Killed by a Traffic Engineer - by Wes Marshall (Paperback)

About the Book

Fixing the carnage on our roadways requires a change in mindset and a dramatic transformation of transportation. This goes for traffic engineers in particular because they are still the ones in charge of our streets.

In Killed by a Traffic Engineer, civil engineering professor Wes Marshall shines a spotlight on how little science there is behind the way that our streets are engineered, which leaves safety as an afterthought. While traffic engineers are not trying to cause deliberate harm to anyone, he explains, they are guilty of creating a transportation system whose designs remain largely based on plausible, but unproven, conjecture.

Killed by a Traffic Engineer is ultimately hopeful about what is possible once we shift our thinking and demand streets engineered for the safety of people, both outside and inside of cars. It will make you look at your city and streets--and traffic engineers--in a new light and inspire you to take action.

Book Synopsis

In the US we are nearing four million road deaths since we began counting them in 1899. The numbers are getting worse in recent years, yet we continue to accept these deaths as part of doing business. There has been no examination of why we engineer roads that are literally killing us.

Fixing the carnage on our roadways requires a change in mindset and a dramatic transformation of transportation. This goes for traffic engineers in particular because they are still the ones in charge of our streets.

In Killed by a Traffic Engineer, civil engineering professor Wes Marshall shines a spotlight on how little science there is behind the way that our streets are engineered, which leaves safety as an afterthought. While traffic engineers are not trying to cause deliberate harm to anyone, he explains, they are guilty of creating a transportation system whose designs remain largely based on plausible, but unproven, conjecture.

Thoroughly researched and compellingly written, Killed by a Traffic Engineer shows how traffic engineering "research" is outdated and unexamined (at its best) and often steered by an industry and culture considering only how to get from point A to B the fastest way possible, to the detriment of safety, quality of life, equality, and planetary health. Marshall examines our need for speed and how traffic engineers disconnected it from safety, the focus on capacity and how it influences design, blaming human error, relying on faulty data, how liability drives reporting, measuring road safety outcomes, and the education (and reeducation) of traffic engineers.

Killed by a Traffic Engineer is ultimately hopeful about what is possible once we shift our thinking and demand streets engineered for the safety of people, both outside and inside of cars. It will make you look at your city and streets--and traffic engineers-- in a new light and inspire you to take action.

Review Quotes

"Marshall shares his years of civil engineering experience in an easy-to-understand way that gets to the heart of the issues regarding road use.... This is a great introduction to the concept of complete streets and safe streets."-- "Choice"

"The book is an extended take-down of the idea that the voluminous design guidelines, published by groups such as the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO), provide evidence-based formulas for safe roads and streets."-- "Resilience"

"Finally, the whistleblower we've all been waiting for! Wes Marshall is much more than that--including a great storyteller--but with Killed by a Traffic Engineer, his role in history has been secured: pulling back the curtain and exposing the inner workings of an entire profession based on a foundation of the purest hooey."---Jeff Speck, FAICP, author of 'Walkable City' and 'Walkable City Rules'

"I've been excited for this book since I first heard it was in the works. But when I actually got a chance to read it, it surpassed my expectations by a lot. Wes Marshall is not only authoritative, but a great writer. The problem he outlines is enormously consequential and has been criminally overlooked. I hope this book gets the attention it deserves."---Angie Schmitt, author of 'Right of Way: Race, Class, and the Silent Epidemic of Pedestrian Deaths in America'

"Very few transportation books remain influential 20 or 30 years after they are published. Wes Marshall's Killed by a Traffic Engineer may well be one of them. It won't let you look at our streets the same way ever again."---Donald Shoup, author of 'The High Cost of Free Parking'

"Incisive debut polemic...Marshall's breezy narrative, with section titles like 'What Are We Doing Here?' plunges surprisingly deeply into the nitty-gritty of engineering standards, giving many specialist terms a vigorous, exasperated working-over. Transit nerds and advocates for safer streets will relish the detailed conceptual battle map drawn here."-- "Publishers Weekly"

"Across almost 350 pages, he dispels the notion that safety has ever been at the center of the street design regime and argues that many of the sacrosanct theories of traffic engineering are rooted in 'pseudoscience'.... essential reading whether you're focused on one street in your neighborhood or your pastime is arguing with traffic engineers at public meetings."-- "Chicago Reader"

About the Author

Wes Marshall, PhD, PE, is professor of Civil Engineering with a joint appointment in Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Colorado Denver. He is also the director of the CU Denver Transportation Research Center and co-director of the Active Communities/Transportation (ACT) research group. He received his Professional Engineering license in 2003 and focuses on transportation teaching and research dedicated to creating a more sustainable and resilient world, particularly in terms of road safety. Having spent time in the private sector, Wes has been working on these issues for more than 25 years. With over 80 peer-reviewed publications, Wes was also the winner of the Campus-wide University of Colorado Denver Outstanding Faculty in Research Award.