DrTCombs

DrTCombs, 2 months ago to random

The kid's grown six inches in two years and still isn't tall enough to be seen over the hood of these ridiculous death machines prowling our neighborhood streets.

DrTCombs, 6 months ago to random

Y'all, she's 53 inches tall.
4 feet, 5 inches.
And still not tall enough to "be seen."

#RoadSafety #NHTSA #RoadTank #StupidTrucks

DrTCombs, 1 month ago (edited 1 month ago) to ChatGPT

Overheard one of my students complaining to another that "#chatgpt is useless for this course" and have never felt more pleased with myself.

DrTCombs, 3 days ago to cycling

Happy to have solved the problem of the school bus driver honking at us every morning.

It's been a week, and not a single honk.

#BikeToSchool #BikeTooter #BikeSafety

DrTCombs, 2 months ago to random

Daylight Savings Time is so awesome. I love trying to convince my kid to go to bed while the sun is still up, get out of bed before the sun comes back up, wear gloves and a jacket because the bike ride to school now happens at the absolute coldest part of the night, and ride the long way to school because the usual route is full of drivers who are now staring directly into the sunrise.

What's not to love?

DrTCombs, 8 months ago to random

Kid: The toothfairy left $1.80 under my pillow!

Me: Huh. A $1.80, you say? In what denominations?

Kid: 7 quarters and a nickel....[thoughtful pause]...Mom, do you think the toothfairy meant to give me 2 dollars in quarters but didn't have their glasses on?

Partner: [sprays coffee all over the breakfast table]

yes, my love, I do believe that's exactly what happened.

DrTCombs, 4 months ago to random

Petition to treat every report of a high visibility pedestrian sign getting "knocked over by a car" as evidence that an actual person could get knocked over by a car.

DrTCombs, 1 year ago to random

June 2022 --> February 2023. The kid has grown two inches. The trucks have grown even faster.

This is not fine.

#RoadSafety #VisionZero #VehicleSize #Trucks #RegulateVehiclesNow

A photo of a nine year old girl, in a striped dress, standing in front of the grill of a black Chevy Silverado. The top of the hood on this truck is even higher above the girl's head, despite her recent growth spurt.

DrTCombs, 1 year ago to random

Kids shouldn't have to sacrifice their futures for the convenience of adults.

#BikeTooter #SafeStreetsForAll #CarCulture #ClimateChange #KidsOnBikes

@tomflood

DrTCombs, 4 months ago to random

This is why I get so damn angry when I see a modern day #pickup #truck or #SUV anywhere other than a farm or a construction site. And even then, there are safer options.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2212012224000017?via%3Dihub

#SafeStreetsForAll #NHTSA #Oversized

DrTCombs, 9 months ago to cycling

Normally I wait until I have enough near-death experiences for a montage, but this was too bad to just sit on.

https://urbanists.video/w/q9ZRAHF3PvGfyimbKf9LXw

[video shows a black jeep careening around a cyclist, nearly causing a right hook collision; video POV is from the bicycle's handlebar camera]

#BikeTooter #RoadSafety #TrafficViolence #Jeep

DrTCombs, 8 months ago to random

I'm just so dang tired of a transportation system that routinely creates chaos and expects everyone to just deal with it, perfectly, every single time.

Today I had to choose between following the letter of the law and keeping my kid from unwittingly riding into a likely deadly situation. I chose the latter, got yelled at by a very angry lady, saved my kid.

And then we had yet another conversation about how our roads are designed as if everything is always perfect even though we know it's not.

DrTCombs, 7 months ago to cycling

Yesterday, this cool kid--with her bright red bike, hot pink helmet, dual blinkies, and rotating rainbow wheel lights--waited at a high-viz crosswalk in a school zone while 7 adult drivers pretended not to see her.

#BikeTooter #SafeStreetsForAll #SafeRoutesToSchool #KidsOnBikes #VisionZero #CarBrain

DrTCombs, 5 months ago (edited 5 months ago) to random

Your regular timely reminder that good public transit systems benefit everyone, regardless of whether everyone rides it.

Said differently: good transit doesn't have to cater to the elite for the elite to benefit from it.

DrTCombs, 10 days ago to random

OMG OMG OMG IT'S HERE!!!

DrTCombs, 10 months ago to random

They grow up so fast.

#VisionZero #PickupTrucks #OversizedVehicles #NHTSA

DrTCombs, 3 months ago to math

Hi #Math people! If you had half an hour a handful of incredibly bright, incredibly bored 10 year olds, what math would you teach them?

The 4th grade math curriculum is letting these kids down, and they are hungry for a challenge...and to see that math can be fun again!

#Thanks in advance!

DrTCombs, 3 months ago to cycling

A hawk joined us on the bike ride to school this morning.

#BikeTooter #KidsOnBikes #BikeToSchool #Birds

https://urbanists.video/w/n64rYBE2pknjQUUTfNvjjv

DrTCombs, 3 months ago to random

My kid's school uses an app to teach kids grammar. The app autocorrects their grammar, and then checks to see if their grammar is correct.

We are doomed

DrTCombs, 4 months ago to Futurology

Heck yeah. My new #paper with Lindsay Oluyede & Carlos Pardo is out today in #TransportReviews:

"The why and how of COVID streets: a city level review of research into planning motivations and approaches during a crisis"

This labor of love examined the processes that led to and shaped #COVIDstreets programs in 28 cities around the world, as reported in peer-reviewed literature. 🧵

#COVID #transport #planning #ShiftingStreets

https://doi.org/10.1080/01441647.2023.2295368

DrTCombs, 4 months ago to random

My co-authors and I -- a postdoc with no research funding, a guy who runs a non-profit in Latin America, and a soft-money US academic with almost no access to discretionary $ -- wrote a paper in our free time based on research we conducted and funded out of our own pockets, and now we're gonna be judged for not shelling out a month's pay to make it #openaccess

#AcademicWriting

DrTCombs, 1 month ago to cycling

Biking 1.5 miles to school today, my kid & I...

1. waited while a school bus ran a stop sign
2. swerved to avoid a car passing us on the left as we turned left
3. sat at a light for 4 min to get a walk signal
4. slammed on the brakes to not get t-boned by an SUV in a crosswalk

We don't pollute, make noise, cause pavement wear, or threaten anyone's safety. Yet our roads still force us to defer to cars or risk death.

And we're the entitled ones? Entitled to what??

#EntitledCyclists #BikeTooter

DrTCombs, 4 months ago to random

So, I reported that school bus driver today. The one that shouted at my kid, blasted through a stop sign where we were waiting to turn, and has lately taken to honking at us loudly when we pass each other on the road.

Kids should get to ride their bikes to school without feeling like the school bus driver is out to get them.

DrTCombs, 2 months ago to random

This picture was captured from a camera mounted on the handlebars of my bike, approximately three and a half feet off the ground, as I was dropping my kid off at soccer practice.

#DeathMachine #OversizedTruck

DrTCombs, 3 months ago to random

Over on threads, I'm doing that thing where I change my profile pic to a random white guy and wait to see how long before the reply guys stop being assholes to me.

Don't tell...