8% of streets cause the majority of fatal crashes but does anyone understand that making those streets safe requires getting people out of cars? #VisionZero needs #VMTreduction, not flashing lights.
#transportation utility fee as a replacement for the #gasTax is a terribly unpopular idea because we're tired of subsidizing #carSupremacy. Crank up the fucking gas tax until drivers are breaking even, and then ask me about creating a source of funding that will still work when you make people quit driving. 🙄 "Portland Bureau of cart befOre The horse", here. #PBOT#FuckCars
Even if it's only 1 in 10 drivers who are anti-social and unsafe, ruining it for everyone, the way we design our streets pretty much guarantees that you will encounter one of those ones should you choose to venture into the transportation system without armoring yourself in a car. #trafficEngineers want to act like they're designing for the 9 "good #drivers", but they are failing everyone if the design cannot keep the worst drivers in check, afraid to dent innocent cars
There needs to be political pressure from "the good #drivers" to demand infrastructure that makes driving too fast into a scary / uncomfortable experience for them. Too many of this group will say we just need "good guys with cars and guns" to stop "the bad ones", but then those same people will drive 10mph over the posted speed if they don't see a cop, and enshrine protection for this behavior in the law, while claiming "we need culture change" to stop the killing. #VisionZero#CarSupremacy
@scottsthoughts economic security and independent mobility, health, and higher-quality family time. At least, these are reasons for #CarReplacement#cargoBikes / #eBikes, and then you quickly realize the absurdity of #CarSupremacy reserving 100% of bike-able routes for speeding cars to line up two-by-two at the next red light, and join #theWarOnCars
I honestly don't believe #PBOT can't do the math on the weight of some concrete barriers, it's the value of keeping cars out of bike lanes that they just don't understand. Children's safety and independence vs the fully-imagined satisfaction of your "customers" that you subsidize at like $5/mile, it's a tough call. #CarsRuinCities#StuffInTheStreet#CarSupremacy#cars1stAlwaysOnly#trafficEngineers#InducedDemand
I haven't looked at this yet but I'll bet "stop spending all of the money on making cars kill people" is not an option offered #DefundDOTs#PBOT#CarSupremacy
> Why are we ok with using public funds
> to build infrastructure that requires an entry ticket
> that costs tens of thousands of dollars and
> comes with the very real risk of accidentally killing people?
@tmstreet We need to quit reinforcing this fallacy that #DriverConvenience is on the line when #carSupremacy is challenged. This system of bouncing between deadly speeds and standstill #trafficCongestion / #seeYouAtTheNextLight is unpredictable and inconvenient for #drivers, many of whom are not driving by choice, or very long trips, but choose cars for fear of cars / lack of enough space having been allocated to bike/walk/transit options. & costs them $5-10k/yr, classist entry fee to society.
Analyzing these car-on-bike #crashReports with @bikeloudpdx is wild. Bike rider is sitting at a stop sign waiting to cross SE Stark on 2nd and "car [driver] turned into him" (I guess turning left from eastbound Stark, illegally wide). <- Officer did not record or clarify the geometry in any way. "It was indeed raining very hard and visibility was poor." FFS man we need to fix the infra not just expect people on bikes to get hit with cars in the rain. #VisionZero#ACAB#CarSupremacy#pdxBikes
#independenceDay thought about #FreeRangeKids: Can we just put one of those chalk markers on every kid's #bike and give them an unlimited supply of chalk? Then your #transportation dept can follow them around with cones, and viola you have a complete and connected #bikewayNetwork. To get out of the #carSupremacy rut, start with at least one car-free day per month and give the kids bikes + lessons if they need them.
With news of the MLK Safety project delays, it's worth reiterating the root problem. It takes SDOT way too long to do safety improvements. The ridiculous timelines compound all our problems.
If SDOT were serious about safety it would be delivering projects in weeks, not years. And as long as SDOT prioritizes process over safety, we'll never deliver projects in a timely manner or a reasonable budget.
@silvernailsea@rachael@owen
Exactly. It's not just the process but also the designs are by and for #carSupremacy. New concrete bikeways aren't wide enough to meet demand, let alone #ClimateAction goals. They need to be operating a working prototype NETWORK, #tacticalUrbanism, not designing a permanent monument. Then ask people who are actually using it, or even just observe, and adjust. Maybe they can change, but I've said all this for a decade, and now I'm at #DefundDOTs until I see it.