@Semi_Hemi_Demigod @jj4211 And US insurance companies will consider it not your fault if you wreck your car by hitting one of the deer, as if it's not possible to slow down and take precautions when and where deer are likely to be present.

@Jarix @Shellofbiomatter The overwhelming majority of trips aren't aimless wandering in search of freedom, they're utilitarian trips to the grocery store, library, a friend's house, your kids' school, etc. The percentage of people in sprawly countries who truly live too far away from daily necessities to get there by bicycle if the roads were designed for safety and comfort is far too small to justify adopting standards that force even cities to make their streets bike-unfriendly.

@grue @Armok_the_bunny But with that said, as gas taxes do pay for some of road maintenance and expansion and the politicians in power (from both parties but especially Republicans) will never get over their addiction to reckless highway expansion, any temporary or permanent cuts to gas tax will be accompanied by efforts to end federal funding for transit as well as any facilities at all for people to walk and bike safely on roads.

@daychilde @NomNom What about all the places that have density and public transit but hamstring themselves with parking mandates based on suburban trip generation assumptions? The more you mandate parking, the harder you make it to get around or do business. We have walkable urban neighborhoods that are food deserts and people want to open corner stores in old vacant buildings but are blocked because they don't have space for off-street parking.

@JoshuaFalken @NomNom How do they post that picture but include nothing in the story about whether such a vehicle was legal to operate on a public street, never mind the ethics of exposing the public to something like that for one's own personal vanity?

@andrewrgross @HiddenLayer555 Also that urban planners don't actually plan cities in the US, traffic engineers do. Planners only decide what to do with the land that's left after people who know nothing about cities have made plans for everyone to speed around in a private car and how much of that space has to be mandatorily devoted to parking the cars.

@Fabrik872 @Sine_Fine_Belli Though we're not the majority, there are plenty of USians who don't live in sprawl hell and there's probably some correlation between going to public downtown events and living and/or working near downtown. Suburbanites who commute to a downtown office are likely to be somewhat more familiar with transit options than their neighbors who never leave suburbia.

@vsg @technocrit This has all gotten much worse over the last few decades as state governments have systematically defunded public higher education and tried to "run it like a business" instead of an essential public service at the same time as degrees were becoming more essential to earning a living wage.

@vsg @technocrit Most don't have enough for all their students and they're expensive to live in if they are available. A lot of larger schools are surrounded by outrageously expensive private for-profit student housing complexes built on the ability to overcharge teenagers living off student loans for crappy accommodations without them understanding how badly they're being ripped off. Meanwhile homeowners near universities lobby to ban affordable rentals to protect their property values.

@CompactFlax @lechekaflan Much of what I hear from New Yorkers lately is complaints that Transportation Alternatives has become too centrist during his time there.

@brbposting @Taldan Reading a paper map and looking up directions before you drive and then remembering them are critical skills that should be on driving tests.

@vanes What a tragic irony considering her work to try to fix our murderous transportation system.