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I'm glad this article is looking at many factors that are involved in making cities cyclable and walkable. But it seems it is missing one huge factor: the avera
by 205guy 12y ago
I'm glad this article is looking at many factors that are involved in making cities cyclable and walkable. But it seems it is missing one huge factor: the average size of vehicles in the US. It works in Europe because city cars and delivery vans are small (as illustrated in the photos). Of course this is also because of the design and growth of the city predating motor vehicles. In the US, the sunk cost in oversized vehicles, as well as marketing and regulatory capture (CAFE exemptions) mean that everything has to bend to the will of the car culture.
- roel_v 12y agoOnly partially true. It's true that there aren't that many F150's driving around here (in absolute numbers), then again how many people drive those in American suburbia? Dutch car's aren't, on average, smaller than Camry's or Priuses.
- jchrisa 12y agoYou'd probably be shocked if you saw how many vehicles are giant empty haulers.
- analog31 12y agoYou'd be shocked. There have been years when Ford's F series pickup trucks were the best selling car in the US. Most are bought for passenger use. In my hometown, south of Detroit, virtually every other car is a full size pickup truck.
- wila 12y agoNah, US sized cars are being driven down here in the Netherlands and it is not a problem at all.
- yiyus 12y agoBecause there are only a few of them. If every car in Amsterdam was US sized, it would be really difficult to move around. Even if only all the delivery trucks were US sized, it would already be a huge mess.