Killed by a Traffic Engineer

In the US we are nearing four million road deaths since we began counting them in 1899. The numbers are getting worsein recent years, yet we continue to accept these deaths as part of doing business. There has been no examination of whywe engineer roads that are literally killing us.Fixing the carnage on our roads requires a change in mindset and a dramatic transformation of transportation. Thisgoes for traffic engineers in particular because they are still the ones in charge of our streets.In Killed by a Traffic Engineer, civil engineering professor Wes Marshall shines a spotlight on how little science there isbehind the way that our streets are engineered, which leaves safety as an afterthought. While traffic engineers are nottrying to cause deliberate harm to anyone, he explains, they are guilty of creating a transportation system whose designsremain largely based on plausible, but unproven, conjecture.Thoroughly researched and compellingly written, Killed by a Traffic Engineer shows how traffic engineering “research” isoutdated and unexamined (at its best) and often steered by an industry and culture considering only how to get frompoint A to B the fastest way possible, to the detriment of safety, quality of life, equality, and planetary health. Marshallexamines our need for speed and how traffic engineers disconnected it from safety, the focus on capacity and how itinfluences design, blaming human error, relying on faulty data, how liability drives reporting, measuring road safetyoutcomes, and the education (and reeducation) of traffic engineers.Killed by a Traffic Engineer is ultimately hopeful about what is possible once we shift our thinking and demand streetsengineered for the safety of people, both outside and inside of cars. It will make you look at your city and streets (andtraffic engineers) in a new light and inspire you to take action.

"Finally, the whistleblower we've all been waiting for! Wes Marshall is much more than that--including a great storyteller--but with Killed by a Traffic Engineer, his role in history has been secured: pulling back the curtain and exposing the inner workings of an entire profession based on a foundation of the purest hooey."--Jeff Speck, FAICP, author of 'Walkable City' and 'Walkable City Rules'
"Very few transportation books remain influential 20 or 30 years after they are published. Wes Marshall's Killed by a Traffic Engineer may well be one of them. It won't let you look at our streets the same way ever again."--Donald Shoup, author of 'The High Cost of Free Parking'

Wes Marshall, PhD, PE, is professor of Civil Engineering with a joint appointment in Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Colorado Denver. He is also the director of the CU Denver Transportation Research Center and co-director of the Active Communities/Transportation (ACT) research group. He received his Professional Engineering license in 2003 and focuses on transportation teaching and research dedicated to creating a more sustainable and resilient world, particularly in terms of road safety. Having spent time in the private sector, Wes has been working on these issues for more than 25 years. With over 80 peer-reviewed publications, Wes was also the winner of the Campus-wide University of Colorado Denver Outstanding Faculty in Research Award.

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