A presentation by Aaron Naparstek, delivered at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design If you ever want to kill someone New York or just about any other American city, use a car as your weapon. As long as you are sober, licensed and do not flee the scene of the "accident," it is virtually guaranteed that you will get away with murder. Around the world, 1.3 million people die in road traffic crashes and 20 to 50 million more are injured each year. It is a massive global health crisis that, for the most part, we ignore. Streetsblog founder and Harvard Loeb Fellow Aaron Naparstek discusses emerging new perspectives on motor vehicle violence and the critical role that urban planners, designers, police and public health practitioners must play in solving the problem.

1. Header
No Accident
Design for a Safe,
Healthy, Sustainable
City
Caption
Aaron Naparstek

2. Superman Declares War on Reckless Drivers
Action Comics #12, May 1939

3. Superman Declares War on Reckless Drivers
Action Comics #12, May 1939

4. Superman Declares War on Reckless Drivers
Action Comics #12, May 1939

5. Superman Declares War on Reckless Drivers
Action Comics #12, May 1939

6. Superman Declares War on Reckless Drivers
Action Comics #12, May 1939

7. Superman Declares War on Reckless Drivers
Action Comics #12, May 1939

8. Superman Declares War on Reckless Drivers
Action Comics #12, May 1939

9. Superman Declares War on Reckless Drivers
Action Comics #12, May 1939

10. Superman Declares War on Reckless Drivers
Action Comics #12, May 1939

11. Superman Declares War on Reckless Drivers
Action Comics #12, May 1939

12. Superman Declares War on Reckless Drivers
Action Comics #12, May 1939

13. The 2011 Dodge Charger: Watch out Metropolis!

14. Accidents happen.

15. This is the indicator species of a healthy urban habitat.

16. Designers have a major role to play in solving the problem.

17. Is it really still an “accident” when you run someone over intentionally?
intentionally
accident
accident

18. We weren’t always so blasé about “accidents.”
The Brooklyn Death-o-Meter, 1927.

19. A 3,000 percent increase in U.S. auto fatalities from 1901 to 1923.
Source: Peter Norton, “Fighting Traffic.”

20. Most of the people being killed by cars were pedestrians.
City of Philadelphia, 1928.
Source: Peter Norton, “Fighting Traffic.”

21. And most of those pedestrian fatalities were children.
Source: Peter Norton, “Fighting Traffic.”

22. City streets weren’t always the sole domain of motor vehicles.
Mulberry Street, Manhattan’s Lower East Side, circa 1900.
Source: Library of Congress Photocrom Collection

23. “Blood, grief and anger in the American city… a violent revolution.”
Memorial to Child “Accident” Victims. Baltimore, Maryland, 1922.
Source: Peter Norton, “Fighting Traffic.”

24. 1.3 million people
die each year
as a result of road
traffic crashes.

25. 1.3 million people
die each year
as a result of road
traffic crashes.
20 to 50 million
more people suffer
non-fatal injuries.

26. Traffic crashes are
the leading cause of
death among young
people, ages 15-29.

27. Over 90% of fatalities occur in poorer
countries though they own less than half of
the world's cars.
Poor Country Rich Country

28. Nearly half of fatalities
are pedestrians,
cyclists and
motorcyclists.

29. The number of U.S.
soldiers killed in the
Korean war, 1950-
2010 1953.
33,000
U.S. Road
Fatalities

30. A September 11th
once
a month.
2010
33,000
U.S. Road
Fatalities

31. 2010
33,000
U.S. Road
Fatalities
A pair of 747’s
crashing each
week.

32. 2010
A daily death toll
33,000 equal to all of the
U.S. Road people in this room
Fatalities

33. The aftermath of a bike “accident” in New York City.

34. The aftermath of a bike “accident” in New York City.

35. The aftermath of a bike “accident” in New York City.

36. “No criminality suspected.”

37. Crane Topples in Manhattan, Killing at Least 4 People.
“This is an absolute disgrace. We
need better inspection and more
resources.”
-- Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer.

38. My grandparents: Clara and Abe Naparstek

39. An car is a weapon.

40. Blaming the victim: The Matthieu Lefevre case.
Caption

41. “All we know is what we have read in the papers”
Matthieu’s mother, Erika Lefevre.

42. Security camera footage.
You can just make out Matthieu Lefevre’s bike at the very top left.

43. The Lefevre case is not unique.
Marilyn Dershowitz
Aileen McKay-Dalton Michele Matson
Margaret Myers Dashane Santana
Stefanos Tsigrimanis Rasha Shamoon

44. 4-year-old A.J. Nelson: Killed by bad urban design?
Marietta, Georgia, April 10, 2011

45. The good news: Urban designers are saving lives.
30% reduction
in traffic
fatalities from
2001 to 2010
in NYC.

46. The good news: Urban designers are saving lives.
Brooklyn’s Prospect Park West

47. The good news: Urban designers are saving lives.
Before
Ninth Avenue
redesign:
Reduced
injuries to all
users by 56%
After

48. Sweden’s Vision Zero: We know how to solve this problem.

49. It’s all about speed.

51. Conclusion: Save Metropolis. Be a Super Designer.