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The bottom line here is that there are essentially no repercussions when cars injure or kill cyclists. This needs to change, and hopefully we can also add prov

The bottom line here is that there are essentially no repercussions when cars injure or kill cyclists. This needs to change, and hopefully we can also add proven separated bike lanes which make it safer and more efficient for cyclists as well as drivers.

epistasis 6y ago
There's a fantastic law article by Greg Shill about how law favors driving, and how it subsidized US car lifestyle, a deadly way of living that would probably not be possible without the legal support: > A century ago, captains of industry and their allies in government launched a social experiment in urban America: the abandonment of mass transit in favor of a new personal technology, the private automobile. Decades of investment in this shift have created a car-centric landscape with Dickensian consequences. > In the United States, motor vehicles are now the leading killer of children and the top producer of greenhouse gases. Each year, they rack up trillions of dollars in direct and indirect costs and claim nearly 100,000 American lives via crashes and pollution, ... >Many of the automobile’s social costs originate in individual preferences, but an overlooked amount is encouraged—indeed enforced—by law. Yes, the United States is car-dependent by choice. But it is also car-dependent by law. https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3345366 https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3345366
- toxik 6y ago
  Tangential, but I think people would be happier if they biked and walked more. Especially walking is proven over and over to improve quality of life. It's a shame, really.
  - epistasis 6y ago
    I walk to work, or at least I did before the pandemic started. In terms of job satisfaction I'd probably give it a $20-$40k/year premium for jobs with identical technical interests but different salaries. The increased cost of housing close to work probably eats that up, but that could be solved if shifted from density maximums to density minimums in the zoning code.
    - bobthepanda 6y ago
      Minimums probably would mostly just increase the amount of abandoned fallow lots because they're not viable to develop in any form. All cities need to do is loosen their belts, and loosening zoning belts doesn't mean "become Manhattan", but rather just allowing townhouses, duplexes, triplets, and generally low rise <6 floor buildings, which were fairly common everywhere in cities prior to the introduction of zoning.
      - epistasis 6y ago
        A minimum of a duplex or triplex would mean a ton of redevelopment here. Main thing is that there's a massive oversupply of single family homes, with 4-5 people rooming up to fill them and make rent. If we had more 1-2 bedroom units a lot of people would be made a lot happier.
        bobthepanda 6y ago
        But a minimum might just convince people to not develop their land at all, if they don't think they could get a reasonable return on a duplex or triplex. An empty lot or a house beyond repair is better off as a SFH than not getting developed at all.
caturopath 6y ago
It's just astonishing how casual an attitude we take to cars when they've done so much to bring carnage to our road and damage to our environment and when they squander so much public land in our cities.

epistasis 6y ago

There's a fantastic law article by Greg Shill about how law favors driving, and how it subsidized US car lifestyle, a deadly way of living that would probably not be possible without the legal support: > A century ago, captains of industry and their allies in government launched a social experiment in urban America: the abandonment of mass transit in favor of a new personal technology, the private automobile. Decades of investment in this shift have created a car-centric landscape with Dickensian consequences. > In the United States, motor vehicles are now the leading killer of children and the top producer of greenhouse gases. Each year, they rack up trillions of dollars in direct and indirect costs and claim nearly 100,000 American lives via crashes and pollution, ... >Many of the automobile’s social costs originate in individual preferences, but an overlooked amount is encouraged—indeed enforced—by law. Yes, the United States is car-dependent by choice. But it is also car-dependent by law. https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3345366 https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3345366

toxik 6y ago
Tangential, but I think people would be happier if they biked and walked more. Especially walking is proven over and over to improve quality of life. It's a shame, really.
- epistasis 6y ago
  I walk to work, or at least I did before the pandemic started. In terms of job satisfaction I'd probably give it a $20-$40k/year premium for jobs with identical technical interests but different salaries. The increased cost of housing close to work probably eats that up, but that could be solved if shifted from density maximums to density minimums in the zoning code.
  - bobthepanda 6y ago
    Minimums probably would mostly just increase the amount of abandoned fallow lots because they're not viable to develop in any form. All cities need to do is loosen their belts, and loosening zoning belts doesn't mean "become Manhattan", but rather just allowing townhouses, duplexes, triplets, and generally low rise <6 floor buildings, which were fairly common everywhere in cities prior to the introduction of zoning.
    - epistasis 6y ago
      A minimum of a duplex or triplex would mean a ton of redevelopment here. Main thing is that there's a massive oversupply of single family homes, with 4-5 people rooming up to fill them and make rent. If we had more 1-2 bedroom units a lot of people would be made a lot happier.
      - bobthepanda 6y ago
        But a minimum might just convince people to not develop their land at all, if they don't think they could get a reasonable return on a duplex or triplex. An empty lot or a house beyond repair is better off as a SFH than not getting developed at all.

caturopath 6y ago

It's just astonishing how casual an attitude we take to cars when they've done so much to bring carnage to our road and damage to our environment and when they squander so much public land in our cities.