Notices by Brent Toderian (brenttoderian@mastodon.online)

NEW: "Without our bikes, we would not have been able to buy much-needed food and water supplies and then quickly deliver them to cut-off villages within half-an-hour.”

Bicycles save lives: How bikes have been critical after Spain's Valencia floods.
https://www.cyclingweekly.com/news/bicycles-save-lives-how-bikes-have-been-critical-after-the-valencia-floods

I’m surprised that while my Bluesky account has grown by 8000 followers — DOUBLED to 16k+ — in just the last week since the election, my Mastodon count hasn’t changed at all.

Is Mastodon not seen as an alternative to Twitter?

Or is my account hard to find for those not following me?

Honestly curious.

"'You are the media now'...sounds empowering. Musk’s acolytes see it as the end of traditional-media gatekeeping. But what he’s really selling is the notion that people are on their own—that facts are malleable, and that what feels true ought to be true."
https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2024/11/you-are-the-media-now/680602/

Amsterdam’s plan to remove 11,200 parking spaces from its streets by the end of 2025 is even more inspiring when we realize the kind of people-places that are possible where cars used to be. Example — #Amsterdam’s Elandsgracht between 2014 & 2019, via @schlijper’s great pics.

THIS IS HUGE. Paris City Hall has announced that starting on Monday, Paris will limit (not ban) car traffic in the city centre, as cities like Ghent have done. They’re creating a limited traffic zone (ZTL) about 2 sq miles in size, to clean the air & create more space for people.

Valencia, Spain.

Tell us again how the actions that would allow us to avoid the #ClimateCrisis were “too expensive.”

None of the record-breaking, historic or “100 year” events we’ve been seeing a lot of lately are the “new normal.” Because it’s actually going to keep getting exponentially worse.

WATCH: Seriously, if you’re following ANY bike-lane debate, you HAVE TO WATCH this news story. You actually can’t make this up. Ford claims without evidence that bike-lanes are bad for small business, and THE ACTUAL BUSINESS ASSOCIATION obliterates him with data.
https://toronto.citynews.ca/video/2024/10/24/annex-businesses-tell-ford-to-back-off-bloor-bike-lanes/

One of the most successful pedestrian streets in the world, the Strøget in Copenhagen was filled with cars until a 2 year 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.

“Even if autonomous vehicles eventually work perfectly — an enormous ‘if’ — they are likely to increase total emissions and crash deaths, simply because people will use them so much.” Good explanation of #JevonsParadox by ⁦@davidzipper⁩ in @verge.
https://www.theverge.com/2024/9/2/24232386/self-driving-car-jevons-paradox-robotaxi-waymo-cruise

STUDY: Researchers estimated that 730K people a year in the US lose their ability to live independently due to traffic pollution. This was approximately 15% of the total # who lost their independence, at an annual cost of $11.7bn (£9bn).
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/jul/12/lower-air-pollution-may-help-preserve-older-peoples-independence-study

“One mile on a bike is a $.42 economic gain to society, one mile driving is a $.20 loss.”

“Which means that Copenhagen, a city of 1.2 million people, saves $357 million a year on health costs because something like 80% of its population commutes by bicycle, even in winter.”
https://grist.org/biking/one-mile-on-a-bike-is-a-42-economic-gain-to-society-one-mile-driving-is-a-20-loss/

A new NASA map shows temperatures of up to 160 degrees on Phoenix streets and sidewalks. All that unrelenting concrete and asphalt for cars. Not nearly enough trees. They start with ridiculous heat that’s only getting worse, and then make it much worse with bad design.
https://www.kjzz.org/news/2024-07-05/nasa-map-shows-temperatures-up-to-160-degrees-on-phoenix-streets-sidewalks

BIG NEWS: Montreal has become the largest North American city to eliminate mandatory parking space minimums for residential & commercial projects. The city’s new 2050 Urban Planning and Mobility Plan revealed the move, which apparently is in effect now.
https://cultmtl.com/2024/06/montreal-becomes-largest-north-american-city-to-eliminate-mandatory-minimum-parking-spots/

“Nearly 2,000 children under five are dying every day from air pollution, which has overtaken poor sanitation and a lack of clean water to become the second biggest health risk factor for young children around the world.

More than 8 million deaths, of children and adults, were caused by air pollution in 2021.”
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/jun/18/almost-2000-children-die-every-day-from-air-pollution-report-finds

“Currently about 2/3rds of all Dutch children walk or bike to school, with 75% of secondary school kids cycling to school. By enabling safe and active travel, #Dutch cities prevent an estimated one million car journeys to school each morning.” — @modacitylife in #CurbingTraffic

A 5 yr Belgian study showed the BIG impact of increasing vehicle weight on road deaths & injuries. When a person on a bike or walking is hit by a pick-up, the risk of serious injury increases by 90% compared to a car. The risk of death goes up by 200%.
https://www.vias.be/fr/newsroom/des-voitures-plus-lourdes-plus-hautes-et-plus-puissantes-pour-une-securite-routiere-a-deux-vitesses-/

READ: Barcelona has a plan to create a city-wide network of quieter streets that are easier and safer to travel on foot or by bike. Instead of bumper-to-bumper cars, streets will be lined with trees, play parks, bike-lanes, benches and green people places.
https://www.politico.eu/article/barcelona-green-spaces-mental-health-superblocks-eixos-verds/

Just a reminder that while some cities are still debating whether to transforming a few blocks of 1 or 2 streets into places for people, this year Montreal is transforming 11 such streets across 7 neighbourhoods, equalling 9+kms, from car spaces to people places.
https://www.mtl.org/en/experience/stepping-montreal-pedestrian-only-streets

This Vienna street isn’t “closed” because cars have been removed. It has successfully been “opened” to everything else, to a diverse and invigorated civic life, because cars have been replaced by a multitude of wonderful things.

Language matters.

HT @dmoser for pic
#urbanism #OpenStreets #Vienna

“They cut speed limits, changed street design, removed space for cars…Now it appears that work is paying off. #Oslo and #Helsinki are reaping the rewards of committed action on making their roads safer, reducing pedestrian fatalities to zero last year.”
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/16/how-helsinki-and-oslo-cut-pedestrian-deaths-to-zero