So don’t take this the wrong way, but I do like cars. I am also against car dependency. I just wanted to make this post here to start a discussion about the benefits of lower speed limits in cities and towns, investment in effective public transit and non car-centric infrastructure, and other “anti-car” policies for car people. My goal with this post is to list the benefits of these policies for car people as I see it, and to hear other opinions on this topic.

  1. Stroads suck. I am a car person and would rather bike on a well-designed street than drive on a stroad.
  2. Congestion - I like to drive. Most people I know would rather not and would take other forms of transit if there were viable alternatives. If people who just want to go from a to b had viable alternatives, roads would be free for the people who want or need to be in cars.
  3. Safety - I don’t want to kill pedestrians. I don’t want to wreck my car. I’m fine with driving fast on a country road where I can see for miles and know that there is nothing in front of me to hit. If I do crash, it was my fault, and it doesn’t endanger others. However, cities should have lower speed limits to keep pedestrians, cyclists, and drivers safe.
  4. Traffic flow - Where I live, there is a 45 mph speed limit down one of the main roads, but I rarely reach 45 during peak usage times because of traffic. Lower speeds would make traffic flow more manageable and allow car traffic through at a higher average speed.

I feel like the name “Fuck Cars” presents a false dichotomy between well thought out urban design and cars. Good urban design opposes car dependency (which I am against) not cars themselves. With that, I would like to leave you with a few questions: What role should cars play in an ideal world? How would or do you talk to car enthusiasts about this stuff? Do you hate cars or car dependency?

Also because this is fuck cars, fuck some cars. Fuck cars with shitty modified exhausts in built up areas. Fuck cars that run catless exhausts. Fuck big ass trucks and SUVs that run over children to dodge environmental regulations. Especially fuck squatted trucks. Fuck the car manufacturers who lobby to create car dependency and manufacture the child-crushing SUVs.

  • AA5B@lemmy.worldEnglish
    5·
    3 days ago

    While we can more or less agree with this, the reality is different modes of transportation are more useful in different places.

    • You’re not going to get an option to take the subway from your farm to the local Walmart.
    • In a pre-car city, you get a lot more freedom and convenience walking out your front door with a train pass. Cars don’t scale well to cities and policies shouldn’t accommodate them very far.

    The problem we have in the US is not investing in anything but car and airlines, when there is a range of possibilities to best fit any situation. The problem is the last half century of building out cities and population growth only considering cars. Now we finally realize car-centric design doesn’t scale well, but we have all that post-WWII growth built around it. We have a lot of work to undo

    • xavier666@lemm.eeEnglish
      3·
      3 days ago

      You’re not going to get an option to take the subway from your farm to the local Walmart.

      Yes, i completely understand this scenario and I would certainly not say to build a subway all the way to my farm.

      The problem is the last half century of building out cities and population growth only considering cars.

      This is the exact issue that I want society to understand.

      Transportation should have a hierarchy.

      • Commonly used routes: Subway
      • Busy/dense population route with medium distance: Bus
      • Short distance to common transport pickup point or places of attraction: cycle/small vehicle, preferably electric/mechanical
      • Special vehicles for senior citizens/differently-abled: Haven’t thought about this much but there should be something

      There should be parking areas near the city periphery/big transportation hub so that people coming from the suburbs can park their car and use the public transport. This reduces pollution and heat in the center of the city. If you show you used public transport, parking should be subsidized or free.