topic: fuck cars and fuck suvs in particular
introduction:
- problem: cars are bad, suvs are worse
conclusion:
- solvable problem
- solution: don’t build infrastructure car-first
pollution:
- 28% of greenhouse gas emissions in the US are from transport although globally it’s more like 18% 1
car size increasing:
- between 2015 and 2021 almost 20% market share increase in suvs from ~35% to ~55% 2
- SUVs, vans, and pickups accounted for 63% of new vehicles sold in the U. S. in 2021 2
- weight ranges from 2.2k pounds up to 6k pounds 3
⇒ more infrastructure for cars is needed (parking spaces)
⇒ induced demand: more available space leads to more cars leads to more needed space
⇒ space could be used more efficiently, e.g. for homes, schools etc. etc. (highway interchange in Houston, TX (population: 0) covers about the same area as the town of Siena, Italy (population: 30k))
safety:
- a car’s a weapon ⇒ vehicular manslaughter
- car-centric areas are built for efficient transportation of cars, not for the safety of non-car inhabitants
“us citizens need more space”:
- amsterdam-warsaw is 1200km ⇒ NYC, NY - Chicago, IL is about the same
- however: 69% of travel occur in urban areas 2
freedom yee haw:
- cars aren’t accessible to everyone ⇒ car-centric areas are actually less yee-haw freedom
⇒ children and teenagers, the elderly, people who otherwise can’t or don’t want to drive
“cars don’t pay taxes”
meeeee :3 :
| Vehicle | Approximate vehicle weight in pounds | Comparative level of damage |
| 9 ton big-rig | 18,000 | 410.0625 |
| Hummer H2 | 8,600 | 21.3675 |
| Chevy Tahoe | 5,500 | 3.5745 |
| Toyota Highlander | 4,250 | 1.2744 |
| Average Car | 4,000 | 1.000 |
| RAV 4 | 3,550 | 0.6204 |
| Prius | 3,050 | 0.3380 |
| Smart Car | 1,800 | 0.0410 |
| Fat Man on a Freakishly Heavy Bicycle | 350 | 0.00006 |
“So let’s talk about this in terms of taxes. For the sake of argument, let’s say that every 1,000 miles traveled in an average sized car equals $1’s worth of damage to the road that will have to come out of City coffers for repair work. A bicyclist would have to travel over 17 million miles to cause the same $1’s worth of damage. Or another way to look at that, for the $1’s worth of damage that a car does to a road, a bicycle, traveling the same distance on the same road, would perpetrate $0.0005862 worth of damage. That’s about a tenth of a ha’penny [half-penny].”
Full text
Elon Musk once said: “Defeating traffic is the ultimate boss battle. Even the most powerful humans in the world cannot defeat traffic.”
According to Mr. Musk, I would be more powerful than the most powerful humans in the world, since I just did mere <amount of minutes I arrived> ago.
As you might’ve figured, today I’d like to talk about cars. Specifically, I’d like to show you why car-centric cities is the worst possible direction for modern infrastructure to have evolved to.
Before starting, I should clarify: Banning cars outright is not the solution presented here. There are real, justified applications for cars. But Karen driving little Timmy a kilometer to school every day in her 3 ton SUV and ideally hitting 3 pedestrians and a cyclist on the way there is definitely not one of them.
Now, lets further introduce the problem:
Cars are getting bigger and heavier. Between 2015 and 2021, the SUV market share increased by almost 20% from ~35% to ~55% in the US 2. SUVs, vans, and pickups accounted for 63% of new vehicles sold in the U. S. in 2021 2. The weight of these vehicles reaches up to 3 tons. 3
As a result, more space for cars is needed - bigger roads, more parking spaces, new highways. This creates an effect known as “induced demand”: more available space leads to more cars, leading to more needed space.
This space could be used more efficiently, e.g. for housing or schools. For example: A certain highway interchange in Houston, TX (population: 0) covers about the same area as the town of Siena, Italy (population: 30k). Well, what space is used more efficiently?
This, of course, isn’t everything. As you all know, another major issue with cars is pollution; in the US, 28% of greenhouse gas emissions come from transport (although globally it’s more like 18%) 1. But pollution is not the only impact cars have on the environment.
I already mentioned car weight being a problem. Well, let’s consider road damage caused by the massive weight. Lets compare road damage of an average car weighting around 1.8 tons with a “Fat Man on a Freakishly Heavy Bicycle” coming in at a hefty 160 kgs.
“For the sake of argument, let’s say that every 1,000 miles traveled […] equals $1’s worth of damage to the road that will have to come out of City coffers for repair work. A bicyclist would have to travel over 17 million miles to cause the same $1’s worth of damage. Or another way to look at that, for the $1’s worth of damage that a car does to a road, a bicycle, traveling the same distance on the same road, would perpetrate $0.0005862 worth of damage. ”
Two other important aspects to consider are accessibility and safety.
Car-centric infrastructure is built for efficient transportation of cars, not for the safety of pedestrians or cyclists. Elderly or disabled folk are now at a disadvantage and inherently unsafe. However, along with children, teenagers or people who simply do not want to drive they cannot access transport by car.
Also, I have yet to see a bike hitting a bus stop, fatally injuring everyone besides its driver and destroying the bus stop in the process. Unlike a bike, a car is a weapon.
And the best part: It isn’t even peak freedom in personal transportation. A bike doesn’t require neither a registration, a license nor any insurance and is barely regulated. It can go anywhere you can and the environmental impact is minimal - it’s fueled with determination and whatever you had for breakfast this morning.
To come to a conclusion, traffic is a solvable problem. We don’t have to put up with the environmental impact, accessibility and safety concerns of car-centric infrastructure. If we were to build bike- and pedestrian-first along with strong public transport most people, those problems could be solved. Given the audience, this is probably unneccessary, but: Be the change. Take the bike. Take the bus. Thank you.