Santa Monica Council Sends Back Boulevard Safety Plan, Demands Stronger Protections
This is great: "The City Council unanimously sent back a proposed safety plan for Santa Monica Boulevard on Tuesday, directing staff to return within 60 days with revisions that prioritize pedestrian and cyclist safety over vehicle throughput."
Wow, go Santa Monica Council! Set the carbrain traffic engineers back on their heels a bit.
Bloomington: Car town!
"The spring and summer season for Bloomington’s annual Kirkwood Avenue outdoor dining program has now been set by the board of public works: The street will be kept open to vehicular traffic while continuing to allow individual “parklet” installations for restaurants."
Cars, baby!
Bloomington’s board of public works approved a 2026 Kirkwood dining plan that keeps the street open to vehicle traffic while allowing restaurant parklets. The move ends departs from seasonal closures used most years since 2020, despite city council objections.
Man inhales traffic fumes to find out where air pollution goes in body
"It takes a few minutes for me to get my eyes in, but then the air pollution becomes apparent. It appears as tiny black dots stuck to the red blood cells.
These are pieces of carbon and other chemicals, like a miniature lump of coal, that come from the incomplete burning of fuel. They're known as PM 2.5, because the particles are smaller than 2.5 micrometres."
Cliches rather than solutions in Northern Ireland road safety efforts
"We all share the responsibility for road safety" - both people operating lethal death machines and people trying to walk or bike, I suppose
"Evidence shows that more than nine in ten deaths and serious injuries are due to human error" - due to people driving cars, I would say
https://www.infrastructure-ni.gov.uk/news/lets-focus-road-safety-save-lives-2026-kimmins
Shoppers prefer retail parks to UK high streets despite lure of Boxing Day sales
"Footfall in central London down 7.7% on last year but Britain’s retail parks buck trend with 6.9% rise"
The article concludes that it's because driving is so convenient. I say it's because retail parks don't have cars and high streets do. The mall I walked to had people queued up at every store but the tiny sidewalks of the high street were uncomfortable.
Man, 79, dies following collision in Rayners Lane
I am appreciative of Harrow Online and how it reports on the number of people in Harrow being killed by cars, but I have to say the number of them makes me really nervous. Is this how many people are being killed in every district, or is Harrow particularly dangerous? 😬
https://harrowonline.org/2025/12/23/man-79-dies-following-collision-in-rayners-lane/
I hope Waymo has outfitted the headlights of their self-driving cars with red LED's so we can tell when they've gone out of control.
Ben Fulton
😀🚲
Darcy R 🇨🇦
Ben Fulton
Rob Bellinger