THIS JUST HAPPENED—AND IT'S BIG.
Speed limiting tech on cars is now mandatory in the European Union.
"From July 2022, Intelligent speed assistance (ISA) will be mandatory for new models/types of vehicles introduced on the market." road-safety-charter.ec.europa.eu/resources-know…
These are speed governors in new cars and trucks that stop them from exceeding maximum speeds limits.
“In 2010, there were 35 million SUVs in the world’s car fleet. Now there are over 200 million. SUVs were the second greatest contributor to the world’s increase in carbon emissions from 2010 to 2018.”
The population density of the American Midwest is comparable to that of #Spain.
Spain has 2,240 miles of high-speed rail.
American Midwest: 0.
🧵
High-speed rail in this region would replace short-haul flights, and go a long way to reducing carbon emissions. Should be a no-brainer for Amtrak Joe Biden—you'd think, anyway...
(Fantasy map below)
I bring this up b/c @the_transit_guy has made the comparison between overachieving China and sad-sack US. Fair point, but a more proximate comparable might be Spain...
This will sound unbelievable to most people. (Not to me!)
A classic study from #Denmark followed 30,000 people of all ages for 15 years.
Those who rode a bicycle to work were 40% less likely to die—of all causes—over the study period. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10847255/
North Americans are now so inactive that, if current trends continue, by 2030 they will expend only 15% more total bodily energy in a week than somebody who spends entire 7 days in bed.
STUDY: Drivers of luxury cars found to give pedestrians the right of way 3x less than those driving less expensive vehicles; 4x more likely to cut off other drivers.
Also known as the "Audi Effect," "Mercedes Brain"...
(Thnx to @WorldBollard for the BMW shot in 1st tweet.)
A "points" registry in #Germany for all major violations of traffic rules (like extreme speeding, DUI, etc) is broken down by brand.
Surprise: It validates the association between luxury car ownership and anti-social/asshole behavior.
Thnx to @CFahrenbach
"America's long love affair with the automobile."
...is ahistorical, lazy thinking, and just plain wrong.
Cars were *not* welcomed into the cities of North America. People resisted fiercely.
Peter Norton has ably documented the extent of the resistance in his scholarly book Fighting Traffic. @PeterNorton12