682 - The Surprising Benefits of Narrower Traffic Lanes
Public Health On Call
The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
4.6 • 644 Ratings
🗓️ 1 November 2023
⏱️ 14 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The U.S. is home to some of the widest streets and driving lanes in the world—and that's not something to brag about. Shima Hamidi, director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Climate-Smart Transportation, talks with Stephanie Desmon about a new report from the Bloomberg American Health Initiative that challenges the notion that wider lanes are safer. They also discuss how altering roads could not only help with safety, but our physical health and climate change adaptations. Learn more here: http://narrowlanes.americanhealth.jhu.edu/
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to Public Health On Call, a podcast from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, |
| 0:05.9 | where we bring evidence, experience, and perspective to make sense of today's leading health challenges. |
| 0:16.3 | If you have questions or ideas for us, please send an email to public health question at jh. |
| 0:21.6 | Jh.edu. |
| 0:23.6 | That's public health question at jh.u.edu for future podcast episodes. |
| 0:29.6 | This is Lindsay Smith Rogers. |
| 0:32.6 | Why are there so many deadly car crashes in the U.S.? |
| 0:36.6 | One reason appears to be modern street design, more specifically the oversized travel lanes we see on many American roads. |
| 0:45.7 | Today, Stephanie Desmond talks to Shima Hamidi, a transportation researcher at Johns Hopkins, |
| 0:51.7 | about a new report from the Bloomberg American Health Initiative |
| 0:54.7 | about how something that was meant to make driving easier could actually be making it more |
| 1:00.3 | dangerous and what could be done to make streets safer and more environmentally friendly |
| 1:05.3 | at the same time. Let's listen. |
| 1:08.4 | Shima Hamidi, thanks so much for joining me. Thank you for having me. |
| 1:12.7 | So today we're going to talk about transportation and public health, and specifically a new report |
| 1:18.4 | that you have led at the Bloomberg School of Public Health. |
| 1:23.4 | Tell me what it's about. |
| 1:26.1 | Sure. |
| 1:26.6 | So it's about this long-lasting belief that wider lanes and wider streets are safer. |
| 1:34.3 | And that has come with lots of consequences, public health consequences, transportation consequences. |
| 1:41.3 | We are testing this hypothesis that are wider lanes safer. |
| 1:47.0 | Can we narrow lanes, travel lanes, to make more room for pedestrians and cyclists? |
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