[OT, DSW] Appropriate transportation
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On Thu, Mar 27, 2003 at 05:05:39PM -0500, Hal Vaughan wrote:
> So you're saying autos are a Bad Thing (tm)?
No, I'm saying they're vastly overrated and overused. You don't need
to drive to the corner store, and odds are you can probably take
someone that lives near you in to work on your way (or vice versa) if
you're on first watch (and most people are).
> Hey, if you don't like autos, why do you participate in using them?
Who said I did? Both my personal vehicle and my patrol vehicle at
work are bicycles.[1] I will concede I occasionally rent or borrow a
car, but this is extremely rare and only in cases that I'm going
someplace farther than is reasonably accomplished with a bicycle, or
need to move something larger or heaver than can be carried on a
bicycle with a trailer given Portland's hills. Last time I drove a
car was last October on a trip to Tacoma for the weekend.
Read my first paragraph. I'm not against autos in all instances, I'm
just saying it has it's niche but far too many people ignore that
niche and use it as the end-all, be-all in transportation, to the
extreme detriment of the standard of living of those who live in
cities.
> If one is to take you at your word, then you take part in using
> autos even when you consider them bad (or you at least ride in
> them), and feel the world would be much better off if the automobile
> had never been invented. Are you really trying to make such a far
> reaching statement? Can you back it up?
Where did I say that? I said the world might have been a better place
if Ford made cars for people who could readily work on such hardware.
People would definately think a lot more about what the right tool for
the job is, and likely be less wreckless with those tools.
> I might add that I use a bicycle for a good deal of my
> transportation. I don't have trouble with cars getting in my way or
> running me down. If you feel so strongly about cars being a bad
> thing, what do you do to reduce their use? Do you avoid driving and
> use other transportation?
I only rarely have issues with cars getting in my way or nearly
running me down (and in all instances, they're either jabbering on the
phone instead of paying attention to thier driving, are Californian,
or both). I'm a somewhat visible presence in my neighborhood, since
someone living car-free in the suburbs is a rare sight. I vote in
favor of rapid transit measures and encourage people to use Portland's
public transportation system, which is fast, extremely extensive,
reliable, cheap to ride, 100% bicycle and handicapped accessible,
super-easy to use and tells you when a bus is running off schedule[2].
I suggest to tourists that they find a cheap place to park and take
the transit system as well[3]. Neighbors and friends somewhat
regularly ask me for advice on the best routes to commute by bike or
for recommendations on long lasting bike gear, or how to make use of
Portland's many ammenities for cyclists. I'm usually able to get them
pointed in the right direction, and it makes me happy to see them able
to use it to thier satisfaction as well.
So, oh holy one, what do you do to walk the walk of appropriate
transport?
> Yes, people get killed and maimed in auto accidents. Yes, there are careless
> drivers. But for your point to be valid, you would have to argue that we
> would be better off without them than we are with them (in which case how
> many lives would we lose because non-auto-accident victims never get medical
> attention in time because of distance -- among other things).
You falsely assume that I believe motor transport should be banished,
when in reality I see it has it's place. In reality, I believe it's a
bit misapplied by the general public and should play a smaller role in
society. It's safe to say that I'm not in favor of taking ambulatory,
police and fire services back into the 1800s.
> Oh, and as a note -- I've spent most of my life working with
> children, as well, in psych hospitals. If you want to talk about
> what dangers cars are to children, I'll go call your bluff and raise
> what I've seen hundreds of other elements of our culture do to fsck
> up kids and teens.
I'm not bluffing. I'll match what you have and call. I was in high
school when the whole geek profiling craze started, and while I
graduated, the school wouldn't let me walk with my class at the
ceremony. Heck, my best friend had to give me one of his tickets so I
could even attend. A disturbingly large number of my classmates were
misdiagnosed with ADD and drugged into submission at the school
district's request. I'm no stranger to what can damage a child.
[1] Personal rig is a 1999 Gary Fisher Wahoo that will have 7,000
miles on the odometer in a week or so. Work bike is a 1998 Trek 800
Police edition that mostly stays on campus and has about 11,000 miles
on the odometer (though I'm usually at a desk instead of riding
around, so most of those aren't my miles).
[2] http://www.trimet.org/
[3] Sometimes I run across the same tourists again. I've yet to have
one tell me that they had a hard time using the system or got lost,
and usually they've been happy to have saved some money, been able to
ask light-rail engineers and bus drivers for directions, and see more
of the city than they would have had they had to navigate entirely on
thier own.
- --
.''`. Baloo Ursidae <baloo@ursine.dyndns.org>
: :' : proud Debian admin and user
`. `'`
`- Debian - when you have better things to do than fix a system
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