Readers, get thy camcorders. U.S. PIRG, the federation of state Public Interest Research Groups (PIRGs), is accepting entries for a video contest that would help convince bureacrats to implement better, faster, more efficient public transit and reduce road traffic. In the last decade, PIRG reports, the hours people spend stuck in traffic have skyrocketed from 18 hours per year to 38 hours.
The contest isn't seeking the next Kazan or Kubric, nor does it require a flair for cinematography. The criteria for winners is simple: show viewers "why we need more and better public transportation," and "your vision of a 21st century transportation system." The winning videos "will be a critical part of an effort to educate city councils, legislatures across the country, and lawmakers in Washington, D.C."
Beyond doing your part to better public transit and the planet, PIRG will award winners cash prizes: a $500 prize for the winner, $150-$250 for runners up, and honorable mentions will receive a one-year membership to U.S. PIRG. Entries are due by July 4, 2008. See the PIRG website for full contest rules, entry criteria, scope out your competition, and submit your video.
Beginning today, the fair city of Albuquerque, N.M. is holding a "Strive Not To Drive" week, during which residents are encouraged to relinquish their cars for more efficient, eco-friendly forms of transportation. The city is also urging habitual drivers to try alternative forms of transport, and is spotlighting a different form of car-free travel each day of the week.
The city rebuffs committed drivers with these stats from the American Public Transportation Association website:
Public transportation reduces pollution and promotes cleaner air. It produces 95% less carbon monoxide (CO), 90 percent less in volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and about half as much carbon dioxide (CO2) and nitrogen oxide (NOx), per passenger mile, as private vehicles. -Each year, public transportation households save over $1,399 worth of gas and transit availability can reduce the need for an additional car, a yearly expense of $6,251 in a household budget. -The average American household spends 18 cents for every dollar earned on transportation, and cars are the largest source of household debt after mortgages.
I'm glad to see Albuquerque, a city of sprawl, encouraging alternative modes of transport, but the city itself (and others like it) needs to change before people change their car-loving ways. In Albuquerque, where transit is slow, unreliable, and inefficient; where cars rule the roads and run cyclists to the wayside the frightened rabbits; where getting to your destination often requires taking the highway or a busy road with no sidewalks or bike lane, people aren't eager to leap out of their cars. Cities have to change as much as we do; they must be as willing to ditch cars as the people who drive them. Without improvements to public transit and more ped-friendly advancements (i.e. bike lanes, public sidewalks, traffic enforcement), events like Strive Not to Drive seem little more than an empty, impractical gesture to prettify the city in the eyes of politicians.
Well, today's definitely been bike-themed at Carectomy. Must be related to National Bike Month and the upcoming Bike to Work Day (with free breakfast in my community!) that's gotten me so excited.
Below is a good counter-balance to the video we just posted of fed-up punk-asses showing cars who's the boss in the most unlikely of venues – the freeways of Los Angeles.
CyclistView has a whole series of videos in which they demonstrate the safest ways to ride. In several of the videos they have two cyclists with helmet-mounted cameras, filming one another, with both views playing concurrently.
Lane Control, from CyclistView:
The differences between this safe and sober approach to riding and the freeway escapade is comical – highlighted by the selections of music accompanying each. Both take place in Los Angeles and both prove valid points. Bicycles are not only a healthier and less-polluting alternative to cars – in many instances they're more time efficient as well.
Do you ever get frustrated with all of the yahoos sitting in stop-n'-go freeway traffic, jabbering away on their cellphones in “air conditioned comfort.” There's got to be a better, less polluting way.
Well, check out Crimanimal's video below of some cyclists who said, laws be damned, we're taking back the streets. And by streets, I mean L.A. Freeways! How can the stopped motorists help but feel like a bunch of jackasses as these cyclists casually whiz past them on the interstate?
Spring is always the best time to get back on the bike. Winter weather has, mostly, subsided in favor of warmer temps and blossoming flowers. People are exchanging their bulky cold weather gear for lighter weight, cute skimpy numbers – which dramatically improves the people-watching quotient. And besides, the League of American Bicyclists has made it official; May is Bike Month.
National Bike-to-Work Week is fast approaching – May 12th to 16th. The time is now to lube your chain, check the tires, and get a little saddle time. The week culminates with Bike-to-Work Day on May 16th and almost every state in the union is supporting the endeavor.
Mass transit ridership has increased steadily in the Untied States for the past 10 years – a fact depicted in this graphic appearing in today's New York Times. But the rate of increase has spiked in the early months of 2008, commensurate with the rise in gas prices.
We ran an article in January asking the question, $4 per Gallon Gas a Good Thing? It remained to be seen whether the increased costs of fuel would be enough to change peoples' transportation habits. After all, $4 is still among the cheapest petrol in the world.
Mass transit systems around the country are seeing standing-room-only crowds on bus lines where seats were once easy to come by. Parking lots at many bus and light rail stations are suddenly overflowing, with commuters in some towns risking a ticket or tow by parking on nearby grassy areas and in vacant lots.
“In almost every transit system I talk to, we’re seeing very high rates of growth the last few months,” said William W. Millar, president of the American Public Transportation Association.
“It’s very clear that a significant portion of the increase in transit use is directly caused by people who are looking for alternatives to paying $3.50 a gallon for gas.”
Late last month, a Madison, Wisonsin cyclist was assaulted by a driver with a strange, unseasonal, weapon: an ice scraper. Three young men, one freshly sprung from prison, unleashed their fury on the cyclist in an unprovoked show of violence. As they passed the cyclist in their SUV, one of the men, Kevin J. Diaz, 19, struck the biker on the back of the head with a 32-inch ice scraper. The victim reports seeing stars. But that wasn't enough to satisfy the assailants.
When the cyclist recovered from the blow and decided to pedal home, the young men wouldn't relent. They followed the victim to his home, hurling profanity, pulled out a wooden bat, and challenged the cyclist to a showdown.
The victim said he thought the men were heading for Buckeye Road, but when he got back home he heard a loud squealing of tires and saw the vehicle was approaching with Diaz holding a car door open. All three got out, and this time Simniok was carrying a wood bat while Diaz still had the ice scraper. Lutz, meanwhile, had his hand under his shirt near his waistband as if he had a gun, the complaint says, and threatened the victim, saying, "I'll (expletive) cap your ass." The three left after the victim said he was calling the police, but not until they warned him they knew where he lived and would come back. The victim told police he did not know the trio. But because the victim had a good description of the vehicle and the license plate number, police were able to locate the vehicle at Simniok's home on Ellen Avenue and arrested the three. Diaz faces charges of disorderly conduct while armed, battery and two counts of bail jumping.
"I just got out of jail. I'm trying to have fun and whoop some ass,"
Diaz told the police.
Cars are the most inconvenient convenience we have. We're required to have them, but increasingly, we dislike them. At Carectomy, we're trying to figure out how to extract cars from people.
The operation is a little bit painful, but life afterward is much more awesome. If you're interested in carectomies, sign up to our newsletter, or subscribe our RSS feed below.
