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News & ArtsMonday, February 18, 2013
Transportation People Are Soft and Cars are Hard: Volvo Offers a Vehicle With a Pedestrian Airbag
Posted by Charles Mudede on Mon, Feb 18, 2013 at 8:54 AM
See how it works...
But how about just giving us streets with no cars?
Big roads and parking garages are so common in American cities that it's easy to forget these places once functioned exceptionally well without them. However, in their persistent battle to satisfy the demands of motorists, many urban areas are losing out.What the researchers found is that cities that have lots of cars have fewer people. So, to achieve real density will mean building cities that are for people and not for cars. There is no way (airbags, alarms, and what have you) around this fact.In the early 1960s – when highway construction was at its peak and cars were just beginning to leave their mark – a handful of critics predicted there would be irreconcilable tensions between vibrant cities and their motorized inhabitants. Nearly 50 years later, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania published research validating this idea.
Their conceptual model was based on a straightforward premise: cars take up a lot of space, especially when it comes to storing them all day while their owners work.
1
Or build cities for cars, with enough room and with segregated bike/pedestrian topologies. Successful new cities -- called suburbs by some, but alternatively Car Cities, do this to some extent. Low density streets mean bikes can travel with lower rates of car interaction. However, it means shifting mindset from 18th to 21st century. Also, Google cars.
2
we have a street with no cars. it's called occidental and it sucks. you know what it lacks? traffic.
3
Riddle me how you're supposed to get more than a handful of stuff from one place to another in a carless city.
4
Is this April Fools? That airbag thing looks rather unhealthy for a person who is already up against the corner of the windshield.
I hear the new Hummer has a safety system that will automically roll out a concussion bomb which blows cyclists safely away from the collision. Well it's better than getting hit by a Hummer right?
(You know this is a troll because they stopped making Hummers in 2010, although I hear the military version is still around somewhere.)
I hear the new Hummer has a safety system that will automically roll out a concussion bomb which blows cyclists safely away from the collision. Well it's better than getting hit by a Hummer right?
(You know this is a troll because they stopped making Hummers in 2010, although I hear the military version is still around somewhere.)
5
Is this early April Fools? That airbag thing looks rather unhealthy for a person who is already up against the corner of the windshield.
I hear the new Hummer has a safety system that will automically roll out a concussion bomb which will blow a cyclist safely away from the collision. Well it's better than getting hit by a Hummer right?
(You know this is a troll because they stopped making Hummers in 2010, although I hear the military version is still around somewhere.)
I hear the new Hummer has a safety system that will automically roll out a concussion bomb which will blow a cyclist safely away from the collision. Well it's better than getting hit by a Hummer right?
(You know this is a troll because they stopped making Hummers in 2010, although I hear the military version is still around somewhere.)
6
@3: It's an exciting technology called "shopping bags". The rest of the world makes extensive use of them as they walk , bike, or ride the bus.
7
Creating Hipsturbia
As formerly boho environs of Brooklyn become unattainable due to creeping Manhattanization and seven-figure real estate prices, creative professionals of child-rearing age — the type of alt-culture-allegiant urbanites who once considered themselves too cool to ever leave the city — are starting to ponder the unthinkable: a move to the suburbs.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/17/fashio…
8
Good Morning and Happy Presidents' Day Charles,
Indeed, I completely agree with you. Give us more streets with no cars. Less automobile traffic will be healthier for the pedestrian and other critters (dogs etc.) to walk & to lower the chance of being struck by a motor vehicle, safer for the environment (less air pollution from exhaust) and cheaper for the consumer. I read an advert in this morning's paper for a car dealership. The least expensive car was $12,000 and most expensive $46,000. Automobiles are cost prohibitive. Yet, we continually buy them, even new ones.
Indeed, I completely agree with you. Give us more streets with no cars. Less automobile traffic will be healthier for the pedestrian and other critters (dogs etc.) to walk & to lower the chance of being struck by a motor vehicle, safer for the environment (less air pollution from exhaust) and cheaper for the consumer. I read an advert in this morning's paper for a car dealership. The least expensive car was $12,000 and most expensive $46,000. Automobiles are cost prohibitive. Yet, we continually buy them, even new ones.
9
Cars can be accomodated more safely with a hexagonal street system. Check out discussion on such a automata network here:
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=…
12
@3 In European and Japanese cities with a mode split of less than 50% driving, alternatives for moving large items start to cost out through economies of scale. These can include delivery services and car share.
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