Elpenor
a clown’s heart and a mandolin
Was hoping for videos of cars sliding down hills, there were some good ones in London a few years ago
Entirely unashamed anti car propaganda, and the more the better.
- Thread starter teuchter
- Start date
beesonthewhatnow
going deaf for a living
I had to direct traffic this morning to stop idiots from driving down a hill of sheet ice that had hundreds of primary age kids going to school at the bottom of it. Utter fucking twats.
What a strange take.
MickiQ
In My Defence I was left Unsupervised
It's free bus day every day for me (unless the Govt decides to do a winter fuel allowance on it) I still use my car most of the time though.Free bus travel tomorrow in my area for world car free day
World Car Free Day 2024 - Travel Devon
Go Car Free this Sunday 22nd September, your bus ticket's on us!www.traveldevon.info
Trying to decide where to go
Chz
Stark Raving Sane
The only way to learn how to drive on icy roads is to have the appropriate tyres for it firstly. Which no-one in this country will. I often get asked, since I grew up in Ontario, how they handle it there. And the answer is "pretty well, once you've got snow tyres on the car". You just have to drive a bit slower is all.
Unless it's black ice, for which the only solution is to calmly sit back and wait for the car to finish its uncontrolled glide.
Artaxerxes
Look out, he's got a gnu!
It has famously never been icy here before
Chz
Stark Raving Sane
Yes, but down in the SouthEast, most people only see it once every few years. At which point they try to get out of their drive, fail, say fuck it I'm working from home today and head in tomorrow when the ice has melted or at least been gritted.
Silas Loom
A lome the lenthe of a yerde
Going slower is important, but so is using second gear sometimes to start moving or to manoeuvre, and so is decelerating on straights rather than even slight bends. Things that you really have to develop a feel for, even if you know them theoretically.
It’s just silly to say that most drivers are fuckwits or incompetents or whatever it was. Most driving is relatively easy; sometimes it’s very challenging, and tuition can’t prepare drivers for everything.
kabbes
First intersubjective, then internalised
All completely true, but you fail to allow in addition for the fact that most people are fuckwits.
Chz
Stark Raving Sane
Especially once they get behind the wheel of a car, for some reason. Perfectly normal, functional adults, and one minor thing that causes them to lose 3 seconds of their journey time has them screaming "SHITCUNT!" at people and trying to kill the other drivers.
Saul Goodman
It's all good, man
The most important thing to learn is to keep your foot away from the brake pedal. You can't steer if your wheels are locked up. It's probably the cause of most crashes on snow and ice.
Snow and ice are great fun to drive on. It's why the best rally drivers in the world come from snowy, icy countries. It's just a shame that most drivers are so thick that they have no idea how to drive in those conditions.
Artaxerxes
Look out, he's got a gnu!
Shit is still shit even when it doesn’t exist elsewhere
teuchter
je suis teuchter
The Swiss say no to road expansion.
www.bluewin.ch
Motorway expansion rejected with 52.7 percent of votes against
The federal government must abandon the expansion of six Swiss highway sections. At the ballot box, voters rejected five expansion projects in German-speaking Switzerland and one project in French-speaking Switzerland with a 52.7 percent "no" vote.
www.bluewin.ch
teuchter
je suis teuchter
And here is a useful resource for anti-car propagandists:
transportknowledge.net
Transport Knowledge Wiki
transportknowledge.net
Chz
Stark Raving Sane
I thought about putting this in the SUV thread, but that's a bit more combative in nature and the report is -after all - about all kinds of vehicles killing people.
New research out of the IIHS: A modern injury risk curve for pedestrian injury in the United States: the combined effects of impact speed and vehicle front-end height
My interesting takeaways as it relates to the UK, rather than the US market:
- The average SUV/crossover* is only 20cm higher than the average sedan at the bonnet. The difference this creates in impact damage is statistically significant, but small. The really large differences come into play when you get to the large SUVs and pickups that are 1.4+m high.
- Speed plays a much larger role than vehicle size. A 27mph car is more likely to kill you than a 23mph SUV. 20mph zones are a Good Thing and could use more enforcement based on that.
- Advances in pedestrian injury-mitigating devices on cars almost (not quite) nullify the difference between small/average crossovers and regular cars. It doesn't help the really fat fuckers quite so much.
In short, let's tar and burn the speeders before we turn to the crossovers. But the really big vehicles are still Death Incarnate and fortunately - thus far - rare in the UK.
* I prefer crossover. Most of these vehicles have nothing to do with a traditional SUV bar appearance. It also includes the niche market of the MPV/sedan crossover, which are roughly the same size and weight but seem to get ignored because they're not SUV-labelled.
New research out of the IIHS: A modern injury risk curve for pedestrian injury in the United States: the combined effects of impact speed and vehicle front-end height
My interesting takeaways as it relates to the UK, rather than the US market:
- The average SUV/crossover* is only 20cm higher than the average sedan at the bonnet. The difference this creates in impact damage is statistically significant, but small. The really large differences come into play when you get to the large SUVs and pickups that are 1.4+m high.
- Speed plays a much larger role than vehicle size. A 27mph car is more likely to kill you than a 23mph SUV. 20mph zones are a Good Thing and could use more enforcement based on that.
- Advances in pedestrian injury-mitigating devices on cars almost (not quite) nullify the difference between small/average crossovers and regular cars. It doesn't help the really fat fuckers quite so much.
In short, let's tar and burn the speeders before we turn to the crossovers. But the really big vehicles are still Death Incarnate and fortunately - thus far - rare in the UK.
* I prefer crossover. Most of these vehicles have nothing to do with a traditional SUV bar appearance. It also includes the niche market of the MPV/sedan crossover, which are roughly the same size and weight but seem to get ignored because they're not SUV-labelled.
teuchter
je suis teuchter
Let's not forget that the "how many people they kill" factor is not the only problem with larger & larger vehicles. It's also the impact they have on urban environments and the public realm in general. They grab more and more land for parking, they put pressure on road width, and their bulk clutters up streets, blocks visibility and generally makes everything even more oppressive for pedestrians.
bcuster
Well-Known Member
I'll do anything possible to avoid driving on icy roads. Period.
teuchter
je suis teuchter
Interesting to see that even the rulers of Dubai have been influenced by reading this thread.
While there might be some details of the implementation to be criticised, it's a good start that they are beginning to realise (thanks to this thread) that they have built a car-centric hell-hole and need to mend their ways.
www.dezeen.com
While there might be some details of the implementation to be criticised, it's a good start that they are beginning to realise (thanks to this thread) that they have built a car-centric hell-hole and need to mend their ways.
Dubai to be transformed into pedestrian-friendly city with ringed walkway
Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum has approved the Dubai Walk masterplan to add 6,500 kilometres of pedestrian walkways to the city.
www.dezeen.com
teuchter
je suis teuchter
I could have told them at the outset that promoting a driving route around the north of Scotland was a stupid idea.
www.inkl.com
'It's not Disneyland': Locals call for car rally restrictions on NC500
CAMPAIGNERS have raised concerns over the growing number of car rallies being held on the North Coast 500 route, claiming that local communities…
www.inkl.com
Saul Goodman
It's all good, man
People enjoy it, like going to a safari park and pointing at all the strange animals.I could have told them at the outset that promoting a driving route around the north of Scotland was a stupid idea.
'It's not Disneyland': Locals call for car rally restrictions on NC500
CAMPAIGNERS have raised concerns over the growing number of car rallies being held on the North Coast 500 route, claiming that local communities…
kabbes
First intersubjective, then internalised
You wouldn’t have been the only one. IIRC, the whole thing was the brainchild of just one department, who went ahead with minimal consultation.I could have told them at the outset that promoting a driving route around the north of Scotland was a stupid idea.
'It's not Disneyland': Locals call for car rally restrictions on NC500
CAMPAIGNERS have raised concerns over the growing number of car rallies being held on the North Coast 500 route, claiming that local communities…
teuchter
je suis teuchter
Yes, and I think it was mainly led by commercial interests rather than being some kind of local government or tourist board initiative.
kabbes
First intersubjective, then internalised
My memory, which may admittedly be totally wrong, was that it was actually the latter, but thinking (erroneously) that they were helping the former. In practice, the NC500 hasn’t even had positive commercial effects, since a lot of those using it take their own motor homes and don’t use local services, while the tourists who did used to go for the peace and quiet and stay in local B&Bs and hotels now largely stay away.
teuchter
je suis teuchter
I just checked, and yes it was the initiative of a charity (with Prince Charles as patron as duke of something in the area) but then got somehow acquired by the Danish billionaire Asos owner, who increasingly seems to own everything in the highlands. So the NC500 is now a commercial "brand" that he has control over, which is what I (mis)remembered.
