Crash Data Blind Spots - David & Wes dig into crash data and why Americans may know less about road deaths than we think. Everyone says they want data-driven safety policy, but the data we rely on often miss major categories of harm, including crashes on private property, parking lots, driveways, and behind gates. They talk through what gets counted, what gets left out, and why police-collected crash data can turn a partial record into something that looks more complete than it really is. It’s a conversation about why better road safety depends not just on having data, but on understanding where that data comes from, who collects it, and what it fails to see.

Other topics: 🔹 Our first jobs 🔹 The implications of a city turning public streets into a gated community 🔹 Fabio

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Additional resources: Bow Mar’s plan to install a gate to reduce traffic has Denver, Littleton ready to retaliate

Waze Hijacked L.A. in the Name of Convenience. Can Anyone Put the Genie Back in the Bottle?

Gordon S. Wood, Pioneering Historian of Early America, Dies at 92

NHTSA's Non-Traffic Surveillance (NTS)

Music by Charlie Van Stee (courtesy of bensound)

Email us at lookbothwayspod@gmail.com or find us at www.lookbothwayspodcast.com, www.davidzipper.com, and www.wesmarshall.org

The World Cup - David & Wes mark the start of the World Cup by talking about the transportation culture shock many international visitors may experience in the United States. From stadium access to transit service to the everyday assumptions baked into how we move people around big events, they discuss why hosting a global event can expose the gaps in our transportation system. It’s a conversation about what happens when the world arrives expecting world-class mobility and instead encounters the very American mix of cars, parking, costs, confusion, and workarounds.

Other topics: 🔹 Stadiums that fit well into the urban fabric 🔹 School buses stopping at railroad crossings & when safety rituals stop making sense 🔹 And we answer some mailbag questions such as how to talk about car-centric systems without losing people

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Additional resources: No Train, No Stop? FMCSA Considers Rule Change for School Buses

Why Did Cars Get So Hard to See Out Of? (David's article in Bloomberg)

Is Finland's new car-free bridge the longest of its kind in the world?

Music by Charlie Van Stee (courtesy of bensound)

Email us at lookbothwayspod@gmail.com or find us at www.lookbothwayspodcast.com, www.davidzipper.com, and www.wesmarshall.org

Gas Tax Holiday - David & Wes take on gas tax holidays and why cutting a few cents from the price of gas is usually better politics than transportation policy. The federal gas tax has been stuck at 18.4 cents per gallon since 1993, and suspending it would barely make a dent in a fill-up while weakening a transportation funding system that is already running on fumes. They talk through who actually benefits, whether the savings ever reach drivers, and why a real price-stabilization policy would have to move both ways, cutting the tax when prices spike and raising it when prices fall.

Other topics: 🔹 Singapore’s congestion pricing history & some transportation details that caught David’s eye 🔹 Fargo’s downtown parking rules can make “free” parking annoying (at least according to Wes) 🔹 David’s shirt!

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Additional resources: How did Singapore restrict cars on its island? | With Paul Barter (Urban Mobility Explained)

Trump Proposes Suspending Federal Gas Tax Until Prices Fall (The New York Times)

Labor cuts fuel excise for three months, saving Australians 26c a litre on petrol and diesel (The Guardian)

Governor says Indiana may have ‘flexibility’ to extend gas tax suspension again (Indiana Capital Chronicle)

Music by Charlie Van Stee (courtesy of bensound)

Email us at lookbothwayspod@gmail.com or find us at www.lookbothwayspodcast.com, www.davidzipper.com, and www.wesmarshall.org

The Car Industry - David & Wes drive straight into the changing car industry and what today’s vehicles reveal about identity, status, and the future of transportation. From cheap Chinese EVs showing up near the U.S. border to the pressure they could place on Detroit, they explore whether companies like BYD and Geely could bring back the affordable car in America and why U.S. automakers may struggle to compete. It’s also a conversation about how transportation has become deeply tied to culture and identity in the United States, why so many people buy vehicles they barely use for their intended purpose, and what all of that could mean for the future adoption of autonomous vehicles.

Other topics: 🔹 Our favorite “buy low” city in America 🔹 Cheap Chinese EVs & whether Detroit can keep them out 🔹 Pickup trucks & the role of identity in vehicle choice 🔹 Rivian’s e-bike spinout

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Additional resources: The U.S. Wants to Ban China’s High-Tech Cars, but They’re Already Here in El Paso (Wall Street Journal)

Upside Down: A Primer for the Looking-Glass World by Eduardo Galeano

You Don’t Need A Full-Size Pickup Truck, You Need a Cowboy Costume (The Drive)

This Rivian spinoff is reinventing e-bikes in California with screens, software and swappable seats (LA Times)

Music by Charlie Van Stee (courtesy of bensound)

Email us at lookbothwayspod@gmail.com or find us at www.lookbothwayspodcast.com, www.davidzipper.com, and www.wesmarshall.org

Freedom to Drive - In this very special episode of Look Both Ways recorded in front of a live audience on a rooftop in Denver, Jill Locantore of the Denver Streets Partnership joins David & Wes to dig into the Trump Administration’s “Freedom to Drive” initiative and what it says about how we think about congestion, mobility, and who the transportation system is really for. They contrast that national framing with a local story, Denver’s successful “Denver Deserves Sidewalks” campaign, which shifted responsibility for sidewalks from property owners to the city. It’s a conversation about competing visions of freedom, what it actually takes to build better cities, and how policy choices shape everyday experience on our streets.

Thanks to everyone that came out for a really fun event!

Other topics:

🔹 The surprising U.S. city where we could see ourselves living 🔹 We also take some questions from the audience

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Additional resources: The Freedom to Drive Initiative

David’s articles about sidewalks: Who Should Pay to Fix the Sidewalk?

The High Cost of Bad Sidewalks

Some of Wes’ research on sidewalks: Sidewalk Static Obstructions and Their Impact on Clear Width

Disparate Approaches to Maintaining Roads and Sidewalks: An Interview Study of 16 US Cities

An Evaluation of Sidewalk Availability and Width: Analyzing Municipal Policy and Disparities

Where the Sidewalks End: Evaluating Pedestrian Infrastructure and Equality

Evaluating Sidewalk Infrastructure & Prioritizing Investment

And a couple of Wes' sidewalk articles: Bad Sidewalks? City says it’s a YOU problem

Denver’s Sidewalks Need a lot of Help: Where Do We Start?

Music by Charlie Van Stee (courtesy of bensound)

Email us at lookbothwayspod@gmail.com or find us at www.lookbothwayspodcast.com, www.davidzipper.com, and www.wesmarshall.org

Driver Assistance – David & Wes dig into driver assistance systems and the question of whether they’re actually making our roads safer. Following a recent NTSB hearing, they explore both the promise and the problems, from real potential safety benefits to the very real ways these systems can encourage overtrust. They talk through how “hands-off” can become “mind-off,” why supervising automation is harder than it sounds, and where responsibility really lies when things go wrong.

Other topics:

🔹 The big U.S. city we DON’T want to live in 🔹 The Apple TV show Shrinking & the collateral damage of fatal crashes 🔹 We then open up the mailbag to answer some listener questions

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If you happen to be in Denver on April 21st, come out and see us! Look Both Ways LIVE Podcast Recording + Fundraiser for the Denver Streets Partnership

David speaking earlier that same day at The Road Ahead 2026

Additional resources: Systems that let drivers take their hands off the wheel don’t improve safety, NTSB head says

Music by Charlie Van Stee (courtesy of bensound)

Email us at lookbothwayspod@gmail.com or find us at www.lookbothwayspodcast.com, www.davidzipper.com, and www.wesmarshall.org

Pedestrian Deaths – David & Wes dig into a surprising shift in pedestrian safety and ask a harder question: are streets actually getting safer, or are we just seeing a temporary drop in risk? After years of rising fatalities, recent numbers suggest a modest improvement, but the pattern is anything but consistent. They explore whether this reflects real progress from design changes and enforcement, shifting travel behavior, or simply volatility in a system that still produces predictable danger. It’s a conversation about what it would actually look like if we knew how to make streets safer, and why the data do not quite tell that story yet.

Other topics: 🔹 The Secretary of Transportation’s road trip reality show 🔹 Gas prices & the resiliency value of transit 🔹 Should we be subsidizing ridehail commutes?

Check out our new website!

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Additional resources: GHSA’s Report on Pedestrian Traffic Fatalities by State: 2025 Preliminary Data (January-June)

Wes Marshall & Alejandro Henao. "The shock heard round the suburbs: Assessing the vulnerability, resilience, and transportation affordability of higher fuel price scenarios." Transportation Research Record (2015).

Rachael Bronson & Wes Marshall. "Alternative and adaptive transportation: What household factors support recovery from a drastic increase in gas price?." International Journal of Environmental Science & Technology (2014).

Lyft brings pre-tax commuter benefits deal to 14 more cities

Bruce Schaller. "Can sharing a ride make for less traffic? Evidence from Uber and Lyft and implications for cities." Transport Policy (2021).

Music by Charlie Van Stee (courtesy of bensound)

Email us at lookbothwayspod@gmail.com or find us at www.lookbothwayspodcast.com, www.davidzipper.com, and www.wesmarshall.org

Gas Prices – David & Wes dig into the upside of high gas prices and why the story is more nuanced than it often seems. While rising costs at the pump can create real challenges, they also explore how higher prices can make other modes more attractive, reinforce location efficiency, and shift how people think about transportation more broadly. It’s a conversation about how gas prices shape behavior, influence our transportation system, and what gets lost when we only talk about them as a political problem.

Other topics: 🔹 Our most harrowing driving experiences 🔹 How we mismeasure road safety 🔹 Indy cars on real Washington, DC streets 🔹 St. Patrick’s Day Rail Drinks

Additional resources:

Check out Chapter 23 (The Mirage of More Mileage) in Wes' Book:

& David's Recent Article: The US Is Counting Traffic Deaths Wrong

International Transport Forum Road Safety Annual Report 2025

‘Freedom revs’: Trump administration, DC mayor unveil details of Washington IndyCar race

Music by Charlie Van Stee (courtesy of bensound)

Email us at lookbothwayspod@gmail.com or find us at www.davidzipper.com and www.wesmarshall.org