Dedicated to life, liberty, walking, biking, and running. And the survival of our planet.
Mission: To promote driving less so all may live more.
Today, we start with a quiz. What do these cars have in common?
If you said they are the best cars for pedestrians to get hit by, you are fully woke.[1]
Continue reading “Best Cars to Get Hit By as a Pedestrian”
Mission: To promote driving less so all may live more.
Below are some recent events that chip away at the disproportionate role of the automobile in Western society (and, technologically, almost all society is Western).
As reported in “CU Denver Today” an extensive study recently concludes that adding protective bike lanes (i.e. lanes with a physical barrier, not just paint) to city streets not only makes the bicyclists safer but all the drivers safer.[1]
Mission: To promote driving less so all may live more.
When I discuss the American (and increasingly global) dependency on automobiles, some people with a politically conservative bend respond by saying that the problem is a result of personal irresponsibility, no more.[1]
I was raised to think this way, to think individualistically. So I get it.
However, over time, I realize that done exclusively, this thinking allows conniving and greedy organizations (or their leaders) to move invisibly through the world, exploiting freedom by limiting the range of choices that occur to individuals. As a result of such organizations, even if one’s moral fabric permitted him or her to resist pernicious trends, the very idea of resisting may never enter one’s mind. The gains of corporate and political greed are usually won upstream, with whispers in back rooms, such as, What they don’t know won’t hurt us, and, I don’t care who they vote for as long as I choose the candidates.
Continue reading “The Legal Bias Against Pedestrians and Bikes (Part 2 of 2)”
Mission: To promote driving less so all may live more.
This is the first of two posts that highlight points made by Gregory H. Shill, University of Iowa College of Law, in his paper, “Should Law Subsidize Driving?”.[1]
Shill’s eminently readable, 76-page paper has already been summarized nicely in the article, “How Driving is Encouraged and Subsidized — By Law,” by Angie Schmitt (March 6, 2019).[2]
Continue reading “The Legal Bias Against Pedestrians and Bikes (Part 1 of 2)”
Mission: To promote driving less so all may live more.
The previous post explained how the City of Boulder addressed the flashing crosswalk where Laura was hit by an SUV. In short, they addressed it gloriously:
(1) they upgraded to a light that first flashed, then turned solid yellow, and finally turned solid red (putting the fear of Officer MacDougal in drivers), and
(2) they later made the supreme fix: building an underpass
to completely insulate pedestrians and bikers from those big, heavy chunks of metal and plastic that accelerate more easily than they brake.
Continue reading “Hit in a Crosswalk (Part 3)”
Mission: To promote driving less so all may live more.
The previous post was about Laura’s experience of getting hit by a car while in a flashing-light crosswalk (2007). The crosswalk where the accident occurred was replaced by a high-intensity activated crosswalk (HAWK, which provides a flashing yellow light followed by a solid yellow light followed by a red light). After installing the HAWK, Boulder went a step further, replacing it with a pedestrian underpass (the best and costliest solution).
Continue reading “Hit in a Crosswalk (Part 2)”
Mission: To promote driving less so all may live more.
[Laura, one of my daughters, was hit by an SUV at night in a flashing-light crosswalk in Boulder, CO in 2007. The incident could have been much worse (if she had walked just a bit slower). To those of us who were nearby when it happened, it was quite upsetting. To her, it was more than that. In this post we now read her account, the account of the person vs. automobile. — Louis]
After something like that it’s only natural to reflect, retrace, and wonder why it all ended up okay. Indeed, more often than not things seem to end up okay. That’s a miracle in of itself.
It happened on a warm summer evening. I remember leaving Brewing Market with two of my sisters, Mindy and Amy, and my dad (who got in his car to drive home). My sisters were ahead of me. We were walking across Baseline Road to the University of Colorado for something, which, for the life of me, I can’t remember.
Continue reading “Hit in a Crosswalk (guest post, Laura)”
Mission: To promote driving less so all may live more.
When it was over, I gasped, and said, “We almost drove over my real estate agent!”
Hannah looked at the split-rail fence that had put her Subaru to a final stop. Little damage done.
The wintry day was sunny and the roads were mostly dry. We had just turned onto Marshall Road, outside of Boulder, speed limit 25.
As we rounded a corner, I saw a woman running on the opposite side of the road, facing traffic, as one should do. She was blond, young and…
“It’s Sally!” I thought—my real estate agent who had helped me sell my house in Coal Creek Canyon. Suddenly that thought gave way to, “Dang it, we’re sliding toward her!”
Continue reading “We Almost Drove Over My Real Estate Agent”