Roody

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One picture is worth a thousand words.

This brilliant illustration shows how much public space we've surrendered to cars - Vox

Ekdog

A powerful image.

gregjones

Especially when you figure all of that area is actually choked, paved dirt that creates runoff into our streams, then rivers, then lakes...................

Smallwheels

When I had a motor on my biycle the top speed was around twenty miles per hour. With a good seat and front suspension it was OK to get around town at that speed. I started wondering how much safer everybody would be if cars were also traveling no faster than that speed.

The time to get around didn't really bother me. It was much faster than pedaling and I wasn't sweating. Since most trips for most people aren't very many miles, driving at twenty shouldn't be a big inconvenience.

When I borrowed a truck a few weeks ago to move some things to my storage unit, the whole trip was done at twenty-five miles per hour. That seemed fast considering the last time I drove a car was almost a year ago. Of course it is so easy to go faster and faster when all one needs to do is move one's right foot an inch closer to the floor.

I even thought about speed during my drive. Moving along at twenty-five was not very stressful compared to zooming down a highway at seventy. Rolling over a patch of ice at seventy and losing control is very different from doing it at twenty-five miles per hour.

New York City has a new twenty-five mile per hour speed limit throughout the whole city. Since it is easier to avoid an accident while driving slower it makes me wonder if the average speed in New York City will be the same even with slower top speeds. How much time do drivers spend stuck in traffic behind car accidents every year? With fewer accidents blocking the road will the overall time for traveling throughout the year remain the same or perhaps go down?

Ekdog

...then oceans.

So true, so sad, yet to some, anyone who dares mention such a thing is tagged with the dreaded "s" adjective (s_ _ g). Cars, they would have us believe, are nothing more than innocuous tools.

tandempower

How about a picture that somehow depicts the feeling of total dependency on driving to get anywhere, especially children, who used to be able to walk and bike around to visit friends, playgrounds, stores, etc. Now either everything is too far away or there is a prohibitive level of fear for traffic and predators . . . yet somehow everyone feels safe inside the car!

350htrr

Yea, I can remember walking to school... And home... For 12 years. First 7 years about 1 Km each way, last 5 years about 3 Km each way... Now,? Seems like almost every kid rides a bus or mommy/daddy drops them off and takes them home. WTF? Oh, a lot of the older ones drive their own cars it seems...

gerv 

Wouldn't you think it is a fact rather than a speed limit? I'm guessing in many neighborhoods you'd be lucky to average 25mph
@Roody, thanks for the image. It is worth more than 1.000 words.

bluegoatwoods

Yes, it's a powerful image. It also makes me sad.

We're, figuratively, nearly choking on cars in this nation. And most of the people around us seem to be nearly unaware that anything is wrong. And they become annoyed with us when we say that there really is something wrong.

Just last night I spent a bit of time on youtube watching videos of bicycling in places like the Netherlands. It gave me the same sad feeling. Sadness over what we have as opposed to what could be. One of the commenters mentioned how he wished he lived there. I couldn't agree more.

jwarner

I think it is a quite clever drawing. I read the same report. I think the height of the cliff on each side of the walk is supposed to be high enough to cause roughly the same injuries as if the person were hit by a car on the street.

Dahon.Steve

The speed limit in New York City was always 30 mph. However, no one respected that speed and most cab drivers thought it was 40 mph or more! There was a young 12 year old boy that was killed who made the mayor finally reduce the speed limit. It took one person's life to slow the speed 5 miles per hour and for the city to place 25 mph signs where they can be seen.

Now we need cameras to inforce the speed limit!

Caliper

So is the space where the buildings are. Nearly the whole of a city is dead, soil-wise. Funny thing is whenever I suffer to venture into a city the majority of space is dedicated to bulldings and little shops with ridiculous prices. Very little space to park, narrow streets, what a mess, miserable places to be avoided...

Machka 

So here's the big question ... if you're all sad about it, what are you personally going to do about it?

Roody

One thing we're all doing is driving less or not at all.

Dave Cutter

What an odd way to look at people.... VERY dehumanizing.

As the article put it: Most roads in the US are built for cars, not for pedestrians. Whether we're happy or unhappy with this, most of us are aware of it.

Of course it isn't factually correct. Most American roads [at least] were constructed for the transportation of goods... not for the transportation of people. It really wasn't till after Henry Ford revolutionized transportation that roads were built for people (who owned automobiles). But I don't know of any roads (short of experimental tracks) that were EVER built for cars.

It is fun to humanize or personify our pets.... saying things like "fluffy is thinking ____". But to personify automobiles... and to then put them in conflict with ourselves [the pedestrians], is just plain odd.

catgita

Roads were built for movement of goods, streets built for people, who were not necessarily going anywhere.
It was only the last century where people were displaced for the movement of automobiles, which correlates with the rise of the American city and sprawl as a consequence. The bad things we associate with cities mostly relate to cars: noise, danger, smog, crowding, lack of parking, erosion of tax base, high cost of living, social isolation... Which is why newer cities are trying so hard to minimize use of cars.

Roody

Most roads were built, or extensively rebuilt after the car became popular. Anybody who has tried to walk across an eight lane highway outside a suburban mall has a very clear impression that the road was not designed for people who are walking.As for saying that the roads were not designed for cars, but for people riding in cars--pure nitpicking and sophistry.

Machka 

One article on the history of roads ...

History of Roads - Evolution of Paved Roads - Road & Track

Machka 

Another article on the history of the road ...

Good Roads Movement - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Dave Cutter

No... it is people USING cars! What you're posting would be like saying sidewalks weren't built for pedestrians. But instead constructed for SHOES. But now those sidewalk areas are no-longer accessible to people who drive cars (and ride bicycles) because of all the SHOES.

I am NOT nitpicking! You're using dehumanizing examples.... and I kind'a like humans.

Dave Cutter

Yes... much more applicable if you live in Europe. Not a real history lesson.

Total garbage. Not even close to being accurate or truthful. Self-serving misinformation would be a compliment to its content.

I am amazed at how quick Americans forget their own history... and hero's.

Machka 

I wonder what that great gaping hole in the picture includes ...

gregjones

I thought that one of the main uses for the Interstate Highway System was movement of commercial goods and military needs. They have obviously failed as a civil defense measure. All you have to do is look at the highways leading inland from the gulf coast when a hurricane approaches. It only takes a half inch of snow in Atlanta to bring transportation to a standstill. But, that's the Governors fault. At least that's who they blame it on.

gerv 

A better example might be skateboards on the sidewalk. If you see a couple on the sidewalk, no big deal. If everyone has one... look out!

Roody

That's a good point. Roads and motor vehicles do benefit us all, even if we are carfree. Our way of life--or any way of life for 7 billion people--would be impossible without the service vehicles that you mention. However, those vehicles are only a portion of total motor traffic. If there were fewer cars, service vehicles could still use the roads, along with cyclists and pedestrians.