Blaming drivers and 'safety science' with Sarah Risser

Portland road safety advocate Sarah Risser (Bike Loud, PBOT Pedestrian Advisory Committee, Families for Safe Streets) and I talk about the pros and cons of blaming individuals over the system when it comes to traffic crashes.

This conversation was inspired by a social media post when I scolded a driver for causing a bad wreck. Sarah then suggested I watch a video about Safety Science from Transportation Alternatives and narrated by safety expert and There Are No Accidents author Jessie Singer.

We dive into the need for blame, the limits of systems thinking (when our systems are totally dysfunctional), and several related issues around why fixing our broken streets and associated traffic culture is so challenging in America.