AUSTIN, Texas — The City of Austin recently released a report about a year and a half-long pilot program aimed at reducing the number of left-turn crashes. City officials say the tools used in the pilot seem to work.

Left-turn calming treatments were installed at 16 intersections across Austin as part of the city’s Vision Zero program. 

“We have some posts on a curb system and a low-profile speed cushion, which is high visibility, including at night, and they can extend to the crosswalk and also a little bit beyond,” said Michael Kiel, a program manager for Austin’s Vision Zero. “Or have a curb extension made out of white materials on the other side.”

The city adopted Vision Zero 10 years ago, aimed at eliminating traffic deaths and serious injuries. 

“We’ve seen a 46% reduction in crashes involving pedestrians, as well as a 50% reduction in crashes involving pedestrians that led to injury,” Kiel said regarding the calming treatment pilot.

It involves leveraging highly visiblity posts to reduce the risk of pedestrians getting hit by a car making a left turn. It cost about $5,400 to install at each location.

“Building on our own research and that from other cities, we designed a pilot program to install low-cost treatments at intersections to reduce the speed and improve the angle that vehicles are turning left,” Kiel said.

The findings also revealed the treatments at each location saved more than $180,000 in crash costs, which includes emergency response, medical bills and other damages. Because of its success, the city may expand the treatment to other intersections.

“We find those results, as well as some video observation and engineering observation about turning behavior, very promising and encouraging to potentially use these treatments in different locations throughout the city,” Kiel said.

AUSTIN, Texas — With just 70 days to go until the Texas primary election date, major races across the state are ramping up with competitive poll numbers.

Recent polling shows races within just single digits for the high-profile Senate nomination races in both parties. The primary is scheduled for Tuesday, March 3.

The Democratic field, made up of U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett and Texas State Rep. James Talarico, is proving to be a close race after a shakeup earlier this month.

Polling from the Barbara Jordan Public Policy and Survey Center at Texas Southern University shows Crockett leading with 51% and Talarico with 43% among likely Democratic primary voters.

On the other side of the aisle, Republican incumbent Sen. John Cornyn’s race against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is proving to be a three-way race, with U.S. Rep. Wesley Hunt gaining traction in recent polls.

A Dec. 4 poll by J.L. Partners shows Paxton leading with 29%, just a few points ahead of Cornyn and Hunt at 24%. Still, 23% of likely Republican primary voters surveyed were undecided.

“I think we’re clearly in a three-way race now for the Republican Senate,” said Mark P. Jones, political science professor at Rice University.

The other big races that are an uphill battle for lesser-known democrats. The latest polling from the Barbara Jordan Center focused in on the Democratic races for governor, lieutenant governor and attorney general.

The polling shows Texas State Rep. Gina Hinojosa is leading the Democratic field for the gubernatorial race with 41%. Her biggest challenger, however, is voters who are still unsure—making up 42% of those polled.

Jones explained the lack of name recognition in much of the Democratic state primary races.

“Whoever the Democratic nominee is for U.S. Senate can count on tens of millions of dollars coming in from outside of the state to support their candidacy. That simply isn’t going to happen for, say, someone like Gina Hinojosa running for governor, or Vikki Goodwin running for lieutenant governor,” he said.

43% of voters surveyed said they don’t know enough about Hinojosa. 81% said they don’t know enough about Goodwin.

“Even the best known candidates generally are only known by about a third of Democratic primary voters,” Jones said.

That presents a major challenge, with just 70 days and counting until the March primary.

If in any of these races, a candidate does not reach the 50 percent threshold, a runoff primary election will happen at the end of May.

A federal judge has blocked a Texas law aimed at keeping minors from using app stores without an adult’s consent. 

The decision is a win for major developers of app stores represented in the federal lawsuit, including Apple, Google and Amazon. 

Texas app store law blocked

What we know:

Senate Bill 2420 would have gone into effect on Jan. 1, requiring anyone under the age of 18 in Texas to get parental consent to download an app or make an in-app purchase. 

U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman in Austin issued a preliminary injunction against the law, saying it likely violates the First Amendment.

The case against the law, known as the App Store Accountability Act, was brought by Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA) on behalf of operators of app stores (like Google, Apple, and Amazon) and developers of mobile apps (like YouTube, Audible, Apple TV, IMDB, and Goodreads).

What’s next:

The law can not go into effect as litigation proceeds. 

Texas AG Ken Paxton is the sole defendant in the case, and is enjoined from enforcing or allowing enforcement of the law during that time. 

Texas lawsuit over SB 2420

The backstory:

Attorneys for the CCIA argued the law violates First Amendment free speech rights. Before the Austin court hearing last week, CCIA Senior VP Stephanie Joyce issued the following statement:

“We shall show the judge that this law is unconstitutional and should not take effect. This law is grossly overbroad, involves forced-speech mandates, and is not remotely tailored to its stated purpose. It is a deeply flawed statute that the Court should block under the First Amendment.”

Other cell phone restrictions

Dig deeper:

Australia recently passed a total social media ban for people under age 16. Texas attempted a similar law with House Bill 18, which was enjoined prior to SB 2420. 

A recent report about a school in Kentucky with a cellphone ban quoted administrators about an unexpected benefit. They claim a 61 percent increase in books being checked out from its library since the ban started.

In that Kentucky report, 38 percent of their disciplinary issues involved violating the cellphone ban. The administrators said they hope that number will drop after students come back from the holiday break. It’s too early to tell if that kind of data will be collected as part of the TEA review.