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Guest: Professor Wes Marshall
This episode of our show was intended to highlight another great riding trail along with a conversation with renowned traffic engineer and planner Professor Wes Marshall at the University of Colorado in Denver.
My conversation with Wes happened the day after the news of the deaths of Johnny and Matthew Gaudreau were announced and when we logged in to talk, we had both been reading the same news summary.
The horror and disbelief of the tragedy really struck me hard and because so much of the topics Wes and I were to talk about were directly connected to the issues we have with traffic and safety, I decided to let this episode stand alone.
Professor Marshall’s new book, Killed By A Traffic Engineer: Shattering the Delusion that Science Underlies Our Transportation System, offers ideas, data, 
options, and a broad observation of what we are getting wrong about the way we not only DO transportation and safety, but how we think about it in the first place.
I think you will enjoy our conversation and, in the least instance, get some valuable insight into what traffic engineers are and need to be.
I do highly recommend his book, Killed by a Traffic Engineer, and, as he mentioned, read some of his peer-reviewed papers by searching Google Scholar for a plethora of interesting topics including why higher numbers of cyclists translate into safer cities.
It’s been a rough couple of weeks in our bicycle world with the high-profile deaths of the Gaudreau brothers. I cannot imagine the pain and sorrow that their families are feeling and, from the outpouring of support and tributes, so many others have been affected too.
The time for a change in the way we think about traffic, safety, urban planning and transportation, and most importantly, the mindset that says it’s okay to drive a car regardless of your sobriety, anger, or distractions, is now. If you are not already involved in some form of advocacy, perhaps now is the time to join a local organization, sit in on city council meetings, or perhaps take your already-expertise to local schools.
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