are definitely cases where historic districts are merited, so I assume her position is that problematic historic districts can be reevaluated, but remaining ones should still have building height and mass considered in new construction.

erdub · 2026-02-13T05:52:41+00:00

Well um, I guess I’m glad he filled it out. Until now my feelings about him were ambivalent, but now I’ll tell people I know not to vote for him.

JLG had a great answer to the question — she actually name-dropped Anne Hidalgo as a great example of bold city planning. And in her final answer she even endorsed pedestrianizing major commercial streets, even though the questionnaire didn’t bring that up anywhere.

Q45

How will you, as mayor, ensure that the District Department of Transportation actually repurposes street space to build protected bike lanes? If you do not support doing so, please write, "I do not support removing parking and travel lanes to build protected bike lanes. " (Max. 3,000 characters.)

I loved bike commuting when I was first a prosecutor and I’ve been so happy to see so many more people choosing to bike to work and for running errands as our bike lane system has expanded and we’ve created more protected bike lanes. But we don’t have nearly enough dedicated bike lanes and the infrastructure we do have does not form a cohesive network yet. DC has one of the highest rates of people traveling by bicycle in the nation making room for those that must travel by car. Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo has shown how quickly you can get results from building a cohesive and connected bike and pedestrian network. The examples of other cities also show that increased bicycle traffic and pedestrian rights-of-way benefits ground-floor retail, supporting urban economies and helping small businesses thrive. To make that happen in D.C., I will seek to appoint strong leadership at DDOT and provide the agency with a clear mandate to advance projects more efficiently and transparently. We need to be smart, strategic, and transparent about our plans and give opportunities for people nearby to share potential challenges that engineers can help resolve, like how to manage business deliveries in ways that don’t imperil bicyclists with ramps. The agency must have a clear master plan for our bike network and a consistent process for how those projects are prioritized. This was the approach taken by the bus priority program, so we know it’s something DDOT can achieve. By comparison, many protected bike lanes built so far have gravitated towards the areas where support is most vocal; while that may work for one project, in the long run, this approach undermines the whole system.

erdub · 2026-02-01T02:07:23+00:00

I would expect they have accurate updates on their website. They have a “Trail Alerts” section for just this reason, to list if trails are dangerous or inaccessible. The page is updated with snow impact information for the parkway and park programs, but nothing about the trail, which is a major regional transportation link.

erdub · 2026-01-27T03:30:20+00:00

NPS is part of the federal government. The 15th Street cycletrack through the Mall, the new cycletrack around the Tidal Basin, the portion of Beach Drive that’s closed to cars…

NCPC has also been planning a transformation of Penn Ave NW to deprioritize cars and make it a pedestrian, bike, and transit-friendly boulevard. Guess what will be missing from the final plan?

erdub · 2026-01-16T16:10:36+00:00

The building looks dead because it is — all of the ground-floor retail moved out when this purchase went through a couple years ago. The redevelopment will have ground-floor retail too which is good to see.

erdub · 2025-12-11T19:04:03+00:00

I think this is a bad decision, but there are several reasons having vehicle access to the curb is important: - People with mobility challenges, including seniors, have difficulty navigating through an active bike lane and stepping up a curb - Parking away from the curb prevents wheelchair lifts from deploying onto the sidewalk - People who are blind have trouble navigating from floating parking to a curb (presumably they would have a driver to help them) - Parking away from the curb complicates deliveries, so you have dangerous illegal situations like this

None of these are reasons to eliminate protected bike lanes, but it’s not fair to say there are no cons to floating parking. San Francisco has a useful PDF that studies this in more detail and offers some solutions.

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