The Deadly Rise of Giant Trucks and S.U.V.s

Americans’ love affair with big cars is killing them

New analysis shows that the heaviest vehicles kill more people than they save in crashes

Britain’s cars and SUVs are growing bigger – but there is a way to stop this deadly ‘carspreading’ | Christian Wolmar

Larger vehicles crowd our roads and are far more dangerous to pedestrians. Let’s curb them before they do even more damage, says says transport commentator Christian Wolmar

If there’s a war on cars in the USA then the cars have won

American vehicles have grown heavier, faster, and wider every decade since 1982 — and federal fuel economy rules reward the growth. Evidence from 50 years of EPA data.

Vigilantism comes for Flock

More Americans than ever are destroying Flock license plate cameras amid rising backlash against the company. Is the tide turning on intrusive U.S. mass surveillance, and where does the privacy fight go next?

'Step back' - air pollution at pedestrian crossings

Every busy road produces a cloud of pollution you can't see. Where you stand in it matters more than most people might realise.

Yohan on Twitter / X

For six months, Google Maps sent a slice of drivers in ten American cities down deliberately slower routes.About 30 seconds slower on average, and under 2% of trips were touched. The experiment ran on roughly 100 of the most congested road segments in each city, switching on… pic.twitter.com/5cshNdmWU2— Yohan (@yohaniddawela) August 28, 2026

Speedcam Anywhere

Vehicle exhaust emissions - CO2, PM2.5 and NOx - are highest during acceleration. Microplastic particulates from tire emissions are highest during braking, accelerating and cornering quickly. In urban areas, vehicles accelerate and decelerate repeatedly due to junctions and traffic. Allowing for the emissions when vehicles are accelerating and they typically have the lowest NOx and CO2 emissions, and the best mpg, when driven at maximum speeds of 15-20mph. Particulate Matter (PM2.5) from tyre wear and brake pad wear is a lot higher when decelerating from higher speeds, and also from cornering at higher speeds. Because of the extra emissions during acceleration, NOx and CO2 go up rapidly when driving at higher speeds in urban areas.

How Human Traffickers Force Victims Into Cyberscamming — ProPublica

Tens of thousands of people from across Asia have been coerced into defrauding people in America and around the world out of millions of dollars. Those who resist face beatings, food deprivation or worse.

The Race to Rebuild One of America’s Busiest Bridges

After a crucial section of a California freeway collapsed, this formidable construction boss pulled off one of the fastest, riskiest, most high-stakes reconstructions in U.S. history.

Matt Jones on Instagram: "A trio of CSX Geeps lead M780 North through the massive Big Hormady Cut at Tantallon, TN. Even with the Cowan pusher shoving on the bottom the 39 car local struggled up the steep mountain grade. #railphotos_usa #railsupremacy #trb_express #pocket_rail #daily_crossing #railroadphotography #railroad #RailfanDepot #railfan #railfans_of_instagram #railfannation #trains_magazine #trains_worldwide #tennessee #trainsofinstagram #travel #trains #rock #fall #mountains #canonusa #canonphoto #canon"

1,274 likes, 16 comments - rusty_rail_junkie on October 26, 2021: "A trio of CSX Geeps lead M780 North through the massive Big Hormady Cut at Tantallon, TN. Even with the Cowan pusher shoving on the bottom the 39 car local struggled up the steep mountain grade. #railphotos_usa #railsupremacy #trb_express #pocket_rail #daily_crossing #railroadphotography #railroad #RailfanDepot #railfan #railfans_of_instagram #railfannation #trains_magazine #trains_worldwide #tennessee #trainsofinstagram #travel #trains #rock #fall #mountains #canonusa #canonphoto #canon".

What Tear Gas and Rubber Bullets Do to the Human Body

So-called “less-lethal” weapons like those that have been used against demonstrators in Los Angeles can cause severe, lasting harm like nerve or brain damage or blindness. They can also kill.

‘We gave them hell’: The people who fought Google buses remember battles won and lost

Thirteen years ago, their protests against SF’s tech buses made headlines. Now they warn that the AI boom is making things even worse.

When police pull back: Neighborhood‐level effects of de‐policing on violent and property crime, a research note

Abstract Many U.S. cities witnessed both de‐policing and increased crime in 2020, yet whether the former contributed to the latter remains unclear. Indeed, much of what is known about the effects of proactive policing on crime comes from studies that evaluated highly focused interventions atypical of day‐to‐day policing, used cities as the unit of analysis, or could not rule out endogeneity. This study addresses each of these issues, thereby advancing the evidence base concerning the effects of policing on crime. Leveraging two exogenous shocks presented by the onset of the coronavirus 2019 (COVID‐19) pandemic and social unrest after the murder of George Floyd, we evaluated the effects of sudden and sustained reductions in high‐discretion policing on crime at the neighborhood level in Denver, Colorado. Multilevel models accounting for trends in prior police activity, neighborhood structure, seasonality, and population mobility revealed mixed results. On the one hand, large‐scale reductions in stops and drug‐related arrests were associated with significant increases in violent and property crimes, respectively. On the other hand, fewer disorder arrests did not affect crime. These results were not universal across neighborhoods. We discuss the implications of these findings in light of debates concerning the appropriate role of policing in the 21st century.