According to a study done by ScrapCarComparison (SCC), BMW drivers are most likely to be psychopaths. That doesn’t indicate all BMW drivers are psychopaths; it just means more are than any other car brand. Drivers of BMW models already have a negative reputation, between failure to use turn signals and much worse offenses. SCC noted that a Google search of the phrase “why are BMW drivers…” is followed up with words like “arrogant,” “idiots,” and “so hated.”
Bicycle bus four metres long could transport children to school – East Anglian Daily Times
Mariam Ghaemi 31/12/2021
A bicycle bus is being trialled in a Suffolk town by a charity with the motto “more smiles per mile”.
Bury St Edmunds Rickshaw has loaned the four-metre long bike, which is believed to be one of only a couple in the country, with a view to buying its own to transport children to school to cut down on emissions.
If the trial goes well, Libby Ranzetta, one of the founders of Bury Rickshaw, said they would look to raise the £15,000 to purchase one of these bikes from the Netherlands where they are made.
Did you know? For every $1 the country spends on highways, it shouldn’t – Bicycle Lobby
@BicycleLobby
Did you know? For every $1 the country spends on highways, it shouldn’t.
Opinion: D.C. can’t fix distracted driving. It can fix street design – Washington Post
Allison Hart was hit and killed as she rode her bike in a D.C. crosswalk on Sept. 13.
Matthew Koehler
There was another traffic crash involving a child. This one was in the 3300 block of Wheeler Road SE. A 9-year-old child is paralyzed. D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) made what WAMU reporter Martin Austermuhle identified as a rare appearance to urge “especially drivers … to slow down, put the phones down, and in school zones be mindful of our young people”
There was another traffic crash involving a child. This one was in the 3300 block of Wheeler Road SE. A 9-year-old child is paralyzed. D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) made what WAMU reporter Martin Austermuhle identified as a rare appearance to urge “especially drivers … to slow down, put the phones down, and in school zones be mindful of our young people”
Big Cars Are Killing Americans – theatlantic.com
Angie Schmitt
The government can no longer allow the auto industry to treat walkers and bikers like collateral damage.
After a decade of steady increases, the newest Ford F-250—part of Ford’s F-Series of pickups, the No. 1 selling vehicle model in America—measures some 55 inches tall at the hood. That’s “as tall as the roof of some sedans,” a Consumer Reports writer remarked in a recent analysis examining the mega-truck trend. This height would easily render someone in a wheelchair, or a child, totally invisible at close range. If I, a tallish woman at 5 foot 6, were hit by a new F-250, I would be struck above the chest. The face, head, neck: These are not great places to suffer a forceful blow—like the kind that an up-to-7,500-pound F-250 can deliver.
Live Laugh Lead an uprising against car culture – Hannah – Twitter
@theeyecollector
Live
Laugh
Lead an uprising against car culture
Build Cities for Bikes, Buses, and Feet—Not Cars – wired.com
Adam Rogers
New York drivers, never shy, complained about losing lanes. Retailers worried about losing customers. But polling showed that pretty much everyone else loved Sadik-Khan’s changes. She got 400 miles of bikeways built. She turned Times Square car-free, started a bike-share program, and helped found a national organization of city planners that could teach US cities to push these kinds of ideas as hard as the old car-forward ones. “We just lit the spark, gave cities permission to innovate,” Sadik-Khan says. “Change is difficult. A lot of cities are debating whether to build more roads and highways. They need to stop repeating the failures of the last century.”
New York drivers, never shy, complained about losing lanes. Retailers worried about losing customers. But polling showed that pretty much everyone else loved Sadik-Khan’s changes. She got 400 miles of bikeways built. She turned Times Square car-free, started a bike-share program, and helped found a national organization of city planners that could teach US cities to push these kinds of ideas as hard as the old car-forward ones. “We just lit the spark, gave cities permission to innovate,” Sadik-Khan says. “Change is difficult. A lot of cities are debating whether to build more roads and highways. They need to stop repeating the failures of the last century.”
TfL Official Requested To Digitally Remove Close Overtake Of Cyclist From Suspended $1.3m TV Ad – Forbes
Carlton Reid 30/12/2021
A highly-placed Transport for London (TfL) official wanted to digitally alter a road safety TV advertisement after it was slammed on social media. The ad was removed from TV screens and Twitter in early December. The ad featured a female driver and a male cyclist shouting at each other after the motorist overtook the cyclist dangerously. The pair reconciled, but critics accused the ad of “victim blaming.”
Following a kickback on social media from cyclists and cycling organisations in late November the TfL official emailed the ad’s creative agency saying, “I’m confident that we will be back on air in January [2022].”
“Gutted it’s got to come down,” replied an executive from the VCCP ad agency of London, who went on to say the removal of the 60-second TV advert was “bowing to the minority.” (Ironically, the advert’s strapline was “See their side,” a reference to how road users ought to empathise with others also using the road.)
“it’s the sheer volume of discourse it’s generated—and what it says about our collective desires in this precarious moment” – David Wallace-Wells – Twitter
David Wallace-Wells @dwallacewells
“What’s interesting isn’t just how polarising the film is, it’s the sheer volume of discourse
it’s generated—and what it says about our collective desires in this precarious moment.”
“It’s not just that I was almost hit by a driver running a stop sign, or that it was a half-block from my house” Rob
Rob@the_baseband
It’s not just that I was almost hit by a driver running a stop sign, or that it was a half-block from my house, or that the driver honked at me after doing it, or that he rolled down his window to yell vague threats at me afterwards…
it’s that it happens almost every day here
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