Ken-
Thank you for this fine, information-packed post regarding CM, the media, and
car culture!
While several paragraphs and points of your post bear further consideration,
I am most struck (if I may use that term) by the last paragraph or so.
A lobbyist opines to you that cars are "the engine of our economy" as though
that explains all, and justifies all. As if it is "all good." To which you
respond with thoughtful and rational evaluation: the use of cars must be
limited carefully if only for safety reasons, especially in urban transit.
I agree that cars are inherently unsafe in urban neighborhoods: they are too
fast, heavy, and over-insulate car occupants from the human environment they
travel so violently through.
Additionally, cars do violence to the environment, fumigating the air we
breathe with toxins, dripping even more toxins into our lakes and streams,
and contributing to global warming. When we drive cars we pay dearly to
poison ourselves and our loved ones, and then we all pay dearly in increased
health care costs to make us well again. (Some economic engine, eh?)
The World Health Organization reports that sedentary lifestyle is the biggest
single health problem on the planet. Urban transportation infrastructure -
brought to us by car-culture - has created another barrier to good health: a
nearly impenetrable "sedentary travel" urban transportation environment.
People who want to travel in eco-friendly and health-friendly ways have to
fight for every inch of space in the urban travel environment -- and even
then are left fending off the violence of car culture in its many forms.
Imagine: if cars were not the "economic engine" of our culture, would we all
be bereft, unable to come up with any other "engines" to "drive" our economy?
I believe that given even a little space in the urban infrastructure, more
humane, human-powered transportation options would flourish. We can
transform the health of our city, our citizens, and our economy with a kind
of transportation revolution that is long overdue.
If list members can give themselves time to mull this over in a positive way,
we might have the seeds of real, cooperative change planted. Given time and
energy, folks of every political stripe might be willing to work with -- not
against -- folks of every other political sort. One might work for the sake
of her grandchild, while another works with the health of a baby in the womb
in mind. Another might work to become a healthier father to healthier
children. We need to give these kinds of thoughts time and attention on this
list.
We can transform our city. We can reduce pollution, increase public safety,
reduce health care costs, increase neighborhood livability, and be more
energy-independant -- simply by including the healthiest, most
energy-efficient transportation known to our species: human-powered
transportation. We need to make this the foundational and most common mode of
transportation for the 65% or more urban trips under two miles. We need to
accommodate human power for longer commute and work runs as well.
This simple and inexpensive approach is ignored (so far) in the media because
our imaginations are bound by the current car-culture paradigm.
For those still car-bound, I recommend one simple read: "Divorce Your Car" is
a short and very informative read. List-members who are concerned with urban
transportation issues, I urge you to run (or walk, or bike) to your
neighborhood bookseller (if you have one, otherwise ?) and get the book and
read it. We need to unbind our imaginations in order to envision a truly
different world. Reading a book like "Divorce Your Car" will open up a few
dusty chambers of the mind, will let some bad air out, and let some good
light and air in. And it might be suprizingly fun!
Think about it: we might come up with many new engines to drive a much
stronger, more diverse economy. We do need to be able to let go of the old
and take the risks involved with developing the new. If members of this list
are open to it, we could give Minneapolis one of the best gifts of the new
millennium: human-scale urban transportation.
-Gary Hoover
kingfield
[EMAIL PROTECTED] had opined:
Some people have asked me why they didn't hear about the police
action against the Critical Mass last Friday. I tell them it fits a
pattern of corporate media bias towards their major advertisers, the
auto industry.
Today's news is a good example.
Our local media is reporting that there were 237 car "accidents" in the
Twin Cities Metro Area yesterday (I apologize to the list that there was
no Minneapolis statistics available) at least two people were reported
killed, at least 45 people were reported injured. The weather is blamed
by the corporate owned local media for these crashes. The State
Department of Public Safety no longer uses the word "accident" to
describe crashes, but the corporate media which derives a large portion
of their income from automobile ads continues to minimize the carnage
and waste created by our auto dependent transportation system. Does
anyone doubt who would be blamed if bicyclists, trains or buses had as
many crashes and injured and killed as many people?
Some more examples:
A few weeks ago my youngest daughter saw a kid hit by a car in South
Minneapolis being loaded unconscious into an ambulance...I saw no
mention of the incident on T.V. or in the paper. Car crashes are the
leading cause of death, in America for children and young adults, but if
you only read the newspaper and watched the TV, you'd think it was
serial killers or drugs.
If you read the corporate media you get the impression that the only
cost of an automobile-based transportation system to society is the gas
tax...but there are other costs...and not always in dollars....this is
the real story from the Dept. of Public Safety:
"Minnesota Motor Vehicle Crash Facts, 2000 page 4 Department of Public
Safety, Office of Traffic
Safety
"Overview of 2000 traffic crashes
For almost two decades, the total number of reported
traffic crashes in Minnesota has been approximately
100,000 per year. In the absence of some dramatic
societal change, this total will not change abruptly. In
2000, there were 103,591 traffic crashes reported to the
state. There is a cost associated with such a large
number. Of the reported crashes in 2000, 557 were
fatal crashes in which 625 people died. Also, there
were 30,830 injury crashes where no one died but one
or more people sustained injuries. In all, 44,740
people were injured. Finally, there were 72,204
“property damage only crashes” (PDO) in which there
was at least $1,000 in property damage but no one
was killed or injured. There was a 9% increase in
these PDO crashes from the previous year. The
severe winter weather late in the year helps to explain
this increase. In all, based upon National Safety
Council cost estimates, the total economic loss to
Minnesota from traffic crashes was 1.68 billion
dollars."
The corporate media also would like you to think that "Drunk Drivers"
are the major cause of car crashes. This is also not true.
"WHY the crashes occurred
Inattention/distraction, failing to yield, and speed
The three contributing factors that investigating
officers check off most frequently, considering all
crashes together, are driver inattention or distraction
(about 23% of all factors cited), failing to yield right-of-
way (about 14%), and illegal or unsafe speed
(about 12%). The likelihood that a particular factor
was involved varies however with the age of the
driver, the severity of the crash, and whether the
crash was a single-vehicle or multiple-vehicle crash.
In single-vehicle crashes, speed is cited more often
than any other factor, except among drivers over age
65, for whom inattention/distraction is cited most"
I could give lots more evidence of auto-favoritism by the corporate
media, but I don't want to clog up your inboxes. I encourage everyone to
read the crash statistics on the MN Dept. of Public Safety website;
http://www.dps.state.mn.us/trafsafe/trafsafe.html
Recently, a lobbyist told me that the automobile was "the engine of our
economy", responsible for the billions of dollars spent on roads,
bridges and parking ramps etc. Certainly, automobiles are useful (and
profitable), but when we minimize the dangerous nature of cars and
refuse to limit their use in populated areas and provide safer
alternatives, we are no different than ancient civilizations that
sacrificed humans to appease gods who were the engines of their
economies.
Ken Avidor
Kingfield
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