Courts & Covid
Citing a drop in Covid cases, legal aid groups in Los Angeles County asked a judge to dismiss their lawsuit seeking to halt traffic and eviction hearings during the pandemic.
Read more
traffic
Lethal Pollution High in 2020 Despite Lockdowns
Deadly small particle pollution in dozens of nations exceeded World Health Organization recommendations last year despite Covid lockdowns, according to a report released Tuesday.
Read more
US Traffic Deaths Spike Even as Pandemic Cuts Miles Traveled
Pandemic lockdowns and stay-at-home orders kept many drivers off U.S. roads and highways last year. But those who did venture out found open lanes that only invited reckless driving, leading to a sharp increase in traffic-crash deaths across the country.
Read more
US Infrastructure Gets C- From Engineers as Roads Stagnate
America’s infrastructure has scored near-failing grades for its deteriorating roads, public transit and storm water systems due to years of inaction from the federal government, the American Society of Civil Engineers reports. Its overall grade: a mediocre C-.
Read more
Judge Denies Pro Bono Firms’ Request to Halt Traffic, Eviction Hearings in LA County Court
A lawsuit against the Los Angeles County Superior Court over its handling of the Covid-19 pandemic spilled Monday into the Orange County Superior Court, where a judge denied a request to temporarily halt all traffic and eviction hearings during the pandemic.
Read more
Roadsides Too Noisy for Birds to Think, Crickets to Mate
Crickets and the birds that snack on them are not natural allies, but they do have a common enemy, according to a pair of studies published Wednesday: roadside noise pollution.
Read more
Berlin Man Caught Directing Flight Traffic With Radio
A man has been arrested in Berlin on allegations he made radio contact with air traffic, including police helicopters, and gave fake flight orders while impersonating an aviation official, German police said Friday.
Read more
French Road Deaths Fall to Post-War Low in Covid Year
Deaths on French roads dropped to their lowest level since World War II last year as Covid-19 restrictions sharply reduced car traffic, the national road safety agency said on Friday.
Read more
Meet ‘Baby’ Claire, Explorer of Antwerp’s Bad Air
Claire is the brainchild of Professor Roeland Samson whose research ropes in Antwerp citizens to help his team more widely measure exposure to air pollution.
Read more
Road Rage in Berlin as Cyclists Clog Streets in Pandemic
It’s rush hour on a grey morning in Berlin and a stream of cyclists are gliding along Friedrichstrasse, the fabled shopping street that runs through the city center.
Read more
Dodgers, A’s Have a Plan to Combat Gameday Traffic: Gondolas
Across the Golden State, fans of sports, music and theater know and dread one thing all too well: the crush of traffic getting in and out of venue parking lots. The Los Angeles Dodgers and Oakland A’s baseball teams have a solution: gondolas going over bumper-to-bumper traffic and onto the stadium grounds.
Read more
Morocco Launches Military Operation in Western Sahara
The Moroccan military launched an operation in a U.N.-patrolled border zone in the disputed Western Sahara to clear a key road it said had been blockaded for weeks by supporters of the pro-independence Polisario Front.
Read more
Zoo Monkeys Prefer Traffic Noise to Natural Sounds: Study
They may be naturally suited to swinging in rainforests, but monkeys in a Finnish zoo have demonstrated a “significant” preference for traffic sounds instead of the noises of the jungle, researchers have found.
Read moreBlind Pedestrians
New York City is denying blind people their right to walk on the city’s streets because less than 5% of intersections have audible crossing signals, a federal court in New York ruled, granting a class of blind and low-vision pedestrians summary judgment on their claims under the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Rehabilitation Act.
Read more
UK Says No-Deal Brexit Could See 7,000-Truck Border Queues
The British government says there could be lines of 7,000 trucks at the English Channel and two-day waits to get into France immediately after the U.K. makes its economic break from the European Union at the end of the year.
Read more
Sweltering France Posts Traffic-Jam Record
France saw a record level of traffic jams on Saturday, with cars stuck in gridlock on roasting roads spanning 820 kilometers across a country suffering a brutal heatwave.
Read more
Berkeley City Council Will Study 50% Slash of Police Budget
Early Wednesday morning, after a nine-hour virtual meeting that drew hundreds of callers, the city council of Berkeley, California, agreed to explore drastic budget cuts for city police.
Read more
LA Police Officers Accused of Faking Records to Claim People Were Gang Members
Three Los Angeles police officers faces charges of falsifying police reports to claim that people they pulled over during traffic stops had gang allegiance or some affiliation.
Read more
French, Greeks Are Europe’s Rudest Drivers: Poll
Drivers in most of Europe say they have adopted safer and more courteous behavior behind the wheel, with the notable exception of the French and Greeks who share the top spot for hurling insults at other road users, polling data showed Wednesday.
Read more