Look Both Ways with David & Wes

Global Road Safety - David & Wes take a global view of road safety and ask why the United States keeps falling behind. They start with the U.S. being the only country to vote against a United Nations road safety declaration, then turn to a more uncomfortable comparison: the U.S. now appears to have a worse per-capita road fatality rate than Russia. From there, they look at the widening global road safety gap, including countries that once had worse safety records than the U.S. but have since lapped us. They also talk about Pontevedra, Spain, a city that dramatically reduced car dominance and has not had a road fatality since 2011. 
Today's topics: 🔹 Why the U.S. voted against a global road safety declaration🔹 How Russia’s road safety record compares to the U.S. over time & countries that used to be more dangerous than the U.S. but are now far safer🔹 Why “car-free” cities like Pontevedra still have cars🔹 Monster truck rallies, obviously
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Additional resources:This Spanish city has been restricting cars for 24 years. Here’s what we can learn from it. (David's article in Fast Company)
The U.S. Alone Votes Against A Road Safety Declaration
Digger's Dungeon (Home of the Gravedigger)
Music by Charlie Van Stee (courtesy of bensound)
Email us at lookbothwayspod@gmail.com or find us at www.lookbothwayspodcast.com, www.davidzipper.com, and www.wesmarshall.org
 

Transit Funding Freeze - David & Wes dig into our frozen federal transit funding situation and what happens when major transit projects are not officially killed, but also are not allowed to move forward. After new reporting on the Trump administration’s apparent halt in final agreements for Capital Investment Grants, they talk about what these delays mean, why stalled transit funding makes projects more expensive, and the hard reality that cities can no longer assume the federal government will be a reliable partner. 
Other topics: 🔹 Lebron’s new commute🔹 FHWA’s Proven Safety Countermeasures website & the disappearance of road diets and speed safety cameras🔹 Bicycling disappearing from FHWA’s proven safety countermeasures, along with the infrastructure that helps make biking safer🔹 Why Waymos are still blocking bike lanes (and what to do about it)🔹 We also answer a couple mailbag questions and, for some reason, talk more about Fabio
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Additional resources:
Congress Budgeted Billions for Big Transit Projects. Trump Isn’t Spending It.
FHWA's Proven Safety Countermeasures website
Why Are Waymos Still Blocking Bike Lanes? (David's article in The Driverless Digest)
Music by Charlie Van Stee (courtesy of bensound)
Email us at lookbothwayspod@gmail.com or find us at www.lookbothwayspodcast.com, www.davidzipper.com, and www.wesmarshall.org
 

Tire Pollution - David & Wes look at tire pollution and why the harms may be broader than most people realize. What started as a story about 6PPD-Q washing into streams and devastating coho salmon is now raising new questions about human health, including a recent study linking tire-related pollution to Alzheimer’s-related pathways. They talk through what we know, what we still do not know, and why tire wear should be part of the transportation pollution conversation, even in a world with more electric or autonomous vehicles.
Other topics: 🔹 What we unexpectedly learned about each other over the last year🔹 David revisits Abundance & why his thinking has changed 🔹 Wes revisits traffic cameras & why his thinking has changed
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Correction: The Institute for Progress (rather than the Institute for Fiscal Progress) published The Transit Abundance Playbook
Additional resources:EVs Are Sending Toxic Tire Particles Into the Water, Soil, and Air (David's article in The Atlantic) 
Learning What Substance Is Suspected of Causing Alzheimer’s May Throw You Into an Existential Crisis (Futurism) 
Tire chemical responsible for killing coho salmon in urban streams (U. Washington study) 
There’s a Big Problem With Your Car’s Tires (Slate)
Music by Charlie Van Stee (courtesy of bensound)
Email us at lookbothwayspod@gmail.com or find us at www.lookbothwayspodcast.com, www.davidzipper.com, and www.wesmarshall.org
 

Bike Stress - David & Wes talk about bike route stress and a major blind spot in the existing Level of Traffic Stress method: intersections. The current approach does a good job rating street segments, but it largely ignores exactly where a route can become far more stressful in real life. David & Wes discuss a new survey designed to help fix that gap by bringing intersections into the mix, and why better bike safety analysis depends on measuring the full route, not just the links between intersections.
Other topics: 🔹 The bike tours we wish we could take (or not)🔹 Bike lane cameras & whether automated enforcement could/should keep bike lanes clear🔹 Some fun mailbag questions from listeners
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Links to the survey:Bicyclist Intersection Stress Surveyhttps://ucdenver.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_3ZS9DLyszX7GnYO?Q_CHL=qr
Additional resources:Another Year of Devastating and Preventable Bicyclist Deaths
A New Tool in the Battle to Keep the Bike Lane Clear (David’s article in Bloomberg)
Don’t Park in the Bike Lane! Santa Monica Started Issuing Automated Bike Lane Tickets Today 
Pittsburgh Stationary Automated Curb Enforcement
Music by Charlie Van Stee (courtesy of bensound)
Email us at lookbothwayspod@gmail.com or find us at www.lookbothwayspodcast.com, www.davidzipper.com, and www.wesmarshall.org

Crash Data Blind Spots - David & Wes dig into crash data and why Americans may know less about road deaths than we think. Everyone says they want data-driven safety policy, but the data we rely on often miss major categories of harm, including crashes on private property, parking lots, driveways, and behind gates. They talk through what gets counted, what gets left out, and why police-collected crash data can turn a partial record into something that looks more complete than it really is. It’s a conversation about why better road safety depends not just on having data, but on understanding where that data comes from, who collects it, and what it fails to see.
Other topics: 🔹 Our first jobs🔹 The implications of a city turning public streets into a gated community🔹 Fabio
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Additional resources:Bow Mar’s plan to install a gate to reduce traffic has Denver, Littleton ready to retaliate
Waze Hijacked L.A. in the Name of Convenience. Can Anyone Put the Genie Back in the Bottle? 
Gordon S. Wood, Pioneering Historian of Early America, Dies at 92 
NHTSA's Non-Traffic Surveillance (NTS) 
Music by Charlie Van Stee (courtesy of bensound)
Email us at lookbothwayspod@gmail.com or find us at www.lookbothwayspodcast.com, www.davidzipper.com, and www.wesmarshall.org

The World Cup - David & Wes mark the start of the World Cup by talking about the transportation culture shock many international visitors may experience in the United States. From stadium access to transit service to the everyday assumptions baked into how we move people around big events, they discuss why hosting a global event can expose the gaps in our transportation system. It’s a conversation about what happens when the world arrives expecting world-class mobility and instead encounters the very American mix of cars, parking, costs, confusion, and workarounds.
Other topics: 🔹 Stadiums that fit well into the urban fabric🔹 School buses stopping at railroad crossings & when safety rituals stop making sense🔹 And we answer some mailbag questions such as how to talk about car-centric systems without losing people
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Additional resources:No Train, No Stop? FMCSA Considers Rule Change for School Buses
Why Did Cars Get So Hard to See Out Of? (David's article in Bloomberg) 
Is Finland's new car-free bridge the longest of its kind in the world?
Music by Charlie Van Stee (courtesy of bensound)
Email us at lookbothwayspod@gmail.com or find us at www.lookbothwayspodcast.com, www.davidzipper.com, and www.wesmarshall.org

Gas Tax Holiday - David & Wes take on gas tax holidays and why cutting a few cents from the price of gas is usually better politics than transportation policy. The federal gas tax has been stuck at 18.4 cents per gallon since 1993, and suspending it would barely make a dent in a fill-up while weakening a transportation funding system that is already running on fumes. They talk through who actually benefits, whether the savings ever reach drivers, and why a real price-stabilization policy would have to move both ways, cutting the tax when prices spike and raising it when prices fall.
Other topics: 🔹 Singapore’s congestion pricing history & some transportation details that caught David’s eye🔹 Fargo’s downtown parking rules can make “free” parking annoying (at least according to Wes)🔹 David’s shirt!
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Additional resources:How did Singapore restrict cars on its island? | With Paul Barter (Urban Mobility Explained) 
Trump Proposes Suspending Federal Gas Tax Until Prices Fall (The New York Times) 
Labor cuts fuel excise for three months, saving Australians 26c a litre on petrol and diesel (The Guardian) 
Governor says Indiana may have ‘flexibility’ to extend gas tax suspension again (Indiana Capital Chronicle) 
Music by Charlie Van Stee (courtesy of bensound)
Email us at lookbothwayspod@gmail.com or find us at www.lookbothwayspodcast.com, www.davidzipper.com, and www.wesmarshall.org

The Car Industry - David & Wes drive straight into the changing car industry and what today’s vehicles reveal about identity, status, and the future of transportation. From cheap Chinese EVs showing up near the U.S. border to the pressure they could place on Detroit, they explore whether companies like BYD and Geely could bring back the affordable car in America and why U.S. automakers may struggle to compete. It’s also a conversation about how transportation has become deeply tied to culture and identity in the United States, why so many people buy vehicles they barely use for their intended purpose, and what all of that could mean for the future adoption of autonomous vehicles.
Other topics: 🔹 Our favorite “buy low” city in America 🔹 Cheap Chinese EVs & whether Detroit can keep them out 🔹 Pickup trucks & the role of identity in vehicle choice 🔹 Rivian’s e-bike spinout
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Additional resources: The U.S. Wants to Ban China’s High-Tech Cars, but They’re Already Here in El Paso (Wall Street Journal) 
Upside Down: A Primer for the Looking-Glass World by Eduardo Galeano
You Don’t Need A Full-Size Pickup Truck, You Need a Cowboy Costume (The Drive) 
This Rivian spinoff is reinventing e-bikes in California with screens, software and swappable seats (LA Times)
 
Music by Charlie Van Stee (courtesy of bensound)
Email us at lookbothwayspod@gmail.com or find us at www.lookbothwayspodcast.com, www.davidzipper.com, and www.wesmarshall.org

Freedom to Drive - In this very special episode of Look Both Ways recorded in front of a live audience on a rooftop in Denver, Jill Locantore of the Denver Streets Partnership joins David & Wes to dig into the Trump Administration’s “Freedom to Drive” initiative and what it says about how we think about congestion, mobility, and who the transportation system is really for. They contrast that national framing with a local story, Denver’s successful “Denver Deserves Sidewalks” campaign, which shifted responsibility for sidewalks from property owners to the city. It’s a conversation about competing visions of freedom, what it actually takes to build better cities, and how policy choices shape everyday experience on our streets.
Thanks to everyone that came out for a really fun event!
Other topics:
🔹 The surprising U.S. city where we could see ourselves living🔹 We also take some questions from the audience
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Additional resources: The Freedom to Drive Initiative
 
David’s articles about sidewalks:Who Should Pay to Fix the Sidewalk?
The High Cost of Bad Sidewalks
 
Some of Wes’ research on sidewalks:Sidewalk Static Obstructions and Their Impact on Clear Width
Disparate Approaches to Maintaining Roads and Sidewalks: An Interview Study of 16 US Cities
An Evaluation of Sidewalk Availability and Width: Analyzing Municipal Policy and Disparities
Where the Sidewalks End: Evaluating Pedestrian Infrastructure and Equality
Evaluating Sidewalk Infrastructure & Prioritizing Investment
 
And a couple of Wes' sidewalk articles:Bad Sidewalks? City says it’s a YOU problem
Denver’s Sidewalks Need a lot of Help: Where Do We Start?
 
Music by Charlie Van Stee (courtesy of bensound)
Email us at lookbothwayspod@gmail.com or find us at www.lookbothwayspodcast.com, www.davidzipper.com, and www.wesmarshall.org
 

Driver Assistance – David & Wes dig into driver assistance systems and the question of whether they’re actually making our roads safer. Following a recent NTSB hearing, they explore both the promise and the problems, from real potential safety benefits to the very real ways these systems can encourage overtrust. They talk through how “hands-off” can become “mind-off,” why supervising automation is harder than it sounds, and where responsibility really lies when things go wrong. 
Other topics:
🔹 The big U.S. city we DON’T want to live in🔹 The Apple TV show Shrinking & the collateral damage of fatal crashes🔹 We then open up the mailbag to answer some listener questions
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If you happen to be in Denver on April 21st, come out and see us! Look Both Ways LIVE Podcast Recording + Fundraiser for the Denver Streets Partnership
David speaking earlier that same day at The Road Ahead 2026
Additional resources: Systems that let drivers take their hands off the wheel don’t improve safety, NTSB head says
Music by Charlie Van Stee (courtesy of bensound)
Email us at lookbothwayspod@gmail.com or find us at www.lookbothwayspodcast.com, www.davidzipper.com, and www.wesmarshall.org