@mateosfo The primary cognitive error in car brain is about cost.
When you buy a car, you’re paying $20,000 to $40,000 for a mobility service you use 1-2 hours a day – & then locking in additional ~ $10k per year for as long as you rely on a car. Over your life, that’s a $ half million.
Study: Megacar Drivers Up to 4x More Likely to Hit Walkers While Turning – Streetsblog USA
Kea Wilson Mar 17, 2022
SUVs and pick-up truck drivers are three to four times more likely to hit a pedestrian when they make a turn than the drivers of smaller cars, a new study finds — and researchers think it’s because federal regulators aren’t scrutinizing the common design features that make it impossible for megacar drivers to see walkers passing right in front of them.
The world’s forests do more than just store carbon, new research finds | Climate crisis | The Guardian
New data suggests forests help keep the Earth at least half of a degree cooler, protecting us from the effects of climate crisis
Nina Lakhani
The world’s forests play a far greater and more complex role in tackling climate crisis than previously thought, due to their physical effects on global and local temperatures, according to new research.
The role of forests as carbon sponges is well established. But comprehensive new data suggests that forests deliver climate benefits well beyond just storing carbon, helping to keep air near and far cool and moist due to the way they physically transform energy and water.
Get cycling to fight obesity, urges Sir Chris Whitty as he applauds “imaginative” active travel schemes during pandemic | road.cc
Sir Chris Whitty, the government’s chief medical officer for England, has urged people to get cycling to fight obesity, saying that “the idea that the UK is a country you can’t actually do cycling is clearly incorrect.”He also applauded what he described as the “imaginative” ways in which local authorities throughout the country sought to encourage active travel during the early months of the coronavirus pandemic, reports Mail Online.Speaking yesterday at the annual conference of the Local Government Association and the Association of Directors of Public Health, Whitty, who became a household name through his appearances in government Covid-19 briefings on TV, said that levels of obesity had increased since the pandemic began.
U.S. Auto Debt Grows to Record High Despite Pandemic – experian.com
stefan.lembo-stolba
In this article:
• Auto Debt Climbs to Record High of $1.37 Trillion
• Average Consumer Auto Debt Balances Grow Amid Pandemic
• Auto Delinquencies Dipped But Are Now on the Rise
• Car Buyers Skew Prime During Pandemic
• Auto Balances Increase Most Across High Credit Ranges
• Young Generations Again Drive Auto Debt Growth
• Consumers in All States See Increase in Auto Balances
• Auto Leasing Slows, While Electric Vehicles’ Popularity Surges
Though the COVID-19 pandemic decisively changed many aspects of Americans’ routines, one of the most notable differences has been in mobility and the necessity to leave the house.
Pandemic lockdowns and the desire to avoid infection kept many Americans inside, causing them to reconsider how much they can get done without leaving home. With stay-at-home the new normal in 2020—and a record number of people working remotely—the nation rapidly adapted to delivery services, and many online retailers saw their businesses boom.
Tyre Extinguishers go global as activists vow to make owning SUVs ‘impossible’ – independent.co.uk
Climate activists who have been deflating the tyres of SUVs in the UK have said they are going global with their campaign to make it “impossible” to own the vehicles/
The Tyre Extinguishers claim followers in the US states of Arizona and Colorado have already ‘disarmed’ 4x4s, with supporters in Europe geared up to follow suit.
The group say the luxury vehicles, also known as SUVs, are a climate disaster, cause health problems through air pollution, and make roads more dangerous.
Activists targeted the wheels of dozens of SUVs in the Didsbury suburb of Manchester on Tuesday evening.
But the owner of one of the cars said it was an electric vehicle and condemnd the group’s actions as “dangerous and irresponsible”.
“It’s not just an inconvenience,” he told the Manchester Evening News . “My wife’s pregnant and I need to get her a hospital at some point.
Last month the Tyre Extinguishers claimed to have ‘disarmed’ over a thousand SUVs in Brighton, London, Manchester, Birmingham, Sheffield, Bristol, and Edinburgh.
The group’s aim is to make it impossible to own a 4×4 in urban areas across the UK. A spokesperson told The Independent earlier this month they were planning to ramp up their campaign.
Tyre Extinguishers said they were preparing to launch French, Spanish, Italian and German versions of leaflets “at the request of activists”.
2015) Speeding in Finland Can Cost a Fortune, if You Already Have One – nytimes.com
Suzanne Daley – Helsinki Journal April 25, 2015
Helsinki, Finland — Getting a speeding ticket is not a feel-good moment for anyone. But consider Reima Kuisla, a Finnish businessman.
He was recently fined 54,024 euros (about $58,000) for traveling a modest, if illegal, 64 miles per hour in a 50 m.p.h. zone. And no, the 54,024 euros did not turn out to be a typo, or a mistake of any kind.
Mr. Kuisla is a millionaire, and in Finland the fines for more serious speeding infractions are calculated according to income. The thinking here is that if it stings for the little guy, it should sting for the big guy, too.
The ticket had its desired effect. Mr. Kuisla, 61, took to Facebook last month with 12 furious posts in which he included a picture of his speeding ticket and a picture of what 54,024 euros could buy if it were not going to the state coffers — a new Mercedes. He said he was seriously considering leaving Finland altogether, a position to which he held firm when reached by phone at a bar where he was watching horse races.
“The way things are done here makes no sense,” Mr. Kuisla sputtered, saying he would not be giving interviews. Before hanging up, he added: “For what and for whom does this society exist? It is hard to say.”
The Average American Can No Longer Afford a New Car – instamotor.com
The average transaction price of a new vehicle is $32,086. For the last few years Americans have been buying higher-contented vehicles, which are cars and trucks packed with features and accessories.
The one problem here is that the average U.S. household can’t afford that price.
Interest.com, a consumer finance site owned by Bankrate looked at median household incomes across the US and concluded that new cars are out of reach for most Americans. They looked at the median household income in the 25 largest U.S. metropolitan areas and Washington DC was the only area that could actually afford to buy a new car.
Washington had the highest median household and based on their calculations a car buyer would be able to support a $641 monthly payment, which they translate to a purchase price of $32,531 – slightly higher than the average.
Get on your bike? Not if some Tory councils have their way – theguardian.com
Tom Wall
Transport officials have cut funding to three Conservative-controlled councils for failing to encourage walking and cycling amid a local Tory backlash against government-backed plans to reduce traffic and pollution.
The Department for Transport (DfT) has been forced to reduce active travel funding to a string of councils after Tory councillors removed pop-up cycle lanes and pedestrianised areas before they had a chance to change the way people travel.
The Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead did not receive any funding to draw up cycling and walking infrastructure plans last year after it abandoned proposals for two low-traffic neighbourhoods.
This month the Tory-run borough announced it was removing pavement widening measures on eight streets, partly to increase car parking bays. In a town forum discussing the removal, a council officer declared the “car remains king” in Maidenhead.
Transport officials have cut funding to three Conservative-controlled councils for failing to encourage walking and cycling amid a local Tory backlash against government-backed plans to reduce traffic and pollution.
The Department for Transport (DfT) has been forced to reduce active travel funding to a string of councils after Tory councillors removed pop-up cycle lanes and pedestrianised areas before they had a chance to change the way people travel.
The Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead did not receive any funding to draw up cycling and walking infrastructure plans last year after it abandoned proposals for two low-traffic neighbourhoods.
This month the Tory-run borough announced it was removing pavement widening measures on eight streets, partly to increase car parking bays. In a town forum discussing the removal, a council officer declared the “car remains king” in Maidenhead.
Cycling Minister pleaded with children not to cycle on “terrible” roads, pledges action – Cycle Industry News
Laura Laker 23 March, 2022
England’s new cycling Minister admits she has “pleaded” with her kids not to cycle on her local roads, decrying the state of some “terrible”, “so-called cycle infrastructure” – and says building safe cycling routes to enable disabled people, women and children to cycle more is a priority.
Trudy Harrison, who taught Bikeability as a school governor, and has a degree in sustainable communities, told an All Party Parliamentary Group for Walking and Cycling (APPCWG) meeting active travel will be key in decarbonising Britain, and cited the industry’s “significant” contribution to the economy, but she was bluntly honest about the challenges ahead, criticising cycling conditions in her home county, Cumbria, and expressing a particular desire to improve rural routes.
The MP for Copeland who took up the post in January, wants to work with landowners to develop new cycle routes, and says as well as infrastructure a “cultural change” is needed to get more people on bikes, and shift divisive language around drivers and cyclists.
(Editor’s note: Today the chancellor has again handed the motorist a 5p on the litre fuel duty cut with a reported £5 billion per year cost to the treasury. The five year walking and cycling budget – at a time of climate emergency – is just £2 billion.)
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