Hoboken, New Jersey, is the birthplace of Frank Sinatra, and soon it could also be known as the birthplace of zero-fatality traffic.
The city of 60,000 sits across the Hudson River from Manhattan, but unlike New York, Hoboken has had zero traffic deaths in the past four years.
The city’s director of transportation and parking, Ryan Sharp, told NPR that this achievement is the result of simple but high-impact solutions.
One initiative, known as “daylighting,” aims to improve sight lines at intersections by preventing cars from parking within 25 feet of a crosswalk.
This restriction is already a state law but was rarely enforced. By using pylons, planters or bike racks to prevent cars from parking in these spaces, drivers are better able to see approaching cars, cyclists, and pedestrians.
Another success in Hoboken has been “leading pedestrian intervals.”
“We’ve programmed our traffic signals to give pedestrians a few-second head start when they get into the crosswalk during their pedestrian phase without having to worry about turning vehicles,” Sharp said.
The city has also been aggressive with common sense measures like adding bike lanes, curb extensions, and high-visibility crosswalks. And when any road with high crash counts located near schools, hospitals, or parks needs a fresh layer of asphalt, they are also given wider sidewalks and medians.
Unfortunately, while Hoboken’s streets get safer, the rest of America is moving in the opposite direction. The NHTSA reported in May that traffic fatalities reached a 16-year high in 2021, and the Governors Highway Safety Association found that pedestrian fatalities last year were the highest they’ve been in four decades.
Paint the town
After another hot summer, 2022 is shaping up to be the 46th year in a row with warmer-than-normal global temperatures.
To combat the heat, cities around the world are building parks, establishing climate shelters, and planting trees.
One neighborhood in Los Angeles is trying something simpler: a fresh coat of paint.
Roofing manufacturer GAF created the Cool Community Project, which has painted over 1 million square feet of roads, playgrounds and parking lots in Pacoima with solar-reflective paint.
Unlike traditional white paint that only reflects visible light, this project uses paint with additives that also reflect infrared light, which accounts for most of the sunlight’s heat.
The result has been a 10-12 degree decrease in surface temperature, with as much as a 30-degree difference at mid-day.
The project team is now investigating how much these cooler surfaces bring down the overall neighborhood temperature.
Travel Inflation
The price of everything is going up.
Compared to summer 2019, hotel and airfares cost 7% and 16% more, respectively. But neither of those compare to rental cars fees, which have gone up 48% on average, or 2,000% at an Avis location near the Toronto Pearson International Airport.
Giovanna Boniface rented a GMC Yukon Denali from the Avis in Toronto to help her daughter move. Three days and 185 miles later, she returned the vehicle and prepared to board a flight to Paris.
That’s when Boniface discovered that she had been charged $8,000 for 22,668 miles of travel in just three days. Apparently, Avis believed that Boniface had driven nearly the distance of the Earth’s circumference in a weekend.
Boniface told CTV that she spent several hours on the phone with Avis over multiple days trying to get the problem resolved with no success.
However, once she spoke to the media, who then began asking Avis for comment, Boniface quickly received an apology, a refund, and a promise from Avis that it would beef up their Decimal Point Placement department.
