The World Health Organization has an impressive Global status report on road safety describing the need for more attention to road traffic injuries and fatalities.
Approximately 1.3 million people die each year on the world’s roads, and between 20 and 50 million sustain non-fatal injuries. The Global status .Read more...
A fun story out of Los Angeles about a local artist, Richard Ankrom, who took matters into his own hands and altered the freeway signage on the 110 freeway with a handmade replica of an Interstate 5 North sign that was so good that Caltrans left the sign untouched for .Read more...
Wired Magazine has a new column by Clive Thompson with a strong message to texters: ‘Park the car. Take the bus.’
Texting while driving is a huge problem in the US. We know it’s insanely dangerous…That’s why states are frantically trying to ban it. Nineteen already prohibit texting while .Read more...
The temporary embarrassment and frustration of a traffic accident now has the potential to be trapped in time via Google StreetView.
Fast Company highlighted this collection of traffic accidents and fires found around the world on Google StreetView.
Christoph Niemann’s illustration collections in the New York Times are quickly becoming Gotham classics, but his latest work has a particular bent on roadway design and, specifically, the art of Google Maps.
A few of the best:
The official Christoph Niemann bio from the New York Times:
Two big stories in the news related to DNA and forensic work.
First, the New York Times is reporting that the FBI DNA lab is housing an ever-growing database of DNA samples:
The computers contain the National DNA Index System, a database of 6.7 million genetic profiles, the world’s largest repository of .Read more...
Some exciting developments in the field of three-dimensional renderings from the New York Times:
Computer science researchers at the University of Washington and Cornell University are deploying a system that will blend teamwork and collaboration with powerful graphics algorithms to create three-dimensional renderings of buildings, neighborhoods and potentially even entire cities.
The .Read more...
Fast Company has a great new graphic describing the new TIGER infratstructure plans (Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery).
There was a time when infrastructure spending was going to be a large part of the economic recovery, and that time may have finally arrived. Here we offer a sample of several of .Read more...
Henry Fountain from the New York Times looks at Haiti’s infrastructure past to explain the devastation:
Engineers and architects who have worked in or visited Haiti say that substandard design, inadequate materials and shoddy construction practices likely contributed to the collapse of many buildings in the earthquake that struck Tuesday.
Cameron Sinclair, .Read more...
Newsweek.com has a great profile of famous corporate recalls through the years.
The automotive highlights:
1. Ford Pinto, 1978
From Newsweek: Because of the placement of the car’s gas tank, the Pinto had a tendency to burst into flames when rear-ended—even at moderate speeds.
2. Ford Ignitions, 1996
From Newsweek: Ford recalled 8.6 million .Read more...
