#Car centric infrastructure

[phoenixyfriend]

Gonna fight the NYT podcast/a specific article. So are half the people in the comments.

The article is about increasing pedestrian deaths in the US, specifically at night.

They blame smart phones (and automatic transmission), increased vehicle size, and car-centric infrastructure being hostile to pedestrians.

I and everyone in the comments: IT'S THE FUCKING HEADLIGHTS

Had to leave my comment on YouTube because Spotify has a very low maximum character count.

I think the section on the change in cars is severely lacking in commentary on the factor that is changes in headlights. The lights are on average MUCH brighter than they were years ago, and paired with the increasing size of newer cars, they are often at the exact height to hit the eyeline for a driver in a sedan or other low cars. I and many drivers my age find that we DO NOT feel safe driving at night because we find ourselves blinded by oncoming traffic or cars in our rear view mirrors. This is not just a matter of the drivers, but the manufacturers; you can't really buy a car with weaker lights the way you can buy one with heated seats.

I'd have also liked to hear you touch on the factor of increasing fatigue in drivers coming home when you talked about the afterwork cell usage, since drowsy driving is known to be incredibly dangerous, and increasing wealth inequality means a lot of people in those low-income areas you mentioned are working multiple jobs and thus more fatigued when driving.

I do appreciate the explanation that the United States car-centric infrastructure is hostile to pedestrians, but I think it could have benefited from greater focus.

If you ever do a follow-up, I would suggest reaching out to urbanism activists like Not Just Bikes.

[alpaca-clouds]

Cars vs Accessible Worlds

Alright, let me talk about one thing in terms of accessibility in science fiction settings - and Solarpunk specifically - that also has more than one side to it: Cars and accessibility. Because it is more complicated than you'd thing.

See: The fact that our world is so car centric really, really hinders accessibility. Wide streets are a hindrance for even normal pedastrians, cyclists and so on. If I want to get from A to B, and the route crosses a street, and there is only a traffic light every like 500 meters, it means tat I usually need either to risk my life or take the long way around to get there. And that is a fucking bother even when you are healthy and can easily take that long way around. And the more car centric a society is, the worse the issue becomes. Here in Germany it is a lot easier still to cross a street than in many places in the US.

And of course this gets a lot worse if you are disabled. Be it that you just cannot walk that far. Or if you are blind and cannot even see in what direction you could go for the next traffic light. Or if you are hard of hearing or deaf, you might be more in danger of being surprised by a car. (And that is without going into how electric cars being so fucking quiet makes stuff even more dangerous.) And, you know, neurodivergent people might also just struggle with the fucking noise that is created by roads and is often inescapable in big cities.

And of course even outside of the environmental issues, the constant presence of cars is also a health risk. Not just because of the risk of accidents, but also due to the pollution and how it interacts. Even if we all were driving electric cars, there would still be all those microplastics created by tires and streets and stuff.

So, really. We do need to move away from car centric infrastructure to make our lives healthier and to make the world more accessible for disabled people too.

BUT...

But there is the issue that some disabled people still might be in need to use some sort of personal transportation device that can cover both short and large distances, because for one reason or another public transport just does not work and cannot work for them.

For example someone with severe anxiety issues, or someone who will be easily suffering from sensory overwhelm. There might be other issues, too. Just some folks will always need something like cars.

And of course there is also the fact that stuff like emergency services will still need streets accessible to cars. Because the emergency services will just not get around using something like cars to get to all the places they might be needed.

And this... makes things complicated. Because infrastructure should not be car centric, no. But it needs to be accessible by cars - and be it just for emergency services.

This is just something that I would love to see more talked about especially within the Solarpunk sphere.

[thebreakfastgod]

America's Roads: Dangerous by Design

[elliecoreunderscore]

"we can't build bike infrastructure because we aren't the Netherlands" uh why would I want us to be in the nether? Surrounded by netherack and pits of lava? No thank you!

[wolf-tail]

it's funny that I am an environmentalist who despises car-centric infrastructure but one my favorite things is going for a long drive.

[comradenidhogg]

I know everyone wants to say kids and people in general, but kids are especially chained to their phones and screens, but I am very surprised that nobody is mentioning how car-centric infrastructure and car-centric planning of cities, suburbs, and rural areas that are almost completely unwalkable (ie: very limited sidewalks or bike lanes so people can't even go anywhere without having to drive a fucking car and roads that are increasingly getting wide and nearly impossible for kids, elderly people, and disabled people to cross before the light turns back green because all the roads are filled with traffic, and places like stores, schools, libraries, and parks are so far from walking distance in suburban and rural areas that kids can't even go to these places without having parents drive them to these places) is a HUGE factor, and imo probably even one of the main factors as to why kids are on screens more often than ever, rather than socializing with their peers outside in public places.

And while car-centric infrastructure hurts everyone, for older people, I also think that the increasingly long work hours per week (like it's often going up to 50-60 hours per week of work for many people, if not most people) so a lot of people have very limited free time and energy to partake in hobbies to relax and find enjoyment in (especially if they have families to take care of and other duties they need to follow) and also the 24-hour news cycle that keeps older people addicted to phones as well (especially since the news is often, if not always negative and is constantly shoved into people's browsing time even when they try to avoid the news).

Like, it is not just phone companies, but a variety of systemic factors that are making people too attached to their phones.

[average-exxistence]

Car-centric infrastructure ruins cities

[may-or-may-not-be-me]

I think it should be illegal to blind the other drivers on the road at night. What the fuck are they putting in headlights these days

[draciformes]

[queenofthursday6599-blog]

Everyone should want diverse transportation infrastructure in their town

Trains, trams/streetcars, bikes, pedestrian pathways, rapid bus transport, monorail, it doesn’t matter. No one should want their hometown to be a car dependent town. Not even people who like to drive should want their city to be completely car dependent.

Why?

Because more options to get around means fewer people who have to drive a car to get somewhere. And no matter how much you might like driving, I’m positive there’s at least one other person in your hometown who hates it as much as you love it.

Getting people to use something other than their own vehicle to get around improves traffic, which improves driving safety and road safety for everyone involved. Fewer private vehicles driving means fewer collisions and accidents of all sorts. That’s just numbers after all, fewer cars means fewer car accidents.

So if you personally like driving, but hate other drivers, you should go out and support whatever public transit initiative your area is trying to set up.

It might just end up getting the drivers you hate out of the drivers seat and onto some other type of transit.

[puppyeared]

they could make a new we didnt start a fire song with the amount of dystopian fuckery going on

[fixing-bad-posts]

[Image description: A tumblr text post, edited blackout-poetry style to read, "take cars away they restrict your freedom of movement."]

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take cars away they restrict your freedom of movement

[elliecoreunderscore]

Where's a convientently placed ramp shaped truck bed to effortlessly jump over a row of stopped cars when you need one