David Zipper

Senior Fellow at the MIT Mobility Initiative and Contributing Writer at Vox, focused on mobility, cities & tech. Words in  CityLab, Slate, The Atlantic etc. Tweets: David Zipper (npub1zra…080t)   #transportation #cities #innovation #technology #transit #cars #cycling #trafficsafety

Website, Newsletter, & Speaking: https://www.davidzipper.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/DavidZipper
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-zipper-6833006

Last Notes

2026-03-11 12:25:57 UTC

Americans drive a lot more than people in other rich countries.
If we didn’t drive so much, we wouldn’t die in so many crashes.
It’s a simple point, but one that NHTSA, traffic engineers, and many road safety org’s have yet to learn.
Me, in Bloomberg
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-03-10/how-deadly-are-us-roads-it-depends-on-how-you-count-traffic-fatalities
#safety #policy #crashes
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2025-08-28 13:15:43 UTC

My latest, in Bloomberg:
There’s a widespread myth that Americans hate traffic cameras. It’s simply not true.
On the contrary, researchers have consistently found that Americans broadly support using automatic enforcement to curb crashes. And for good reason: It works.
#transportation #safety #traffic
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-08-28/automated-traffic-enforcement-is-more-popular-than-you-think
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/115/106/574/268/492/777/original/88c4bcbd911bc5be.png

2025-03-14 13:03:33 UTC

Seventy years ago, the writer Lewis Mumford warned that urban highways would be a disaster:
“This is pyramid building with a vengeance, a tomb of concrete roads and ramps covering the dead corpse of a city.”
He was right. We just didn’t listen.
My homage, in Bloomberg CityLab:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-03-14/in-1955-lewis-mumford-saw-nyc-s-congestion-battle-coming?srnd=phx-citylab
#cities #history #highways
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2024-11-21 13:20:00 UTC

My latest in Fast Company:
We need to stop saying “road safety is a shared responsibility.”
Road engineers, automakers, and policymakers have the power to reduce the sky-high number of US crash deaths. Individual road users don't.
https://www.fastcompany.com/91233037/whos-really-to-blame-and-who-isnt-for-americas-traffic-death-epidemic
#crash #safety
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2024-11-14 14:12:11 UTC

- reply

The Fast Company story draws from a new research brief I produced for the MIT Mobility Initiative, where I'm a Senior Fellow.
I examined the EV quality metrics shared in carmaker marketing, which plays an outsized role shaping consumer preferences. What I found concerns me.
https://www.mmi.mit.edu/evmarketing
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/113/481/710/484/861/074/original/d0bb95f8cdba96f9.jpg

2024-11-14 14:10:18 UTC

In a new Fast Company story, I argued that focusing on range and acceleration -- the most popular metrics for EV quality -- will lead to confused customers, wasted resources, and needless road deaths.
https://www.fastcompany.com/91227386/forget-about-ev-range-and-focus-on-this-instead
#electricvehicles #cars #climate #climatechange
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/113/481/702/965/154/207/original/6f9aa8e370adfc74.png

2024-11-13 15:45:28 UTC

In US cities, ~2/3 of crash deaths occur on streets owned by the state – not local gov.
Outdated, deadly state roads are preventing cities from building the safe, comfortable, and transit-friendly streets that residents want.
My deep dive, in Vox.
https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/384562/state-highways-dots-car-crashes-pedestrian
#transportation #cities #states #visionzero
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/113/476/413/490/768/096/original/bf09dae3d8412a9f.png

2024-08-24 11:46:43 UTC

On NPR's Morning Edition, I sounded off about car bloat:
Oversized trucks and SUVs "create danger for everybody else on the street because of their mass and because of their height, whether you're walking or biking or inside a smaller car."
https://www.npr.org/2024/08/23/nx-s1-5084276/pedestrian-protection-bill-bigger-cars-trucks
#cars #bike #walk
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/113/016/830/425/193/193/original/bac48eb8be301ae0.png

2024-08-21 19:50:28 UTC

It really says something about the USA that a miniature kei car is "too dangerous" for public roads, but a lifted 8,000-lb pickup is just fine.
https://arstechnica.com/cars/2024/08/states-keep-banning-cheap-little-kei-cars-for-fear-theyre-deathtraps/
#cars #safety #policy
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2024-07-31 12:12:31 UTC

The biggest source of urban noise? Motor vehicles.
In Bloomberg CityLab , I explained why car-free neighborhoods are magically quiet – and healthier, too.
#cities #urbanism
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-07-31/the-quiet-power-of-car-free-neighborhoods?srnd=citylab
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