Car culture
Basics
America’s Most #ToxicCarAds Are Rolling In; Submit Yours Now
Last week, we put out our initial call for nominations in our quest to find America's most aggressive, violent, and all-around toxic car commercials. We're still looking for your worst — but we thought some Streetsblog readers could use a little inspiration first.
August 26, 2021
OPINION: In Car Culture, Crash Victims are Always Blamed (Even By Loved Ones)
First, a driver hit me. Then many in my social circle implicitly blamed me. That’s reason enough for examining our deadly deal with the automobile.
August 17, 2021
Study: Success of Drunk Driving Laws is Limited … If Drivers Have No Alternatives
Lowering the threshold for how much a driver can drink before he gets behind the wheel may not actually make our streets safer — at least if communities don’t provide people who imbibe other ways to get around besides driving, a new study suggests.
August 16, 2021
OPINION: Muscle-Car Makers Market Mayhem
Dodge sells its Chargers with images of road recklessness and — whaddya know? — some Charger drivers copy the ads. It's time for the dangerous appeals to end.
August 16, 2021
Talking Headways Podcast: Saved Mental Energy
This week we're joined by Melissa and Chris Bruntlett to talk about their book, "Curbing Traffic: The Human Case for Fewer Cars in Our Lives." We chat about the ambient stress and anxiety created by auto-oriented cities, the mental energy saved by car-light spaces, and the difference between engineering and ecological resilience.
August 12, 2021
A Round and a Roundy: The One Upside of Climate Change
August 10, 2021
Infrastructure Deal ‘Worst Ratio for Transit Funding Since Nixon’
Washington is one step closer to passing an infrastructure package that would provide historic funding for transit, and then immediately undercut it with historic funding for drivers.
July 30, 2021
Study: America’s SUV Spree Spurred Pedestrian-Death Surge
If the popularity of oversized vehicles continues to rise, walker fatalities will rise, too.
July 27, 2021
The Electric F-150 and the Lifestyle-Truck Virus
Would subsidizing the purchase of new pickup trucks enhance or diminish the welfare of our communities? If you think putting more trucks on the road is a bad idea, your position is at odds with parts of federal government policy. Starting next year, Ford will be selling an electric variant of America’s most-popular vehicle, the F-150 pickup. And thanks to the federal electric vehicle tax credit, the U.S. Treasury will be knocking up to $7,500 off of each buyer’s tax liability come April 15.
July 23, 2021
Why U.S. Car Crash Reporting Is Broken
Nearly a third of car crashes involving a vulnerable road user goes unreported in the nation's capital, skewing District crash totals that are critical to making changes — but advocates say that stunning stat is just the tip of a much larger national iceberg.
July 20, 2021
