Artwork stating 'Education Destroys Barriers', 'We Demand Treatment', and 'I Need A Chance'

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  • 24/7 Sobriety program developed in South Dakota could be rolled out nationwide

    The 24/7 Sobriety program requires repeat offenders of alcohol-related crimes to submit to breathalyzer tests twice a day as a condition of a pre-trial bond or sentencing agreement. Failure to remain sober results in jail time. Since 24/7 Sobriety started in 2005, there have been more than 39,000 participants and nearly 12.5 million tests administered, with a pass rate of 98.8%. Studies have also found a reduction in DUI and domestic violence arrests in states that adopt the program.

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  • Wheels of Hope Increases Access by Providing Rides

    Wheels of Hope provides car rides to people who can’t drive due to illness, age or disability for no more than $20. Drivers provide more than just a ride and also provide company to the passenger and help with tasks if they need it.

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  • When to take the keys away? Driver evaluation takes burden off caregivers to decide

    The Erie County Medical Center’s Driver Rehabilitation Program tests drivers' physical and cognitive abilities, to recommend whether or not they should remain behind the wheel.

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  • Utah bucked alcohol industry with its tougher DUI law. A new study shows it made roads safer.

    In an attempt to reduce fatal car crashes, Utah lowered the legal blood alcohol content limit to .05% and saw a dramatic decrease in fatal crashes. The state’s fatal crash rate dropped 19.8% from 2016 to 2019 and in 2019 deaths on the road fell to 248, compared to 281 in 2016.

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  • How America Broke the Speed Limit

    Lowering speed limits and aggressive traffic enforcement by police patrols have not succeeded at erasing America's exceptionally high traffic death rate. The 1974-95 mandate for a national 55-mph limit coincided with a steep drop in highway deaths. But its repeal did not reverse the trend, with deaths hitting a 40-year low in 2014. Speed remains a factor in about a quarter of highway deaths, which remain high by world standards. Speed cameras and automated ticketing for violations have worked in their limited use, just as they have in broader use in Europe. But they remain politically unpopular in the U.S.

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  • These Americans Are Just Going Around in Circles. It Helps the Climate.

    America's capital of the traffic roundabout is Carmel, Indiana, a city of 102,000 people and 140 roundabouts. The city boasts exceptionally low rates of traffic deaths and injury crashes. Studies of roundabout use elsewhere show benefits as well in pedestrian and bicycle safety, and in cutting environmentally harmful emissions because traditional intersections cause much longer idling times. Not all drivers like them, but Carmel long ago overcame initial qualms when the longtime mayor put into practice the traffic idea he admired when he was a university student in England.

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  • Preventing road deaths through safe system design

    Safe System design is a public health framework for preventing traffic accidents and death. The system adapts and transforms roads as part of a broader system of reforms. In Bogotá, in addition to a city-wide speed limit, high-risk corridors were identified using geo-referenced collision data and modeling. Multiple locations were transformed into pedestrian friendly streets that encourage lower traffic speeds by using speed bumps, bicycle lanes, wide sidewalks, benches, and planters. Officials note that the change has led to a decline in fatalities.

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  • Police face a 'crisis of trust' with Black motorists. One state's surprising policy may help.

    A new Virginia law restricts when the police can stop motorists, limiting the chances for inequitable law enforcement. Barred from stopping vehicles based on minor infractions like a broken taillight, police in the first four months under the new law sharply reduced their stops of Black motorists. Police say such stops are a key tactic for getting guns, drugs, and dangerous people off the streets. But they also can be racially motivated, disproportionately punish people of color, and lead to violent confrontations. Many states and cities are considering dialing back traffic enforcement for these reasons.

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  • Las Vegas's Traffic School for Pedestrians

    In Las Vegas, pedestrians and drivers ticketed for unsafe behavior can get their fines voided by taking a three-hour class called PedSAFE. More than 2,800 people have taken the class and, say its sponsors from the University of Nevada Las Vegas, graduate with a better understanding of how to keep pedestrians safe on Las Vegas' wide, pedestrian-unfriendly streets. While helpful, the program does not address more long-lasting fixes, such as ending racially inequitable jaywalking enforcement and designing safer streets.

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  • Taking cops out of traffic stops: Would it make a difference? North Carolina examples offer a clue

    For four years, Fayetteville, N.C., police virtually banned their officers from making traffic stops for petty violations having nothing to do with traffic safety, but increased their enforcement of speeding, red-light, and drunken driving violations. During that time, traffic fatalities decreased. So did the use of force by police, complaints about the police, and injuries to drivers and police. About half as many Black drivers' cars were searched. Unnecessary traffic stops can strain police-community relations and show bias against non-white drivers.

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