Welcome to the War on Cars Watch, a weekly blog to bring together all the stories that affect motorists with regards to street planning such as road diets, and traffic calming as well as programs such as Vision Zero and Complete Streets.
Please read this blog and let us know what you think by commenting below! Check out the NMA’s War on Cars Watch Facebook Page where we feature a story a day!
https://www.facebook.com/NMAWaronCarsWatch/
Regular comments after articles comes from NMA Communications Director Shelia Dunn and the italicized comments throughout the Watch comes from NMA Member Michael Jabbra (marked with an MJ).
Here are the national stories from March 14-20, 2019
- Streets for All Coalition unveiled to advocate for safe, clean mobility (Vision Zero Watch) – the coalition was announced at last week’s SXSW.
- New Report Uncovers a Shift from Car Culture to Mobility Culture – Wishful thinking perhaps?
- Why Bicycling Has Flatlined – the writer says it is due to not enough inclusion.
- Inside 100 million police traffic stops: New evidence of racial bias –a second study in a year, but do we need new studies—perhaps we need real solutions with real actions in communities across the country.
- Editorial: Abolish Parking Minimums (War on Cars Watch) –Yep…pretty soon they will get us out of our cars because we can’t park them.
- Why Lyft Would Prefer You Take a Scooter –much cheaper and easier to manage than ridesharing cars with and without drivers.
- Editorial: New York has a bold plan to ease traffic. Other cities should follow its lead. —this is from the Washington Post supporting congestion pricing.
International
- New safety rules enable connected and automated mobility on EU roads (Vision Zero Watch) – what happens in Europe could possibly happen across the pond someday…
- Edmonton, Canada Editorial: I want more than speed traps; new cultural approach needed for residential speeding –interesting take on the speeding issue
- Montreal to reduce speed limits to improve pedestrian and cyclist’s safety (Vision Zero Watch)
- Saudi women’s driving-rights activists stand trial – this just makes us angry and sad!
California
- California DMV Warns of ‘Summer Surge’ as People Seek REAL IDs
- Bill (AB516) proposed in California State Assembly would eliminate tow-practices that harm low-income people
- More Protected Bike Lanes Coming Soon to Los Angeles County (Vision Zero Watch)
- On-Street Drop Zones for Dockless Vehicles Established in Downtown Los Angeles
- Berkeley, CA: Community looks for answers amid increased concerns about traffic safety (Vision Zero Watch)
- Los Angeles: Mid City West Community Council asks for study of Fairfax Asterisk
- Los Angeles wants to track your scooter trips. Is it a dangerous precedent?
- Mill Valley, CA to keep one-lane stretch on Miller Avenue despite fire concerns (War on Cars Watch)
- San Francisco: So Far, 2019 Vision Zero Deaths Outpace 2018 (Vision Zero Watch)
- Safety Advocates Rip San Francisco’s Vision Zero Strategy (Vision Zero Watch)
- San Francisco: Parking along Howard Street removed where cyclist died
- San Francisco: Protected bike lane in SoMa completed in record time
- San Francisco wants to add tax to Uber and Lyft rides
Colorado
Delaware
District of Columbia
- Five Takeaways From Washington Vision Zero Traffic Safety Summit (Vision Zero Watch)
- New bus lanes coming this summer to downtown DC traffic
Florida
Georgia
Illinois
- Chicago: Next mayor should pick mobility chief to handle issues like electric scooters, self-driving cars: report
- New Chicago Task Force Report Has Guidelines for Shared Mobility and AV Policy
Louisiana
- Louisiana Editorial: Small-town speed traps aren’t solutions to town’s problems —The New Orleans based newspaper got this right!
Massachusetts
- Disjointed Traffic Signals Frustrate Boston Drivers
- Massachusetts Right to Repair Coalition Takes on Vehicle Data in New Bill
Nevada
New York
- NY Senate, Assembly take shots at Governor Cuomo’s congestion pricing plan for NYC
- NYC DOT Commissioner: Bike Lane Delays are not About the Money but about the buy-in from the community (War on Cars Watch)
- New York City Neighborhood Group Calls for Amsterdaming Most of Lower Manhattan (War on Cars Watch)
- Flushing Queens, NY: CB 7 members raise concerns of new city’s bicycle lane network announced by DOT officials
- Why the NYPD Will Stop Responding to Minor Accidents on Staten Island
Oregon
Pennsylvania
South Carolina
Texas
Virginia
- Virginia: I-66 toll lane bike path structure comes into focus
- Data Show Disproportionate Contacts between Richmond, Virginia Police and African-Americans
Commentary from NMA Foundation Executive Director James C. Walker
The “Mobility” movement completely ignores the fact that a large majority of commuters in most cities value the shortest door-to-door travel time inside a quiet vehicle with minimal exposure to hot, cold, rainy, windy, or snowy weather. A 20-something single may be happy riding a scooter to work in the rain – the same will not be true for most older adult middle class workers.
The proposal for 30 kph (19 mph) residential speed limits in Edmonton waxing lyrical about how kids used to play in the streets is nonsense. Letting kids play in active traffic lanes should get the parents charged with reckless endangerment.
40 kph (25 mph) on main Montreal roads with any level of enforcement that Montreal will be willing to afford will change essentially nothing – except to facilitate periodic for-profit speed traps, a classic cash grab that residents will hate.
A single lane main road in Mill Valley could always produce the result that the one in Paradise, CA did during their terrible fire – the deadly inability to evacuate an emergency.
Vision Zero is simply not achievable without a 100% separation between cars versus cyclists & pedestrians, plus a likely need to restrict all vehicle speeds to about 20 mph. These changes might have a slightly negative effect on commerce, but the zealots will keep pushing.
Small town speed traps would cease to exist if limits at or near the safest 85th percentile levels were required.
With work zone and some street speed cameras now allowed in Pennsylvania, perhaps we need a member alert to advertise the new ways the state is after your wallet.
Michigan finally ended their 15 year Driver Responsibility shake down in 2018 that put hundreds of thousands of lower income people in what amounts to Debtors Prisons unable to drive. But debtor prisons are a despicable practice that civilized societies ended over a century ago. Texas needs to end the shake down, immediately forgive all outstanding debts, and restore driver’s licenses to the shake down victims with no extra fees.
Join NMA https://www.motorists.org/join-nma/
Since its founding more than 30 years ago as the Citizens Coalition for Rational Traffic Laws, the National Motorists Association has been the voice of thousands of motorists who stand up for key principles of drivers’ rights.
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