cars
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Get drivers to slow down (and save fuel) by making it fun
From the people who brought you piano stairs comes an idea for getting more drivers to obey speed limits. “Fun theory award” winner Kevin Richardson suggests making it “fun” to drive the speed limit by entering lawful drivers in a lottery and awarding cash prizes to some. Money could come from fining speeders, although that […]
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Is drunk biking better than drunk driving?
Courtesy blurofinsanity.comEric DePlace at the Northwest policy shop Sightline responds to my question about why we mandate parking at bars if driving in general and drunk driving in particular both harm the public good: One thing that does work as an alternative to drinking and driving — and I can vouch for this — is […]
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Tell me again why we mandate parking at bars?
They’re not all this big, but you get the pointPhoto: jgrimm FlickrOne of the silliest barriers to green urban development is mandatory sprawl, i.e. local zoning codes that require sprawl-style development, even when consumers (in the “free” market) want to buy property in walkable, compact developments. And one of the craziest examples of this dilemma […]
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Swiss supermarkets to offer Think electric cars
Think CityPhoto: Think“Honey, could you run down to the store and pick up some milk, tofu, and one of those new Think City electric cars?” That’s a request you could be hearing soon in Switzerland (in French, German, Italian, or Romansh, of course) now that Norwegian electric automaker Think has struck a deal with Swiss […]
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A pedestrian test-drives Audi’s ‘clean-diesel’ luxury ride
Photo: Ashley BraunI’m a reluctant driver. I’ll be the first to admit it. I do have a Zipcar subscription, mainly for the late-night runs to the airport to pick up my long-distance boyfriend when he sweeps through town. But I haven’t owned a car in nearly three years, instead opting to untangle the labyrinthine routes […]
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Can we just drive less after the Gulf spill? If only it were so easy …
Photo: Stephan Geyer via FlickrNPR reporter Brian Mann went talking to gas-station customers in upstate New York to find out what they’re thinking about the Gulf of Mexico oil leak and their own responsibility as gas-buyers. He gets some interesting responses, but I’d like to engage in some bloggerly quibbling with his conclusion. Mann finds […]
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Good neighborhoods have lots of intersections
It’s a little counterintuitive, but it turns out that having lots of intersections is really important for neighborhood walkability and transit use. A new study on Travel and the Built Environment by planning scholars Reid Ewing and Robert Cervero finds that “intersection density” is the single most important measurement for understanding what keeps folks out […]
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Ditching shopping carts one-ups bans on plastic bags
Why would we want to teach our little rascals that shopping carts and cars don’t go together?Sean Dreilinger via Flickr Creative CommonsCalifornia may think it’s bag-ass for its progress toward banning plastic shopping bags. However, Sydney, Australia’s city council is pushing the limits of grocery-getters by telling a small supermarket to park its shopping carts […]
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How we can end our addiction to oil
It’s time we moved on to something else, or this is going to kill us. Not only are world oil supplies running out, but what oil is still left is proving very dirty to obtain. We need to kick our oil addiction now if we expect to preserve any hopes of economic prosperity, or unspoiled […]
