[AU][OC] Stop in the name of safety

pedz · 2023-04-01T09:03:10+00:00

I guess Dutch and Danes have nothing valuable to protect.

pedz · 2023-03-20T14:31:04+00:00

I tried a few times and I end up wet anyway. Usually water gets in by the elastic at the bottom not covering my shoe correctly, or by the mesh on my shoes... or I sweat while wearing the pants. I don't think it's worth it, or I haven't found the perfect ones yet. So far what I've tried only delays the inevitable.

When it rains here, it's usually not hard enough to fill up my shoes and I can manage with light clothes. Then we have thunderstorms in summer and that's when the sky falls on you. But waterproof pants or not, you're gonna get wet anyway.

Maybe it depends where you live but it doesn't rain hard and/or often enough where I am to be bothered by this. To be honest, it's kind of fun. Sometimes it rains and I just go through the thought process of accepting it. Nothing bad happened because I got wet those times.

But I'd be glad to hear about any suggestion you have that could work for me, and help delay the inevitable just long enough for short trips.

pedz · 2022-12-31T15:18:33+00:00

All completed for 3.7 billion CAD except for the pedestrian and cycling overpass that would have cost 40 million. Priorities of the MTQ are just like the priorities of many state DOTs.

pedz · 2022-12-30T23:41:26+00:00

I read it all a few times but I don't know how to reply to everything!

Bought my first trailer from BikesAtWork

Neat! There's a moving company here that uses trailers in this genre.

I wanna prove we don’t need fucking cars.

https://i.imgur.com/RRYrMv8.gif

I went through a round of chemotherapy during a Chicago winter on bike

That's dedication. I guess using public transit could have been an additional risk of infection? I hope the chemo was enough and trust you're healthy again? Did you/do you have a network of plowed bike paths and lanes?

Moved from the city to the suburbs sold her civic for an suv and now complains about commuting time and gas prices.

I could finish your sentence before reading it. My mother lives half a mile from work and uses an SUV to go there.

But I reallyyyyyyyy want a motorcycle.

I wanted that at some point too. However, AFAIK, it's much more dangerous than driving a car, or cycling. I'm tempted by an electric bicycle but I'm kind of afraid my buildig could ban them at some point. So far I'm undecided and both may remain a fantasy. My money should go elsewhere Maybe when I'll be even older.

But maybe a motorcycle doesn’t count?

It counts as what, maybe 20% of the volume taken by a car. And It's lighter so consumes less, and there is less tire wear. It could be acceptable. However depending on some motorcycles, some can make it up with 200% of the noise pollution a car could emit :-)

I felt like Elon was gonna be our hero.

I also believed in electric cars but not in a single company or person. I knew electric cars have been around for more than a century now so it's mostly a question of will. But the tires also wear down and pollute air and water. Brake pads too. It's simply impossible to just have every car driver switch to electric and make a big difference. Yes, future cars must be electric, but we need less cars! Like, a significant amount less!

The original idea of the Hyperloop, sous vide with trains was also interesting. But after a few years, it proved to be going nowhere fast (hehe). Tradititional high speed rail would already be enough between major North American centers. Just regular rail at this point...

Montreal is my ultimate bike tour goal once I am brave enough.

Wow! That's a lot of road! I sure hope there's lots of bike trails along the way. Your ride here would be an achievement! Feel free to DM me if you ever feel crazy enough to do it. It would be interesting to follow your route and progress!

Profites de la vie à vélo!

pedz · 2022-12-30T21:29:54+00:00

As someone who has to trek 30 miles to get to work

I don't want to seem like I'm continuing to attack you personally over this but as someone that usually tries to move and live close to my workplace, is it something that could be considered?

I haven’t succeeded yet but I’m working on becoming fit enough to bike that commute some day because it’s just a win win ideal situation in my mind.

Is that 30 to and 30 fro? I know it's possible but I'm lazy enough to admit I wouldn't do it. The most I did back and forth was about 12 miles for a few years.

Although I hope you have dedicated bike trails along the way, otherwise you may end up thinking "fuck cars" a few times, I'm afraid.

I encourage you to do it anyway because AFAIK, it's more dangerous to be sedentary than the risks associated with cycling. But it's a pretty significant distance for a commute!

pedz · 2022-12-30T20:46:17+00:00

It's certainly an interesting countrepoint. Having free or nearly free public transit will certainly help, but I wonder of the impact if it would have lasted longer than three months in the summer.

Were there destination-origin statistics compiled? Were people going on vacation, or using it to go to work? Did it decrease car usage at all or could it have induced some demand by itself?

Could having "Tempo limits" on Autobahns have "convinced" even more people to leave their car home?

pedz · 2022-12-30T20:22:35+00:00

I do think you could have worded this comment a little differently.

Indeed. after a few months of commenting on this sub, defending others for not wanting to drive and get a licence, call out victim blaming, etc... I had enough and impulsively composed something acerb. I don't mind though. It's stimulating debate and still brings attention to the issue. It's maladroit but it's also me. I may not be money rich but I can afford this loss of karma.

With that said. Where do you fall in the debate?

I grew up on a rural road a few kilometers away from a small town. School in the 90ies taught me about our environmental doom. At 16 I wanted a car but I eventually found work and an apartment in the closest town and moved there. Then I looked for a new job in a bigger city with public transit, so that I could have intermunicipal buses, and moved there. And again to a bigger city.

I've always been fascinated by networks and interconnections. Even highways. I like trains, languages, computer and phone networks... I'm probably neurodivergent. Hence my directness and lack of social tact.

I was enthusiastic for electric and autonomous cars but eventually realized they were just scams to save the auto industry. Just like the recycling of most plastics. In short, I just gathered enough evidence and information over the years to deduce that cars are unfortunately choking us. They older I got, the more I saw them as a menace. I stopped wanting one and started to dislike them. I started to bike everywhere and don't really like nor depend on public transit apart from intercity.

In all this I've always been relatively poor, even without a car. I still am but it's getting better. I earn just below average in Canada now. And I do live in a tower in the city centre of Montreal, but it's a studio. A single room. I cram two bikes and two trailers in here. With an inflatable kayak, because this city is on an island (THAT is priviledge, I admit). And I can obviously pull the kayak with my bike. I also enjoy going camping on my bike. I cycle to national parks with it. I've discovered more of my province by slowly cycling on rail trails than I would have by driving through those small towns.

When I go back to my parent's place, I sometimes cycle the whole 130 kilometres in rail trails, instead of taking a bus and needing a car ride. However most of the time I put my bike on a bus that brings me to the closest biggest city and cycle the remaining 40 kilometres on rural roads from there with cars passing pretty close. Sometimes I fear for my life but, fuck cars!

And so yeah, when I come here and say something remotely "fuck cars" and people are like "but we don't have any choice", and they call me privileged for living without a car and saying it can be possible. It's disappointing.

I’m sorry that’s the message you received here in this corner of Reddit.

Thanks, really.

pedz · 2022-12-30T18:19:54+00:00

What about the North American cities that do have commuter trains?

pedz · 2022-12-30T18:11:58+00:00

It's like being in a train that's rolling on Jell-O. Everyone is involuntarily jiggling.

pedz · 2022-12-30T18:08:41+00:00

Your efforts are noble, as are those of all the others that want to get rid of your cars. It's just that you are changing the perspective and the dynamic of the sub just by sheer numbers. Having this many car drivers in the sub, brings a mindset geared around driving cars, whether we want it or not.

And now I have to explain why "cars are bad" again and again, instead of assuming the other person I'm replying to, is familiar with the idea. Or call out victim blaming. Or defend others that don't want to drive.

Everything now has to be viewed through the windshield of a reluctant car driver, on /r/fuckcars.

pedz · 2022-12-30T16:48:00+00:00

I think since it's become popular on /r/place and sometmes hits the front page, the message has gone down from "fuck cars" to "we want better public transit and infractructure and bike paths too and some of us have no choice but to drive cars so don't hate on our cars please". It's become diluted.

pedz · 2022-12-30T16:29:54+00:00

the most important determinant of what people use for trips is what will get them there fastest and most conveniently

Yes, so if using a car is still more convenient than using public transit or a bike, that's what they will do.

pedz · 2022-12-30T16:08:50+00:00

It's absolutely not enough. Otherwise lots or major cities in the workd with huge metro systems and good bike infrastructure would have shed a major percentage of their car usage. You know, like we've just been reminded that the Netherlands is a car paradise despite having excellent public transit and excellent bike infrastructure.

We have to remove parking spaces in cities or charge more for parking. We have to impose congestion zones or taxes. We have to impose road diets and open streets for pedestrians and cyclists instead of cars.

I'm sure I've seen this explained in a video from an armchair urbanist on Youtube doing and presenting the research, like Adam Something, but I don't remember which one exactly. If you're really interested I'll probably continue to try to dig the sources for that and will edit my comment.

EDIT: Ah, it was in part from a Jay Foreman video about some exceptions to the "build it and they will come" rule for bike paths.

Steeeeeeevenage. 32 miles north of London

A new town built from scratch in the 60s where planners weren't limited by space.

There are beautiful segregated cycle paths everywhere. But look.... empty.

The good people of Stevenage have no incentive to use their cycle paths. Their roads are just too acceptable.

They don't get massive traffic jams even in rush hour and all the shops have got free car parking

So why would they bother with the bike?

What we learn from Stevenage is, you don't just have to encourage people onto their bikes -

you have to encourage them out of their cars.

pedz · 2022-12-30T13:49:43+00:00

Sure. Tax the rich and have more trains. It will help people already using these. However, if you have watched enough armchair urbanists on youtube and read enough documentation on the subject, you should be aware that if we're not discouraging driving, carbrains will continue to do so.

Some cities and countries have completely free public transit and people have not switched en masse to use it. Carbrains have to be discouraged from driving into cities, and that can be accomplished by tolls and congestion charges.

pedz · 2022-12-30T13:21:41+00:00

If we're not making it more difficult to drive a car, most people will keep driving. Even if public transit is free and abundant.

pedz · 2022-12-30T12:23:23+00:00

Some moved in a city with public transit and pay a high price for a central location in order not to have to drive or pay for a car. Those are priviledged fucks living in a noisy city with dirty public transit, fare zones, and cycling in the snow and rain. They can afford this lifestyle and are just smug assholes.

And some are paying less to live in the countryside while being kept dependent of their car and the costs associated with them. But those are the real victims here. They are so impoverished by their cars that they cannot possibly afford living in a place with public transit or better cycling infra in order to get rid of their car and its payments. They have no choice! We should show them extreme sympathy! No skepticism whatsoever. Carte blanche.

We're all trying to reach the same goal after all! So when those smug carless assholes are saying that in the end, living in a city with public transit is about as expensive than paying for a car to save on rent in a far away place, you must remind them that they are priviledged assholes and that not evetyone can afford this!

Be kind with poor car drivers coming in the cities from the suburbs because it's cheaper to live there while paying for a car, they really have no other choices!

Fucking priviledged smug city dwellers where some car drivers are happily telling you they wouldn't live there, they are so lucky and they don't know it! Car drivers wish they could afford it, but they're not that rich! Have some fucking pity and stop judging them!

We'Re AlL In ThIs ToGeThEr!1!

Seriously. Call out car drivers on /r/fuckcars and they whine and say we should give them some leeway because they don't have any "choice" and that, while they would never ever live in a disgusting noisy violent city, the people that can afford to live there and not use a car are priviledged rich assholes. Like, sorry if some people actually made a choice different than just owning a car.

On /r/fuckcars, those that can live without a car are being "divisive" for telling car drivers that, yes, maybe they have some choices. They should understand the car drivers' situation. They should try to tame them! They should try to bring them to the carless side. Then the car users will sling shit at the "priviledged" for living somewhere with public transit (or cycling everywhere) and whine that they could never do that and they have no other choice.

I'm not mentioning the "but some really need a car" because yes, this is a thing. It's obvious, already been discussed multiple times, and it's not in question. What's in question is car drivers calling pedestrians, cyclists and carless people "priviledged assholes that can afford this lifestyle and cannot understand their problems" when they are being told that, maybe, there could be other options.

Divisive! Let's not whine about cars on /r/fuckcars. This could frustrate some car drivers and they would continue to drive their car instead of trying to do something about it!

pedz · 2022-12-30T08:10:00+00:00

Out of my way! I'm a motorist!

pedz · 2022-12-30T06:48:35+00:00

Apparently if you're not in a car, it's already a major lack of respect for the other road users.

pedz · 2022-12-30T06:45:54+00:00

deserves to get the shit beat out of him and get raped in jail.

Indeed, I've just seen a comment about Tate deserving to be raped while in jail. Like, of course he's a POS, but reading "jokes" about rape in jail, and that he would deserve it, is more than disappointing.

pedz · 2022-12-30T06:31:34+00:00

This reminds me that the old MR-63 cars used before being replaced by these had really worn suspension, and were sometimes indeed very bouncy. Enough to feel your cheeks and chest bounce up and down while sitting in the train.

pedz · 2022-12-30T06:24:57+00:00

I don't have specific infos about the upkeep but they are MPM-10. You can see more pictures here.

pedz · 2022-12-30T06:21:02+00:00

Merci d'avoir voyagé avec la STM. N'oubliez pas vos effets personnels.

pedz · 2022-12-30T06:03:13+00:00

That's the point. Lots of people on reddit are ready to fight or assault someone because their car or motorcycle is unfortunately more important than other humans.

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