<story><title>Jaywalking decriminalization, 100 years after the auto industry made it a crime</title><url>https://www.virginiamercury.com/2020/12/21/jaywalking-decriminalization-is-coming-to-virginia-100-years-after-the-auto-industry-helped-make-it-a-crime/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>teloli</author><text>Oh man, am I glad to be European. Walk to the bar, cycle to work, take the tram if it rains. American cities built for cars are just so sad.</text></item><item><author>twblalock</author><text>There were quite a few other factors that led to the decline of streetcars: &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;General_Motors_streetcar_conspiracy#Other_factors&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;General_Motors_streetcar_consp...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;One of the biggest is that people actually like living in suburbs, and they could afford to do so after WWII.&lt;p&gt;The promise of the suburbs is a detached house, with some private outdoor space like a back yard, in a quiet area: essentially what the rich had always preferred and been able to afford. That lifestyle became broadly available to the middle classes after WWII. It&amp;#x27;s hard to blame people for wanting that.&lt;p&gt;People still like living in suburbs. They still like owning cars. They still vote against new transit projects for a lot of reasons, but the biggest reason is that they don&amp;#x27;t want to pay taxes to support a system they would not use themselves.&lt;p&gt;So I just don&amp;#x27;t buy the idea that the National City Lines conspiracy caused our current automotive culture. I think we would have ended up with the same car culture anyway, because huge numbers of people wanted to live in the suburbs.</text></item><item><author>imglorp</author><text>Don&amp;#x27;t forget..&lt;p&gt;4. Auto makers conspired to kill or cripple mass transit.&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.brooklynrail.net&amp;#x2F;NationalCityLinesConspiracy.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.brooklynrail.net&amp;#x2F;NationalCityLinesConspiracy.html&lt;/a&gt;</text></item><item><author>woodruffw</author><text>We in the US do an absolutely &lt;i&gt;horrific&lt;/i&gt; job of recognizing and compensating for the externalities of our automotive culture. The criminalization of jaywalking is one major aspect, but also consider:&lt;p&gt;1. The construction of highways through poor (read: minority) urban areas, causing mass respiratory disease and premature deaths[1].&lt;p&gt;2. Allocation of free public space (car parking) to drivers, effectively subsidizing (disproportionately suburban) commuters at the expense of residents.&lt;p&gt;3. A general culture of entitlement to the road among motorists, resulting in tens of thousands of pedestrian and cyclist injuries a year with virtually no legal (beyond costly civil) recourse.&lt;p&gt;[1]: &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.nytimes.com&amp;#x2F;2006&amp;#x2F;10&amp;#x2F;29&amp;#x2F;nyregion&amp;#x2F;29asthma.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.nytimes.com&amp;#x2F;2006&amp;#x2F;10&amp;#x2F;29&amp;#x2F;nyregion&amp;#x2F;29asthma.html&lt;/a&gt;</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>dcolkitt</author><text>Except, the difference is mostly a stereotype that isn&amp;#x27;t held up by the data. In France, 70% of commuters travel by car and only 3% by cycling.[1]&lt;p&gt;That&amp;#x27;s less car-centric than America for sure. But Americans have a misguided notion that all Europeans live in quaint pedestrian-friendly town centers that look like Prague or Copenhagen. Mostly because we tend to spend our European tourism in the dense centers of the capital cities.&lt;p&gt;[1] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.transportenvironment.org&amp;#x2F;news&amp;#x2F;increase-paris-cycle-lanes-leads-dramatic-rise-bike-commuting&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.transportenvironment.org&amp;#x2F;news&amp;#x2F;increase-paris-cyc...&lt;/a&gt;</text></comment>
<story><title>Jaywalking decriminalization, 100 years after the auto industry made it a crime</title><url>https://www.virginiamercury.com/2020/12/21/jaywalking-decriminalization-is-coming-to-virginia-100-years-after-the-auto-industry-helped-make-it-a-crime/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>teloli</author><text>Oh man, am I glad to be European. Walk to the bar, cycle to work, take the tram if it rains. American cities built for cars are just so sad.</text></item><item><author>twblalock</author><text>There were quite a few other factors that led to the decline of streetcars: &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;General_Motors_streetcar_conspiracy#Other_factors&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;General_Motors_streetcar_consp...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;One of the biggest is that people actually like living in suburbs, and they could afford to do so after WWII.&lt;p&gt;The promise of the suburbs is a detached house, with some private outdoor space like a back yard, in a quiet area: essentially what the rich had always preferred and been able to afford. That lifestyle became broadly available to the middle classes after WWII. It&amp;#x27;s hard to blame people for wanting that.&lt;p&gt;People still like living in suburbs. They still like owning cars. They still vote against new transit projects for a lot of reasons, but the biggest reason is that they don&amp;#x27;t want to pay taxes to support a system they would not use themselves.&lt;p&gt;So I just don&amp;#x27;t buy the idea that the National City Lines conspiracy caused our current automotive culture. I think we would have ended up with the same car culture anyway, because huge numbers of people wanted to live in the suburbs.</text></item><item><author>imglorp</author><text>Don&amp;#x27;t forget..&lt;p&gt;4. Auto makers conspired to kill or cripple mass transit.&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.brooklynrail.net&amp;#x2F;NationalCityLinesConspiracy.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.brooklynrail.net&amp;#x2F;NationalCityLinesConspiracy.html&lt;/a&gt;</text></item><item><author>woodruffw</author><text>We in the US do an absolutely &lt;i&gt;horrific&lt;/i&gt; job of recognizing and compensating for the externalities of our automotive culture. The criminalization of jaywalking is one major aspect, but also consider:&lt;p&gt;1. The construction of highways through poor (read: minority) urban areas, causing mass respiratory disease and premature deaths[1].&lt;p&gt;2. Allocation of free public space (car parking) to drivers, effectively subsidizing (disproportionately suburban) commuters at the expense of residents.&lt;p&gt;3. A general culture of entitlement to the road among motorists, resulting in tens of thousands of pedestrian and cyclist injuries a year with virtually no legal (beyond costly civil) recourse.&lt;p&gt;[1]: &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.nytimes.com&amp;#x2F;2006&amp;#x2F;10&amp;#x2F;29&amp;#x2F;nyregion&amp;#x2F;29asthma.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.nytimes.com&amp;#x2F;2006&amp;#x2F;10&amp;#x2F;29&amp;#x2F;nyregion&amp;#x2F;29asthma.html&lt;/a&gt;</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>Razengan</author><text>Some Japanese cities seem to be pretty good for that too. Apparently even very young children can safely take the bus, train or bike to school by themselves.</text></comment>