Hi, I’m Martha Roskowski of Further Strategies, and I'm excited to partner with Transportation for America on an effort to tackle dangerous design on our roads. Here's our story:

U.S. roads are dangerous. Roads designed for high speeds are killing people on foot, on bikes and in cars. We blame the victims for walking, biking and driving unsafely, but not the roadway design itself. It’s time to change that. We are launching this fundraiser to develop a legal strategy to push agencies to build safer roads.

State immunity laws make it difficult to hold agencies accountable for building dangerous roads. Transportation agencies fear legal liability if they deviate from the design manuals that enshrine designs that encourage speeding. This negative feedback loop means unsafe roads aren’t being fixed, even after people die on them.

Transportation for America is tackling this thorny issue. Our first step is research. Your contribution will help us bring on legal interns to catalogue state immunity laws, exceptions to those laws and examples of lawsuits that have been successful. Interns from engineering and design programs will identify roadways where people walking and biking have died to explore potential liability for those designs. We will publish a report with recommendations as a first step.

It’s crazy that we need to crowdfund an effort to make our roadways safer, but we live in interesting times. We know that advocates and families of traffic violence victims are frustrated and ready for change. This is a starting point. We hope this will be a way to balance the scales legally and support those within transportation agencies pushing for better, safer designs.

Donations go to Smart Growth America and are tax deductible. Any amount will help. We thank you for your support.