The Brake: A Streetsblog Podcast

It's easy to jump to conclusions about why so many drivers continuosly break speed limits, whether you assume they just can't help it or just don't care about anyone but themselves. A recent study from the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, though, finds that there are actually five different types of speeders on our roads — and until we understand each group's unique psychology, we won't be able to slow any of them down.  On this episode of The Brake, we sat down with study author Rebecca Steinbach to introduce us to these five motorists, and dig into her deep dive-into the motivations, attitudes, and unconsicous reasons why so many people hit the gas they know they shouldn't.  And then they touch on what it might take to slow those speeders down, and why one-size-fits-all solutions will always fail. 

Like the interstate system before it, a network of massive, hyper-scale AI data centers is cropping up across America. And much like highways, they're spewing air, water, and noise pollution across our communities, unleashing more surveillance tech and police on our sidewalks, and erasing the climate gains of every bike or a bus trip we take — all for the supposed "benefit" of communities that many advocates doubt.  Today, The Brake is back from hiatus with Saul Levin, veteran transit advocate and host of one of our favorite new podcasts, The Hum, where he interviews the leading voices in the data center resistance movement. And along the way, he helps us understand not just why these two types of fossil fuel infrastructure have so much in common, but how the same playbook can help defeat them both — especially if we band together. 

A sidewalk isn't just a strip of asphalt; it's a place where countless laws collide, whether they're governing our movement, our safety, our right to free speech, our economy, or even just who's responsible for shoveling after a snow storm. But most communities don't have a single agency that manages all these competing concerns — and maybe it's time they create one.  Today on The Brake, we interview sidewalk law expert Michael Pollack about his new book "Sidewalk Nation: The Life and Law of America's Most Overlooked Resource." And in that book, he untangles the dense web of policies that shape our pedestrian spaces, which might just change the way you look at sidewalks forever. 

Affordability is the buzzword in American politics — and when it comes to transportation affordability, the policies that would give the most families the most immediate relief would also do the most to address the climate crisis. So why aren't things like fast, free buses, better connected sidewalks, and quick-build bike lanes sitting front and center of every politician's platform? And if they were, could it help climate champions across the country finally take power?  Today on The Brake, we speak to Emmett Hopkins, transportation policy manager for the Climate and Community Institute, and one of the authors of a new report called Stop Greed, Build Green. Hopkins breaks down an agenda that could help save the planet and end the income inequality crisis — and why "Green Economic Populism" is so different than the predatory breed of populism that's claimed Washington right now, or the flawed "Bidenomic" approach that proceeded it. 

Robotaxis from companies like Waymo are already rolling onto roads across America, whehter or not cities are ready for them. How can cities take back their power and put shared autonomous vehicles in their proper place, understand what impact they're having on local transportation goals, and avoid amplifying some of the worst impacts of old-school car dependency?  Today on The Brake, we're talking to Josh Naramore of the National Association of City Transportation Officials, which released a new report on how cities can meet the robotaxi revolution, and do it on their terms. And if they do it right, they can do it without losing momentum on building livable streets for people outside cars, too.