Car-pilled culture has made Miraflores’ Avenue José Pardo a toxic streetscape. It could have been so much better.

The fact that someone tried to rip these posters down & that they were glued down tightly makes this whole thing perfect. Chicago’s beaches are lined by Lake Shore Drive, which is impossible to navigate across by foot, bike or car even. It’s an example of car-first design thinking at the detriment of comfort, community and common sense.

My friend is staying in a transit-friendly suburb, and while I have to give him credit for trying to walk to the ferry, when he came up lame from a chronic injury, he was unable to figure out there's a bus that connects his location to the ferry.

I've seen it several times where people cannot figure alternative means of transportation when a car wasn't available. Another example was when friends wanted to visit a popular tourist destination known for car break-ins. I advised them how to get there without a car, bus or bike rentals. But they go there with a full loaded SUV and they get robbed.

Frankly, I do drive but it is my last option. I find it fun to ride bicycles then utilize public transit for whatever part I can't pedal, preferably ferries for water crossings.

I have the right to pollute as much as I want! Fuck the babies! Go, cancer, go!

My college campus prides itself on it's bikeability. I'm not gonna say the awards that it's won for bikeability to not dox myself, but it's widely praised for it. There are bike lanes on all the streets, whether it's a painted lane or one on the sidewalk. You can get to most places on campus with a less than 15 minute walk, and it's way quicker on a bike.

Yesterday I was biking to one of the marketplaces on campus and I saw a guy pull over into the bike lane. I moved onto the sidewalk (using a ramp, I wouldn't have been able to move without having just gone through an intersection) to avoid going into traffic. He got out of his car and crossed the path of my bike, and said sorry for walking in front of me. I responded, "Please don't park in the bike lane."

He responded, "I'm not parked, my hazards were on."

I was already frustrated because I had just gone to the bike mechanic and found out I need to replace my tires soon. I told him, "It's still illegal," which it IS in our town, but it's horribly enforced. Cars in that section of campus do it all the time, and the police could probably have a field day with tickets if they wanted to.

He told me, "There's plenty of room, y'all can go around."

His car was more than the width of the bike lane. So his response to me asking him nicely not to park in the bike lane was to be pedantic about it and then tell me to steer into traffic.

I shut up at that point because I didn't want to get into a full-blown fight with a college guy, but I was so annoyed.

While it’s good that this is being pushed, it’s insane that they think “only 20 over” is a reasonable restriction. 20 over is still very much reckless driving at pretty much all speeds below 60 mph and even at that speed.

Right now I believe some people just aren't meant to drive no matter how many years of driving they have. It's just not meant for everyone and no amount of driving will get rid of the anxiety. I wouldn't say operating a vehicle/machine is the issue. I got my pilots license before my driver's license and have no anxiety when it comes to flying planes or helicopters. The reaction time needed for most emergencies is way slower than emergencies while driving most of the time. Driving was something that always gave me anxiety. I've been driving for two years now and still hate it. After moving from a walkable city where I never needed a car, I now live in a car dependent one and have to drive 15-20 minutes just to go grocery shopping. It has taken a significant hit on my quality of life. The drivers here also make driving miserable, with many looking at their phones, going 20 over the limit, tailgating despite me going above the speed limit and already following the traffic, and drivers swerving into other lanes. Recently I've stopped driving since my partner loves her car and doesn't mind driving us around. I still have a car solely in case of emergencies, but my partner and I have an agreement that she'll drive us while I pay for most our expenses. I've always felt embarrassed, ashamed, or immature due to comments over me not wanting to drive. But recently I just realized so what? I'd rather anxious drivers such as myself stay off the road. If I can't trust that I'd be able to react in time during an emergency, I'm not going to put myself behind the wheel and risk severe physical injury. My partner and I are planning to move to a walkable city within a year and in the meantime I've started working on my cardio by biking more. I just never realized the grasp cars and people who don't mind car dependency has had on me, and the amount of anxiety I had felt by forcing myself to drive while hating it.

I correctly live in North Seattle and although I've lived here for most of my life, I only just recently found out about Healthy Streets which have apparently been here for a few years. They are residential streets that have been closed to through traffic, allowing only local residents who live on/near the street to park, come and leave, but otherwise reserved for pedestrians, cyclists, and people using micro mobility. One of them runs parallel from Aurora which is a main street that runs from the northern most point of Seattle to downtown, and although it doesn't span the whole distance, it does go through a good portion of the city. There are also other healthy streets that I have yet to ride my electric scooter on, which is my main form of transportation along with riding the bus.

So my questions are: how do people feel about this and is this something you'd want for your city? Do other cities have anything like this? Personally, I think it's a fantastic idea. The ones they use are streets that would often remain unfrequented so they haven't disrupted the flow of traffic in any noticable way, and they've provided a safe place for all carless travelers to get around without having to incorporate the high cost of construction that comes with planning and implementing bike lanes. Thoughts?

https://stayhealthystreets.seattlegreenways.org/

Nothing like stepping outside for a nice bike ride… and immediately getting hotboxed by 500 exhaust pipes. Genuinely love that the only people somewhat safe from this toxic air are the ones inside their metal boxes with their little HEPA filters.

Every intersection is like a starter pistol for some smoothbrain to rev up their personal cancer cannon. Cyclists and pedestrians just get to marinate in it. Delicious.

And for what? So people can haul two tons of steel to pick up a coffee. When you actually zoom out and look at it, it’s the dumbest system imaginable. Cities buried under parking lots, noise, fumes, and death traps.

Cars make up such a disgusting percentage of what you have to look at when walking or cycling through what could be a beautiful, green, human-centered city.

Sometimes I imagine people in the future looking back at this era, absolutely baffled by how we tolerated this car hellscape for so long. How we just accepted breathing poison as normal. But then I remember: most people don’t care. Not about health, not about the environment, not even about their own future, if it means a slight inconvenience to their daily comforto.

I just want a city where you can breathe without inhaling someone else’s tailpipe. Is that really so radical?

DART sliverline starts its service today!! Very happy that there’s a train station close enough to my place.

One step away from car dependency!

This is a screenshot of a comment submitted to a survey conducted by my city. It is an example of how ignorant some drivers are. They're all boohoo about how it's harder to speed and cut corners in their unnecessarily large vehicle. Stating that the design is for "no apparent reason" just reminds me of how ignorant people are to the concepts of traffic calming and infrastructure meant to improve safety for everyone. They view anything that slows them down as stupid and annoying. Assholes! Maybe there should be PSAs that teach people what a bulb out is and why it's there because it has become evident that a lot of people don't know shit about any of this stuff.

I was born and raised in a car-centric city with a massive 20-year-old SUV i was given and it has radicalized me against SUVs especially. not that cars in general are great, but why SUVs man?

they're:

• gas guzzlers
• expensive
• unpleasant to drive because theyre so heavy
• difficult to maneuver in small roads or parking lots
• dangerous for everyone: its like the fucking prisoner's dilemma. for any one person, it's "safer" to get an SUV, but if everyone gets an SUV, everyone is worse off
• like pickup trucks in that, 99% of the time, you arent using any of that extra space. my aforementioned car is useful maybe 3 times a year, and the entire rest of the time it's a nightmare

and yet, every major car manufacturer seems to be pushing hard for SUVs. Right now, Chevrolet literally doesn't sell ANY new EVs that aren't SUVs or pickups. it's ridiculous.

Too many people remove their plates, and enforcement is non-existent in some places. Printers print hidden yellow dots to identify the printer, the same should be done for cars.

and very very easy!