@beefbot @TheTechnician27 Firetrucks are inanimate objects. Humans make decisions about how to design, deploy, market, and accommodate them. A local fire chief just parroting industry dogma may be less responsible than someone with more power who chose not to sell reasonably sized fire trucks for suburbs and small towns in the US, but the trucks aren’t buying themselves or testifying against safe street designs at the planning board.

@MacGuffin94 @ByteOnBikes Drivers can be unfit &/or negligent at any age. The focus should be on a safe system: streets that naturally limit speed so that crashes that do happen are less severe, vehicles that are appropriately sized and simple to operate, required features like automatic braking and speed limiters, and attractive options like walkable destinations and efficient transit.

@apfelwoiSchoppen @ByteOnBikes Active voice would be, “A driver killed…”

@Leviathan @DrunkEngineer The American political class lives primarily in car-oriented suburbs and those who live in cities are so rich they can afford to use a car even where it’s woefully inefficient. Our urban policy is run by suburbanites who white flighted out of the cities last century through various state, federal, and local mechanisms (like MPOs) and even city politicians live in fear of the mythical stroad-loving suburban swing voter.

@FireRetardant @Zoot In fact, narrowing roads and reducing speeding makes it easier for seniors to keep driving as their vision and reaction time decline. Older drivers tend not to feel very comfortable driving on 5 or 6 lane wide stroads.

@scrubbles @mondoman712 Car company propaganda 100 years ago started these arguments. Prior to the invention of “jaywalking,” there was broad consensus that streets were public spaces for civic life including children’s play and motorists who barreled through them with entitlement to kill whatever got in their way were the bad guys.

@TheSambassador @FollyDolly He was never super liberal or conservative. He’s a centrist with strong views on individual issues. Those familiar with his work in PA knew him as willing to stand up and fight in a way that’s refreshing coming from a Democrat on certain issues (marijuana, LGBTQ+ rights) but deeply problematic on others (police, fracking). His overall politics have probably shifted a bit to the right since the stroke, but the change is more in people’s awareness of him.

@DrunkEngineer It’s a terrible example to the public and a potential conflict of interest. How is someone who’s used to getting away with driving like that (& having wide roads that allow him to) supposed to cast unbiased votes on transportation bills?

@DrunkEngineer 34 & “at least” 24 mph over the limit are some pretty serious speeding tickets, and the frequent reports of distracted driving are a serious problem too. Senators who support Vision Zero programs or care about traffic safety at all need to speak up about this and hold him and other negligently driving colleagues accountable. Especially after his stroke & related health problems, he should be extra careful, not distracted & 34 mph over the limit!

@mondoman712 Good thing we have these utopian “blue states” to flee to as the fascists consolidate power nationally.

@lgsp @mondoman712 I remember my preschool having a big stack of cardboard bricks to build with. Maybe they still have those in toy stores?

@ItsAFake @davel Funny how the failure of capitalism is causing people to “choose” not to follow the overconsumptive lifestyle patterns the capitalists insist we must aspire to. A failed system will fall apart one way or another, even if it has convinced most people not to want it to fail.