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ULI San Antonio Lunch & Learn - Why SATX is Failing at Pedestrian Safety: A Briefing on the Dangerous by Design Report from Smart Growth America
Join ULI San Antonio and Smart Growth America for a virtual Lunch and Learn on June 8, 2023 at noon, to learn more about the Dangerous by Design report and how we can make San Antonio a safer place for all who walk, ride and run on our roads.
Recently Smart Growth America's Dangerous by Design report ranked San Antonio #20 as the most dangerous for pedestrians in the nation. Not even Houston (36), Austin (37), or Dallas (44) rank in the top 20. Not a Top 20 list to be proud of. And unfortunately, the number of people in the U.S. being struck and killed while walking continues to reach new highs. Last week, the U.S. Department of Transportation revealed that drivers of motor vehicles struck and killed more than 7,341 people while walking in 2021... a massive 18 percent increase over 2020! This crisis will continue to get worse until those with power finally make safety for everyone who uses our roads the top priority, not just with the purpose in mind to move cars quickly.
What are we waiting for? To reverse these trends and save lives, we need to protect all users of the transportation system through our policies, programs, and funding, while prioritizing the safety of those who are most at risk. Too many agencies and decision makers with a hand in building our transportation system have been asleep at the switch, believing (or just hoping) that safety will improve while only making incremental changes to a deadly status quo. The result will continue to be ever-increasing and record deaths of people walking and rolling, and we’ll continue in this Groundhog Day loop until those with the power to do so take an active role in making safety for all people the top priority of every dollar spent. To do so, they will have to unwind the deeply embedded, invisible yet powerful emphasis on speed, which is completely incompatible with safety.
FEATURED SPEAKERS
Beth Osborne
Vice President of Transportation and Thriving Communities
Smart Growth America
Beth Osborne is the Director of Transportation for America, Smart Growth America's transportation arm. In this position, she leads transportation policy development and technical assistance with departments of transportation.
Beth was previously at the U.S. Department of Transportation, where she served as the Acting Assistant Secretary for Transportation Policy and the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Transportation Policy beginning in 2009. At USDOT, Beth managed the TIGER Discretionary Grant program, the secretary’s livability initiative, the development of the Obama administration’s surface transportation authorization proposal, and the implementation of MAP-21.
Before joining USDOT, Beth worked for Sen. Tom Carper (DE) as an advisor for transportation, trade, and labor policy, as the policy director for Smart Growth America, and as legislative director for environmental policy at the Southern Governors’ Association. She began her career in Washington, DC in the House of Representatives working as a legislative assistant for Rep. Ron Klink (PA-04) and as legislative director for Rep. Brian Baird (WA-03).
MODERATOR
Ylda Capriccioso
Senior Planner
Halff
Ylda Capriccioso is a Senior Planner with Halff working on comprehensive transportation, and park plans. Prior to joining Halff, she spent the last six and half years with the City of New Braunfels working on park development, trail and bike planning. She has worked in various other communities in Texas and the Midwest focused on long-range comprehensive plans, greenspace, multimodal plans, and visionary projects like Landa Park Master Plan, Imagine 9th Street, and the San Antonio River Improvements Project.