Traffic Fatalities

Fatal traffic accidents involving pedestrians are increasing statewide – and they’ve more than doubled over the past decade. But it hasn't happened everywhere. The city of Boulder saw zero fatal crashes involving a pedestrian in seven of the past 11 years. Today on In The NoCo, we look at what’s working in Boulder, and how leaders in other cities might get similar results.

Colorado roads can be dangerous for bicyclists. Advocates say one way to keep cyclists safer is to require technology be installed in all new motor vehicles that could automatically detect and avoid bicyclists on the road. We explore the promise – and the limitations – of this emerging technology, on today’s In The NoCo.

According to the latest annual report from the Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, four of the nine states with the weakest road safety laws are in the Mountain West and no state in the region is in the category with the top safety laws.

Every day in Colorado, we bike, drive or walk on streets that were designed using outdated research and bad assumptions. That’s the premise of the provocative book “Killed by a Traffic Engineer.” Author Wesley Marshall, who teaches at CU Denver, discusses how we should think differently about traffic safety in the third installment of In The NoCo’s Holiday Book Club.

Data shows the roads can be a dangerous place for bicyclists. Advocates say one way to keep cyclists safer is to require features like Automatic Emergency Braking on all new vehicles. We discuss the promise – and the limitations – of this new technology, on today’s In The NoCo.

Every day in Colorado, we bike, drive or walk on streets that were designed using outdated research and bad assumptions. That’s the premise of the new book, “Killed by a Traffic Engineer.” We talk with the author about how we should be thinking about traffic safety.

Vision Zero is a European-inspired program which aims to eliminate traffic accidents by 2050. Las Vegas a few other cities in our region that are participating in the program.

E-bikes cut air pollution, reduce traffic and haul hundreds of pounds of cargo. And as more riders hit the streets, there’s a growing push to build bike lanes and redesign roads to keep riders safe.

A safety advocacy group released a “roadmap” this week ranking each state on several indicators in an effort to reduce traffic deaths. Every state in the region was given either a “caution” or “danger” rating, meaning the group sees a major need for tougher laws.

2021 was among the deadliest years on record for Colorado drivers. According to the Colorado Department of Transportation, 672 people were killed on state roadways last year, the most since 2002.