”According to the 2018 IIHS report, pedestrian fatalities in crashes with SUVs rose more than 80 percent from 2009 to 2016.” 🤔 outsideonline.com/2411345/suvs-t…
“A gunshot wound is usually a little more straightforward,” Dr. Namias says. “When you get hit by a car, it’s like multiple gunshot wounds—in the leg, in the pelvis, in the chest and abdomen, in the head.” outsideonline.com/2411345/suvs-t…
”Modern trucks and big SUVs favor blocky, muscular styling up front, rather than a sloping transition from grille to hood. Instead of sliding onto the hood when hit by a truck, a cyclist’s pelvis and torso rotate with a twisting, tearing motion.” outsideonline.com/2411345/suvs-t…
“Not all pedestrians are equally vulnerable. U.S. drivers disproportionately kill people of color, people in low-income communities, and the elderly.” via @DavidZipperbloomberg.com/news/features/…
Highly recommend @TheWarOnCars interview with @schmangee on “nation’s toxic mix of big vehicles, cheap gas & utter disregard for human lives—especially lives of poor people, people of color, people without housing, older people & people with disabilities.” thewaroncars.org/2020/09/11/rig…
”Blind spots” used to mean slivers along each side of the vehicle. Trucks and SUVs are now designed with *forward blind zones*.
Just went down to the secure garage in our apartment building to attach a new ”bike reflector” that hides an AirTag in case my bike gets stolen. Too late. Despite very heavy duty chain and top-tier lock, my bike was gone. Stunned, angry and a little heartbroken.
Research on LoJack, an anti-theft tracking device for cars, found it had major spillover benefits for communities in that it helped identify chopshops, the central nodes for car theft. Ironically, I’ve been wondering if AirTags might offer similar benefits for cyclists.
Part of what’s so maddening about bike theft is that it’s not just bad luck, it’s also the result of bad policing. Bike theft is pervasive but not taken seriously by law enforcement. If one company, VanMoof, can employ ”bike hunters,” why can’t the police?
On possible closing of Indian Point nuclear power plant, the African American Environmentalist Assoc. asked: ”How many African American children should suffer from asthma in order to marginally improve the level of fish egg mortality in the Hudson River?” nrc.gov/docs/ML1430/ML…
As predicted: ”most of the electricity produced by the nuclear plant, known as Indian Point, has been replaced by power generated by plants that burn natural gas and emit more pollution.” nytimes.com/2021/04/12/nyr…
How it started: ”The two reactors produced about 2.1 gigawatts of power for nearly 45 years—enough to meet a quarter of demand from NYC, without emitting greenhouse gas.”
While body cams might have no effect on policing on average, it’s hard to imagine images like this of Adam Toledo with his hands up before being shot won’t move public opinion in similar ways to how DNA evidence changed attitudes about the death penalty. buzzfeednews.com/article/skbaer…
Body cams are not systemic change but they can powerfully disrupt official narratives. In this case ”prosecutors initially said as the boy turned toward the officer, he had a gun in his right hand.” Only with the video’s release has that story changed. buzzfeednews.com/article/skbaer…
In 1960s, civil rights activists often strategically drew media attention to injustice of segregation by subjecting themselves to state violence. Similarly, body cams will, at times, produce footage that focuses media’s attention on current state violence. cnn.com/2021/04/11/us/…
”Krasnik’s mayor said he worried that unless his town’s “free of L.G.B.T.” status is rescinded, he has little chance of securing foreign funds to finance electric buses and youth programs, which he said are important because young people keep leaving.” nytimes.com/2021/04/10/wor…
”Among those who left their childhood religion, women are twice as likely as men to say negative religious teachings about or treatment of gay and lesbian individuals was a major reason they chose to leave their religion (40% vs. 20%, respectively).” prri.org/research/prri-…
”Reasons Americans identified as motivations in leaving childhood religion are: stopped believing in religion’s teachings (60%), family was never that religious when growing up (32%), experience of negative religious teachings about or treatment of gay and lesbian people (29%).”
New study finds “in cities where bike infrastructure was added, cycling had increased up to 48 percent more than in cities that did not add bike lanes.” nytimes.com/2021/04/01/cli…
“‘It almost seems like a natural law that the more bike infrastructure you have, the more cycling you will have,’ said Sebastian Kraus, the study’s lead author.” nytimes.com/2021/04/01/cli…
“Investments in infrastructure for cycling and walking increase our physical activity, reduce levels of greenhouse gas emissions and improve air quality. They more than paid for themselves once the health benefits were taken into account.” nytimes.com/2021/04/01/cli…