Want safer roads? Start by rethinking how we build them, a CU Denver professor says

It wasn’t that long ago that some doctors would use lobotomies as a treatment for mental illness, or insomnia, or severe headaches. That wouldn’t happen now – but modern medicine has made some weird, often tragic turns to get to where it is now.  Similarly, our modern roadways are designed with what amounts to junk science, according to author Wesley Marshall . He says it’s time for a wake-up call.  Marshall, who teaches civil engineering at the University of Colorado Denver, thinks the way our streets and highways are built contributes to tens of thousands of unnecessary crashes and deaths each year.  He recently published his research and ideas in a book, provocatively titled “Killed by a Traffic Engineer.”  In the third installment of In The NoCo’s Holiday Book Club, we’re listening back to a conversation between Wes Marshall and In The NoCo’s Brad Turner. * * * * *Sign up for the In The NoCo newsletter: Visit KUNC.orgQuestions? Feedback? Story ideas? Email us: [email protected] what you're hearing? Help more people discover In The NoCo by rating the show on your favorite podcast app. Thanks!Host and Producer: Erin O'TooleProducer: Ariel LaveryExecutive Producer: Brad TurnerTheme music by Robbie ReverbAdditional music by Blue Dot SessionsIn The NoCo is a production of KUNC News and Community Radio for Northern Colorado.