Notices by Brent Toderian (brenttoderian@mastodon.online)

“We need an Ozempic for cars. They are growing at a phenomenal rate, wreaking havoc on roads, squeezing out smaller vehicles and endangering pedestrians.

Like ever-hungry teenagers, cars in Europe are growing on average a centimetre wider every year.”

Don’t repeat North America’s mistake, Europe.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/jul/12/britain-car-suv-big-large-vehicle-road-pedestrians

This iconic Fabian Todorovic cartoon is still one of the best I’ve seen at illustrating the remarkable amount of space we surrender to cars, leaving little space left for everyone and everything else. The text added later makes the bonus point that many drivers still manage to complain about it.

“Air pollution fell substantially as Paris restricted car traffic and made way for parks, people-streets and bike-lanes.”

Better for the climate, better for health, better for livability and quality of life.

Common sense.

Such a no-brainer, it’s remarkable that more cities HAVEN’T done the same.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-solutions/2025/04/12/air-pollution-paris-health-cars/

“If you care about the bottom line, budgets & taxes, then you should care about urban biking, because it’s a money saver. It’s ironic when so-called fiscal conservatives attack biking, when their efforts just show a lack of understanding of math.” — My interview with @modacitylife.
https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/biking-saves-money

If you’re in your car in traffic and you see people moving smoothly on bikes in a protected bike-lane, or a full bus zooming past you in a bus-only lane, sure you could be mad at them for moving faster than you, or you could be someone who understands geometry and knows that providing mobility choices that take less space makes getting around cities better for EVERYONE.

Don’t buy a cow, or a car, and expect your city to give you someplace to park it. #UrbanTruth

Via the Urban Truth Collective. https://www.urbantruthcollective.com/

“Conspiracy theories about globalist cabals, climate hoaxes and election fraud may seem ubiquitous on social media. But a report has found that they come from a tiny minority of users…just 100 users were responsible for almost 70% of online conspiracy posts…” #UrbanTruth
https://www.nationalobserver.com/2026/02/25/news/conspiracy-content-report-canada

“Helsinki hasn’t registered a single traffic-related fatality in the past year…Citing data that shows the risk of pedestrian fatality is cut in half by reducing a car’s speed from 40 to 30km/hr, city officials imposed the lower limit in most of Helsinki’s residential areas and city center in 2021.”
https://www.politico.eu/article/helsinki-no-traffic-death-roads-eu-accident-finland-driving-transport/

Never forget, if you design a city for cars, it fails for everyone, including drivers.

If you design a multi-modal city that makes walking, biking & public transit attractive options, it works better for everyone, including drivers.

INCLUDING DRIVERS.

The “war on cars” has always been a lie.

ICYMI: "Paris started with periodic, strategic closures of key streets, then day-long closures of the entire city center, always in the context of the conversation about air quality, livability & noise…It's a very smart way of doing it." — @BrentToderian in BlogTO. #Paris
https://www.blogto.com/city/2024/12/new-solution-toronto-traffic-limit-cars-streets/

This breaks some people’s brains.

In most cities, Costco stores fuel sprawl & car dependency.

In Vancouver, our full-sized downtown Costco has residential towers above & a skytrain station next door. LOTS of customers don’t drive to it.

We live a block from it. We call it “the convenience store.”

It's a goal of mine to help make this the most famous, well-known and UNDERSTOOD quote about cities in history. Please share it as much as you can.

NEW: “Toderian says it’s easy to be distracted by futuristic innovations like electric cars, drone delivery networks & hyperloops. ‘The real solutions are a lot less sexy and a lot more common sense… Tech won’t save us if we get the fundamentals wrong.”

I was 1 of 3 urban experts asked to weigh in.
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/article-a-world-without-traffic-three-urban-experts-rethink-how-cities-move/

This is an INSANE decision by the E.U.

“By signing up to mutual recognition of vehicle standards with the U.S., the E.U. has waved the white flag on road safety. This is not a technical detail – it is a political choice that puts trade convenience ahead of saving lives.”

This will kill people.
https://etsc.eu/etsc-mutual-recognition-deal-with-u-s-will-cost-lives-on-europes-roads/

You can be a “car guy” and not like car dependency. You can be a “car guy” and get that too many cars in cities is bad for everyone, including drivers. You can be a “car guy” and be tired of lies & manipulations like “the war on cars.” You can be a “car guy” and know more choice means more freedom.

“The rise in high-fronted SUVs poses a clear and growing threat to public safety, especially for children,” states the report. “With no benefit to society, it’s time for lawmakers at all levels to act.” Via @carltonreid.com in @forbes.com.

Cap SUV/truck hood heights. And ban unsafe designs.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/carltonreid/2025/06/11/eu-must-cap-suv-hood-heights-urges-report-crash-test-body-says-not-as-simple-as-that/

One of the most successful pedestrian streets in the world, the Strøget in Copenhagen, was filled with cars until a 2 year pedestrianization pilot project in 1962. The opposition argued “no cars means no business,” but the street has been a massive retail success, the city’s busiest shopping street.

WATCH & SHARE: A prominent youtuber is giddy (but also very convincing & thorough in covering the joys, advantages, issues and challenges) about how trying biking for transportation in London has changed his life.

Easy to watch & more convincing probably than 99% of public campaigns.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Dmf6aEx09Oo&feature=

NEW: 1km of Montreal’s Ste-Catherine Street will become permanently “pedestrian only” (less than perfect term since it will be a people-place for a LOT more than walking). 225+ new trees, vegetation-covered pits for rain drainage, more seating, illuminated canopy, financial help for businesses, etc. https://bsky.app/profile/brenttoderian.bsky.social/post/3lx3l6uzmgs2v
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/ste-catherine-east-pedestrian-street-1.7615675

“Helsinki has not recorded a single traffic fatality in the past 12 months, city and police officials confirmed this week.”

City engineer credits lower speed limits and smart design.

I agree. #Helsinki #VisionZero
https://yle.fi/a/74-20174831