Want to Improve Traffic Safety? Let People Get Around Without Driving

We can have a lot of conversation about what makes a transportation system safe -- and we have had that conversation here in multiple ways -- but few people ever talk about the safest option: reducing the amount people are forced to drive.

I mentioned this a couple years ago when talking about car seats. We obsess about whether a kid is buckled up properly but nobody bothers to ask the simpler question: what are you doing driving your kids around so much? We don't question it because it is a given, the casualty rate that comes from that an accepted level of attrition.

Proposition 7 in Missouri is accompanied by a long list of projects that would be funded if it passes. Lots of road widenings and expansions. Yes, let's improve safety -- and if we were really serious about it, there are some fairly straightforward ways to do so -- but let's primarily focus on reducing the amount that people are FORCED to drive.

Then there will be a lot fewer horrible accidents for these police officers to get called to.