Beijing Woman Dies Because Ambulance Stuck in Traffic 1
Beijing Traffic – Photo by Safia Osman Unlike in North America, when the siren from an ambulance is wailing, drivers in China do not move over to let the ambulance past. Ambulances literally sit in traffic with everybody else – with their sirens on and lights flashing. I had witnessed this countless times while living ...
Ignoring Careless, Dangerous Driving 6
Pedestrian Crossing Lights – Photo courtesy of Dave Delaney On Monday morning, nine pedestrians were hit by cars in Toronto in under an hour – between 6:41AM and 7:24AM, according to the Toronto Star. These incidents triggered an infuriating PR campaign by Constable Client Stibbe on Twitter where he tore the victims a new one ...
Russia’s 200KM, 3-day Traffic Jam
Photo from video provided by 3news.co.nz In Russia, a 200KM mega traffic jam has stranded drivers for several days. The backlog on this highway that runs between Moscow and St. Petersberg was intensified by heavy snow last week. From Time.com: “A 125-mile long queue of vehicles spanned the roadway, which connects Moscow and St. Petersburg. ...
China Building New Eco City 14
Photo courtesy of Business Insider Imagine a city of 80,000 people where the nearest park is only a two minute walk from every home in the city. A city where public transit is only a few steps away, bicycling is convenient and comfortable, and where urban sprawl is against the law. Where cars are allowed, ...
Cause of Road Congestion: Too Many Cars 15
Infographic from a large US auto insurance company I never cease to be amused by otherwise intelligent people coming up with lists of the causes of traffic congestion, but whom always seem to miss the most obvious cause of traffic congestion: too many bloody cars. In Beijing, by the end of 2010 there were almost ...
My 32 Minutes 17
The Greater Toronto CivicAction – a Toronto-based advocacy organization – has launched a campaign to bring attention to the issue of growing traffic congestion and lack of transit funding in the Greater Toronto area. The campaign is called the “32 Campaign” and asks what you would do with an extra 32 minutes each day. Instead ...
My Ideal World…
Photo courtesy of YouTube video by James Schwartz / The Urban Country In this short film, James Schwartz of The Urban Country discusses urban design, parenthood, car culture, bicycles and asks, “What is your ideal world?”. James D. Schwartz is a Transportation Pragmatist and the Editor of The Urban Country. You can contact James at ...
Mandatory Driving Helmets A “No-Brainer” 25
Driving helmet photo by Jeffrey Beall The Toronto Sun recently posted an entertaining editorial calling for mandatory bicycle helmets, labelling cyclists who oppose mandatory helmets “stupid, arrogant, self-entitled jerks”. We thought it would be appropriate to swap the word “bicyclist” for “driver” to make the case for mandatory driving helmets: OPINION EDITORIAL Driving helmet law ...
Stupid, Arrogant, Self-Entitled Jerk 24
Screenshot from an absurd Toronto Sun editorial The title of this post may aptly describe whomever was in charge of the editorial desk for the Toronto Sun newspaper on Tuesday evening. The Toronto Sun posted an “opinion editorial” entitled “Bike helmet law a no-brainer”, which appears to be more of a childish diatribe than anything ...
Preventable Deaths – Asking All The Wrong Questions 82
Photo by James Schwartz / The Urban Country (via Instagram) Yesterday morning a 30-year-old woman who was walking downtown was hit by a truck, pinned under the wheels and later died from her wounds. The woman’s death is eerily similar to the death of Jenna Morrison last November. Jenna was also run over by the ...