Top all-time · #19560
Matt Pinder
Personal blog · beyondtheautomobile.comdesignculture
Matt Pinder writes Beyond the Automobile, a personal blog at beyondtheautomobile.com about design and culture. Since 2021, 4 different Hacker News readers have linked it 4 times. It is still writing: the last post was on 2026-10-13, and you can follow it by feed.
Too few sampled comments (3) to say how often HN recommends it.?
Why HN links it
HN readers link Matt Pinder's blog for arguments about street design, traffic safety and speed, including design speed, left-turn crashes in San Francisco and conflict-free intersections. Its posts are cited as supporting sources.
Summarised by Claude from a sample of 3 HN comments that link here. Each comment is marked recommending, critical or neutral (citing without judging); how this works.
Imagining the future of transportation. A blog by Matt Pinder.
Most-linked posts?
- /2021/02/08/what-is-design-speed-and-how-does-it-affect-our-streets/2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2021-11-26
What Hacker News says?
FTA: “40% of SF traffic fatalities in 2019 involved drivers making left turns who didn’t see the person in the crosswalk until it was too late.” If there are traffic lights, there should not be anybody on those crosswalks. Neither should there be “incoming traffic, including bicyclists”. Good junction/traffic light design avoids having streams of traffic crossing each other (“conflict free intersections”). See https…
Comment linking /2020/08/11/signals-for-change/
on “In 2019 40% of San Francisco traffic fatalities are from left turns”Submitted How Big Does the Corner Need to Be? as a story · 1 points
HN discussionRoads tend to have a speed where people feel comfortable. In theory, road engineers design roadways to match the desired speed. In practice, that doesn’t always happen. Even worse, cities/towns have been known to lower the speed limit to drive revenue. Edit, some links: https://beyondtheautomobile.com/2021/02/08/what-is-design-sp... https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2021/8/6/the-key-to-slow... Usually, when people…
Comment linking /2021/02/08/what-is-design-speed-and-how-does-it-affect-our-streets/
on “Virginia police routinely use secret GPS pings to track people’s cell phones”I think a more concise explanation is just that street design impacts speed choices. https://beyondtheautomobile.com/2021/02/08/what-is-design-sp...
Comment linking /2021/02/08/what-is-design-speed-and-how-does-it-affect-our-streets/
on “The Deadly Myth That Human Error Causes Most Car Crashes”