Killer roads prevent fossil fuel free mobility

"...Most transport funding goes towards building wider and longer roads “embedding car dependency” – which leads to more driving and ultimately more congestion."

"Thirty-five cyclists were killed on Australia’s roads last year, slightly down on the 10-year average of 38.5. About half of those were aged 40 to 64, and most were men, according to the Bureau of Infrastructure and Transport Research Economics.
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare statistics show 14,796 bike riders were hospitalised in 2021-22."

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2023/sep/01/covid-cycling-boom-has-ended-with-just-one-third-of-australians-riding-in-2023
#Bellingen #NSW #roads #speed #CarDependency #infrastructure #GlenifferRoad #NorthBankRoad #cycling #walkability #climate #PublicHealth #mobility #MobilityDesign

@kryvyifedir @brewsterkahle By that same usage frequency argument, we should get rid of fire alarms because for the majority of people they will never be used in their lifespan.

There are a lot of less useful or actively harmful wastes of space in cities (such as parking & other #CarDependency induced & maintaining nonsense) that should be targeted before public goods like libraries.

@mekkaokereke

I did a lecture on this very issue last term - #Personhood (ideas of self, how you relate to others, how society/government conceptualise the person etc) and #Infrastructure. I do think that #CarDependency #CarCulture, driving around in your own large metal box every day, fosters entitlement and #Individualism; and that there is a correlation between driving a lot and #MAGA etc

One disconnect in particular that annoys me are self-immiserating North Americans that immediately associate personal worth with home ownership, despite it being blatantly obvious that buying a home in our #CarDependency-fucked territory with the #corposcum-manipulated real-estate market is at best choosing a fate of ruinous debt or just plainly impossible.

Also, everyone owning a detached home doesn't scale and inherently implies massive environmental devastation.

@ivy Your hate for the corposcum is shared.

Idem for the #CarDependency and the problems it induces.

@Em0nM4stodon @ablackcatstail @GeePawHill Honestly, most of those homes are inconvenient suburban garbage (groceries, work, medical assistance or really anything without a car? Perish the thought, it's #CarDependency cult land here) and most housing programs have a bunch of conditions attached.

Americans (and Canadians) for some utterly incomprehensible reason seem allergic to #panelki and #MixedUseZoning.

#SuburbanSprawl #Urbanism

@djsumdog @MischievousTomato @7666 @maid @shibao @mia @animeirl By European standards, nowhere in North America has good transit.

Vast swathes of it have been fucked with euclidean zoning (reinforcing #CarDependency) and absurd SFH zoning pumping up housing values absurdly while simultaneously promoting artifical shortages.

See Vancouver: https://mastodon.top/@lispi314/109803795007244838

A SUV (armoured vehicle) was unwilling to stop at the only pedestrian crossing today - a near fatal 'accident'.
Cavalcades of B-double trucks shooting through Bellingen #HydeStreet. A diesel generator pumping #FossiFuel to power the only traffic lights in #Bellingen. A forest of signs is ignored by all. Speeding of trucks and cars is not monitored on #RosesRd. It's the #WildWest... Roads are there to get 'stuff' out and smash a few more suburbs in.

Slow down at pedestrian crossings
https://www.nsw.gov.au/driving-boating-and-transport/roads-safety-and-rules/stopping-giving-way-turning/pedestrian-crossings
#Roads #HydeStreet #Hyde #Traffic #Pedestrians reject #CarDependency #VillageHell #RoadAccidents
Image: There goes Bello #Biodiversity flying by on a truck on Hyde

@whitequark @0xabad1dea That is... a bit odd and mostly inconvenient, but oh well.

You can still buy bulk which is still cheaper than daily buying (and a lot more practical if you live in #CarDependency hell).

@miko Probably very.

Especially in America (USA/Canada), where third places largely don't exist anymore if you're not living in one of the few cities that didn't entirely self-destruct to make place for #CarCentric development & #CarDependency.

Making new friends in such conditions is pretty hard. Your coworkers generally aren't your friends (they're acquaintances), and there's nowhere else to really make friends in suburban hell.

@izaya The solution illustrated: https://www.zupagrafika.com/shop/panelki

Also fuck #CarDependency and #SuburbanSprawl

#Urbanism

@izaya Wow. Hello #CarDependency.

That's a ridiculous distance away.

I feel your pain, though I think you're in a worse spot than I.

@timorl @carlschwan @Aknorals #Canada is only slightly less terrible.

#CarDependency & #CarCentric development played a role in it, as did propaganda by the automotive industry.

New interesting OECD review paper: Distributional effects of urban transport policies to discourage car use https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/environment/distributional-effects-of-urban-transport-policies-to-discourage-car-use_8bf57103-en h/t @rafaelprieto #carDependency

@merpderp :hiss: #CarDependency

@sindastra At the current cost of houses here & current rent prices, I'd reach retirement age (or die) sooner than I'd pay off a loan for the average house price atm.

Of course there's exactly no reason for #Canada to not fix its housing market by removing the idiotic #SFH #CarDependency optimizing zoning regulations and then building European-style condos everywhere.

#Urbanism

@hammerhead Not ruining the world outside for kids (and incidentally everyone else) would also help a lot (depending on how young you mean): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHlpmxLTxpw

#NotJustBikes #Urbanism #CarDependency

@shoq "Hurrah" for #CarDependency and #CarCentric development.

@corewill @decolonialatlas We do actually, the #CarDependency approach USA has taken to stadiums is a disaster.

#Urbanism

@chrismak @kagan @mekkaokereke Somewhat relatedly, the sprawling car-dependent human-hostile infrastructure doesn't exactly help children interact offline either.

Especially not when "hanging out" is practically outlawed (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHlpmxLTxpw).

#CarDependency #SuburbanSprawl #NotJustBikes #Urbanism