There is no time to lose. Right NOW we need to reduce use of cars. This can be done if there is the will to do it. The planet depends upon us all globally–and Americans are among the worst offenders.

LAURA BLISS OCT 9, 2018

The Planet Can’t Survive Our Transportation Habits

In light of the IPCC’s dire report, substituting some personal convenience in the present could mean that much more hope for the planet’s future.

A landmark report by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released Monday spelled out a grim planetary future in no uncertain terms. If greenhouse gases warm the atmosphere by as much as 1.5 degrees Celsius, the most dire effects of climate change will be unleashed. Coastlines will be submerged, droughts and wildfires exacerbated, coral reefs exterminated, severe food shortages and poverty deepened. And humanity has only a fast-closing 12-year window to make the changes necessary to avoid this fate.

According to the report, decarbonizing the transportation sector would require electrifying vehicle fleets, shifting mobility choices from low- to high-efficiency modes en masse, and transforming urban planning to curtail sprawl and make walking, biking, and transit use easier.

Read more…

https://www.citylab.com/transportation/2018/10/un-climate-report-transportation-choices/572494/

Asbury Park has partnered with the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation in an initiative to make Asbury Park a national model of accessibility.

Mayor John Moor said the partnership with the Foundation team is about a year old. He said the city and the Foundation share a goal of making Asbury Park more inclusive. “(It’s) a tribute to the ever-growing diversity and acceptance that our city is known for,” said Moor.

The fundamental issue in America is that almost anywhere they try to implement Vision Zero, almost everyone in those cities drives. They aren’t willing to be slowed down, they object, and the politicians refuse to do anything that’s going to make drivers angry.

There is no question that people with disabilities who can drive should be accommodated. But when one looks at the health benefits that come from walking, it’s pretty clear that wider sidewalks and bike lanes (which actually make sidewalks safer) are better for people of every generation.

Read more…

https://www.mnn.com/green-tech/transportation/blogs/why-aging-boomers-need-walkable-cities-more-convenient-parking

There are all kinds of bike riders in Asbury Park.  Lycra-clad roadies zoom down avenues, kids zip around in clusters on streets and on sidewalks, visitors pedal bike share bikes and beach cruisers, and residents who don’t own cars ride bikes for their main mode of transportation.  Asbury Park Complete Streets Coalition is focused on transportation equity: safe streets for everyone, at every age, in every neighborhood.  Right now there is a Bike Walk Master Plan in final draft showing bicycle and walking infrastructure on almost every street in the city, so everyone can get to school, work, church, shopping and recreation safely!

Bike Lanes Are White Lanes

Bicycle Advocacy and Urban Planning

In this study of three prominent U.S. cities—Milwaukee, Portland, and Minneapolis—Hoffmann examines how the burgeoning popularity of urban bicycling is trailed by systemic issues of racism, classism, and displacement. From a pro-cycling perspective, Bike Lanes Are White Lanes highlights many problematic aspects of urban bicycling culture and its advocacy as well as positive examples of people trying earnestly to bring their community together through bicycling.

Buy the book here:

https://www.nebraskapress.unl.edu/university-of-nebraska-press/9780803276789/

Aidan Lewis BBC News 12 February 2014

Jaywalking: How the car industry outlawed crossing the road.

The idea of being fined for crossing the road at the wrong place can bemuse foreign visitors to the US, where the origins of so-called jaywalking lie in a propaganda campaign by the motor industry in the 1920s.

“Clowns were commonly used in parades or pageants to portray jaywalkers as a throwback to rural, ignorant, pre-motor age ways.

Another ruse was to provide local newspapers with a free service. Reporters would submit a few facts about local traffic accidents to Detroit, and the auto industry’s safety committee would send back a full report on the situation in their city.

“The newspaper coverage quite suddenly changes, so that in 1923 they’re all blaming the drivers, and by late 1924 they’re all blaming jaywalking,” Norton says.

Soon, he adds, car lobby groups also started taking over school safety education, stressing that “streets are for cars and children need to stay out of them”. Anti-jaywalking laws were adopted in many cities in the late 1920s, and became the norm by the 1930s.”

https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-26073797

AND THIS!

Adam Ruins Everything (or fixes everything, depending on how you look at it) reveals the derogatory origins of jaywalking and explains how the auto industry made it illegal.

Watch!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-AFn7MiJz_s

“Riding a bike is a favorite early memory for many people. For children, getting their first bike brings their first taste of freedom and independence. It’s also fun and a great equalizer — something kids can enjoy whether they are rich, middle-class or poor; or live in a city, suburb or rural area.