Thread by @BrentToderian

It’s actually remarkable that we still fall for the sales pitch that cars equal freedom. There’s nothing free about the lack of choice that comes from car dependancy. And building our city-regions around cars is the most costly thing we can do. Does that sound “free” to you?

“Hell is other people.” — Jean-Paul Sartre.

“Traffic is other people.” — every driver.

HT @DarrenDavis10

It’s that time again. Thanksgiving traffic in the United States reminds us that we’re not stuck in traffic — we are traffic. And the only thing we’re really stuck in is the belief that we can’t make different choices. Via @DanLinden @abcnews

It’s not that we need to immediately realize “post-car cities.” It’s that we need to immediately realize post-car DEPENDANCY cities. #multimodalcities #freedom #choices

The next time someone tries to tell you that it’s just “social engineering” to make walking, biking & public transit more enjoyable, inform them that designing our current car dependency has been the largest & most damaging social engineering experiment in human history.

“Carbon emissions are about to hit an all-time high, thanks to cars. We thought oil use had peaked in the U.S. & Europe 15 years ago. Cheap gasoline prices, bigger cars & people driving more miles are boosting oil use at rates that none of us expected.” newrepublic.com/minutes/152536…

“When we add car capacity, we induce more driving. So there’s sort of a vicious cycle: We widen roads, people drive more; we widen roads, people drive more. When you’re in a hole, stop digging.” #InducedDemand #InducedTraffic #LawOfCongestion news.wisc.edu/study-calls-fo…

Possibly the most important conversation your city should be having — the inter-connected components, each critically important, of the cycle of car dependancy, based on @LitmanVTPI, slightly adapted by @cosaingalway.

Does YOUR city understand this?

”Adding highway lanes to deal with traffic congestion is like loosening
your belt to cure obesity." - Lewis Mumford, 1955. Arguably the most important quote in city-building & the most important necessary mindset shift for city-regions. My @planetizen post planetizen.com/node/53659

“There’s too many cars, Daddy. They’re all stuck & can’t move. We need to put some cars away.”

My 3-year old little boy gets it.

Now I just need to introduce his toy subway train into the scenario...

#inducedtraffic #lawofcongestion #WereNotStuckInTrafficWeARETraffic

“A couple of decades ago, it was perfectly normal to smoke inside. Today, very few would do that. I think it’s the same with cars in the city centre. One day we’ll look back & ask ourselves why we ever thought that was a good idea.” - #Oslo’s Vice Mayor. nytimes.com/2018/12/19/tra…

A short history of traffic engineering, via @copenhagenize. Manufactured car dependency takes a lot of forms (see this whole thread), including how easy or hard we make it to get from A to B. A deliberate result of skewed priorities. #multimodalcities