Vintage Photo: Please Mr. Motorist… 1
Photo courtesy of Carlton Reid via Flickr, and spotted on Facebook via Hypothyroid Mom via @ausyeda What a lovely way to provide drivers a friendly reminder to be cautious around bicyclists. James D. Schwartz is the Editor of The Urban Country and is based in Toronto, Canada. You can contact James at james.schwartz@theurbancountry.com or ...
Volvo Technology For Inattentive Drivers 1
Photo screenshot from Volvo YouTube video Volvo has recently announced new sensor technology that automatically applies the brakes if a cyclist obstructs the path of the car. From the YouTube video: All of Volvo’s new cars sold from May will include the sensors, which initially warn drivers with a row of red lights that flash ...
Toronto Police: To “Serve and Protect” Whom Exactly? 11
Toronto Police Service car photo courtesy of Stewart Rand The Toronto Police Service, with its long history of blaming the victims when it comes to traffic fatalities, has kicked off its latest blame the victim campaign, which it is calling “Do the bright thing”. The campaign urges pedestrians to wear fluorescent clothing so that distracted ...
Yahoo! Inc Forces Employees To Commute To Office Every Day 7
Office worker in cubicle – Photo courtesy of redteam As if to hasten its long demise, Yahoo! Inc has initiated a policy to force all of its employees to commute to the office each day. There is some irony in this policy; perhaps Yahoo! is reminiscing on its former glory days and decided to initiate ...
In Memory of Mary Thompson & Peter Root 6
Peter Root and Mary Thompson in an undated photo (Photo courtesy of Jerry Root) Last week we covered the sad story about British Bicycle Bloggers Mary Thompson and Peter Root, who were tragically killed in Thailand after bicycling around the world since July 2011. I didn’t personally know Mary or Peter, but their untimely deaths ...
British Bicycle Bloggers On World Journey Killed in Thailand 24
Two On Four Wheels blog photos from world journey – Courtesy of Two On Four Wheels In a tragic end to their fascinating bicycle odyssey around the world, Peter Root and Mary Thompson from the “Two On Four Wheels” bicycle blog were killed in Thailand Wednesday after being struck by a pickup truck. Root and ...
19-Car Pileup Caught on Camera 3
19-car pileup in China – photo snapshot from YouTube video A 19-car-pileup that happened on February 7th was caught on camera in Wuxi, Jiangsu, China. Scroll to 1:00 to see the cars begin sliding in to each other. Several drivers from the pileup get out of their car and risk their lives to apparently try ...
China Traffic Light Art Installation Confuses Tourists, Journalists 1
Photo of Chongqing’s traffic signal art installation courtesy of Shanghaiist In Chongqing China, the world’s “most confusing traffic lights” have been baffling tourists and journalists alike. The UK’s Daily Mail reported in May 2012: Motorists in China have been left bemused by this traffic signalling system, where officials installed over 20 sets of lights on ...
Photos: China’s History of Bicycles 4
Beijing’s Changan Street in 1986 – Photo courtesy of Beijing Shots During the 1960’s and 1970’s, the bicycle was the most popular product in China. Bicycles were often given as wedding gifts, and in 1986, US President George HW Bush received two bicycles as a gift from Beijing. The country was known as “bicycle kingdom” ...
Shanghai License Plate Costs Same As Brand New Fully-Loaded Sedan 2
Shanghai traffic congestion – Photo courtesy of Bert van Dijk In Canada, as in the United States, registering a license plate for a new car takes mere minutes, and assuming you have a valid driver’s license and insurance, anyone can do it for a nominal fee of about $100. In China, registering a license plate ...