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Highway to hell: control the car

Abuse of power and social control is a far greater threat than cars and cigarettes, argues Michael McFadden
I believe motorists should be treated just as fairly as smokers. Taxes should be roughly triple the cost of the basic litre of fuel and hospital campuses should be car-free with parking available a minimum of four blocks away to encourage healthy exercise and avoid physical threat to normal non-driving visitors and patients.
Children should be taught that if their parents love them they won’t insist on driving them around in pollutomobiles, leaving them off at school stinking of petrol fumes and all the lovely chemicals that make up that delightful “new car smell”. College scholarships can be offered to those students who remain “car-free” to graduation, and employers can restrict job openings to non-drivers only.
Surgeons should refuse operations to accident victims who refuse to sign a legal commitment to surrender their drivers’ licenses and significant speed bumps should be put at every intersection to discourage automotive commuting.
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OCTOBER EVENTS to share

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Tour Du Port is Sunday, October 4 (One Less Car)

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International Walk To School Day is
Monday, October 7 (National Center for Safe Routes to
School)

 

AND then the Roland Park Civic League Oct. 23-25th Sustainability
Weekend one attached with emphasis on the Sunday Streets Cyclovia!!!

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Fall 2009 Bicycle Friendly Businesses Announced

Congrats to Arrow Bicycle in Hyattsville, MD for making Bronze in this years round of awards for Bicycle Friendly Businesses.
The League announced 45 new Bicycle Friendly Business award winners today, including two platinum winners Bicycle Sport Shop of Austin, Texas and Quality Bicycle Products of Bloomington, Minn. This was the third time BFB winners have been announced since the program’s inception in 2008.
The Bicycle Friendly Business (BFB) program recognizes employers’ efforts to encourage a more bicycle friendly atmosphere for employees and customers. The program honors innovative bike-friendly efforts and provides technical assistance and information to help companies and organizations become even better for bicyclists. This new initiative complements the League’s Bicycle Friendly Community (BFC) program, which has been recognizing cities and towns for their bicycle friendliness since 2003.
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Webinar: Taking Proper Care of Pedestrians in Work Zones

September 30, 2009, 1:00 PM – 2:30 PM EST
The MUTCD requires that work zone traffic control meet the needs of all road users on a facility, including pedestrians. Register now to listen in on this important webinar on how to meet the work zone traffic control needs of pedestrians, including those with disabilities.
Presenters:
Gerald Ullman, Texas Transportation Institute: Designing and Maintaining a Pedestrian-Friendly Work Zone
Brooke Ullman, Texas Transportation Institute: Assisting Handicapped Pedestrians through Work Zones: Meeting the ADA Requirements
Cost: Free
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Cars, Air Pollution and Health

Update Oct. 2009: Driving a car is the most polluting act an average citizen commits.
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Cars have two opposite personalities. One is friendly and attractive the other is destructive and can be lethal.
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Emissions from passenger vehicles increased in Canada and the US despite attempts to make engines more fuel efficient and despite the addition of antipollution devices. The two main reasons were: 1. vehicle use increased 2. in the US and Canada, cars were getting bigger; pick-up trucks, vans and sports vehicles often replaced smaller, lighter passenger cars. An average new vehicle in 2003 consumed more fuel that its counterpart in 1988. In the USA in 1987 cars averaged 25.9 miles to the gallon. Fuel efficiency dropped to 24.6 miles/gallon by 1998 and is dropped further as larger vehicles replace smaller ones.
Despite scientific evidence of climate change, governments in most affluent countries have avoided their responsibility to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases. The USA is the biggest emitter of greenhouse gases worldwide. US emissions have increased to 7 billion tones of CO2 in 2004, 16 % higher than emissions in the late 90’s. The UK has done better reducing their emissions to about 0.6 billion tons, 14% below 1990 levels.
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Advertising and Delusions
Television Ads for sports and recreation vehicles show solitary, impeccable machines in wilderness locations. One TV ad shows a couple making a mad dash to escape the city core in their expensive, luxury upholstered clone of the land-rover. The ads are selling a fantasy of wilderness, fresh air and escape. Is the consumer is completely deluded? These vehicles are mostly found in suburban driveways and in the traffic jams of polluted cities. They have nowhere to go to escape the environmental degradation they help to create. 4×4 drives and large tires are rarely useful in cities and are not suited to highway driving. You see these machines, submerged in suburban driveways by the floods they helped to create
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