The Brake: A Streetsblog Podcast

In communities across America, people are getting angry about traffic violence. But what does it take to turn that anger to a full-blown movement, with neighbors fighting alongside one another to change the status quo?  Today, we tapped Elizabeth Creely of the San Francisco-based grassroots advocacy organization Safe Street Rebel, which has been making good trouble to change the transportation status quo since 2020. Along the way, they've done pop-up traffic calming on the sites of recent crash deaths, put up people-protected bike lanes where the city wouldn’t build ones out of concrete, and gained some critical wisdom on how to not just create, but sustain and grow a movement to end car dependency, even when they don’t win every battle. Learn more about Safe Street Rebel on their website.

Epidemiologists around the world have sounded the alarm about the health risks of rising noise pollution, and called out cars as one of the largest sources of the crisis. In our quest to make cities quieter, though, noise researcher Dr. Erica Walker says we're missing a critical conversation about how unique communities experience their local soundscapes, both in the streets and beyond — and who we harm when we police decibel levels without listening to marginalized people first.  In this episode of The Brake, we sit down with Dr. Walker to explore not just why ultra-quiet electric cars won't actually turn down the volume on our neighborhoods much, but who gets to decide what our cities should sound like, how we enforce arbitrary auditory standards, and why a peaceful, walkable street is often the opposite of silent.  Learn more about Dr. Erica Walker and the Community Noise Lab here.

Europe is on the brink of putting "Intelligent Speed Assist" technology on all new cars to slow drivers down to local limits — and even some U.S. states are hoping to follow suit. But the minute "speed governors" get mentioned, tempers flare, and it could make the movement to throttle U.S. drivers a challenging fight to win.  Today on The Brake, we asked mobility researcher David Zipper to give us a breakdown of the most common speed-limiting technologies available today, and to share how he responds to six of the most common concerns about them — from the valid to the downright silly.  Read more of David's past writings on this topic here and here, and check out the highlights of our conversation on usa.streetsblog.org.

Dr. Destiny Thomas discusses arguments against fare-free transit and the impact of commodifying basic mobility. She introduces the Thrivance Group, advocates for equity and prioritizing marginalized communities, and explores the holistic approach to transportation solutions. The episode concludes with resources for further learning.

Authors Robert Braun and Richard Randell discuss the hidden harms of automobility, question the promises of technology in solving automobility issues, and envision a post-automobility future with parallels to the tobacco industry. They emphasize the suppression of death and violence in the automobility system and the need to limit automobility and create alternative modes of transportation and public spaces.

Authors Robert Braun and Richard Randell discuss their book 'Post Automobility Futures' on how car culture is a political system deeply entrenched in cultures worldwide. They explore the origins and impact of automobility, the concept of the road as a space of exception where violence occurs, the relationship between automobility and totalitarianism, and the parallels between fascism and certain Muslim groups. They also discuss policing practices like stop and frisk.

Dr. Ian Walker, an environmental psychology expert, discusses the challenges of incentivizing alternative modes of transportation and breaking ingrained travel habits. He explores the ineffectiveness of disincentives and shares strategies for behavior change, such as disruptive events and workplace commute incentives. The chapter emphasizes the need to understand the emotional and irrational factors influencing travel choices and urges listeners to drive less.

Researchers Kelcie Ralph and Nick Klein discuss the opinions of planning and engineering students on sustainable transportation. They highlight the importance of educating professionals and integrating both disciplines in transportation planning. The podcast explores differences between planners and engineers, public understanding of induced demand, and the significance of public advocacy in transportation projects.

Countless communities across America say they're planning for a future where more residents walk, bike, and roll to get around. So why do transportation leaders spend so much time drafting "pedestrian master plans" and "bike master plans" without accompanying "car master plans" aimed at building a world where fewer people get behind the wheel?  Today on The Brake, we're joined by urban planner, community organizer and all around rad person Cathy Tuttle, who actually sat down and wrote a car master plan for her own city of Portland, Oregon. And she hopes that advocates and transportation leaders in other communities will follow her lead — because if they don't, she argues, we'll never truly reckon with the impact of car dependency on our communities, much less chart an effective strategy to dismantle it. 

Neighborhood walking tours, group bike rides, and organized strolls in the park aren't typically thought of as front-line strategies to break a city's dependence on automobiles. Some advocates argue that without events like them, though, U.S. neighborhoods will never transform into truly people-centered places — particularly in socially and racially marginalized communities.  On this episode of The Brake, host Kea Wilson sits down with Olatunji Oboi Reed, president and CEO of Equiticity, to talk about what he and his colleagues calls "community mobility rituals," or regular, free, hyper-local events that dismantle barriers to sustainable transportation and build the social infrastructure that neighborhoods need. Along the way, we chat about what makes a "mobility ritual" different than your standard-issue Critical Mass ride, why white-dominated transportation authorities tend to overlook the power of community programs, and how mobility rituals might be integrated into the planning process itself.  Listen in, check out Equiticity's webinar series on community mobility rituals here.