Pedestrians are endangered species

rOn Tue, 31 Jul 2012 09:09:27 -0700 (PDT), "TibetanMonkey, the Beach
Cruiser Philosopher" wrote:

On Jul 31, 4:07*am, John B. wrote:
On Mon, 30 Jul 2012 17:41:32 -0700 (PDT), "TibetanMonkey, the Beach









Cruiser Philosopher" wrote:
On Jul 30, 8:14*pm, James wrote:
On 31/07/12 09:58, TibetanMonkey, the Beach Cruiser Philosopher wrote:

What were the engineers thinking about when they built America around
the automobile?

Was America built, or did it grow?

Why America grew one way and Germany another?

In other words, why one grew smart and the other one not? Perhaps
because they failed one time and grew out of the ashes? Or why Hong
Kong grew around the scooter and not the automobile? Can we blame real
estate for the sprawl in America? London put a stop to growth in the
30's and that was a smart decision taken when we were really stupid.
Was it the politicians?

Perhaps we can name some names and be satisfied we found the guilty
party. At least we should be able to chart a better future, right?

I doubt engineers had a whole lot of say. *They are not usually the
decision makers.

They can certainly refuse to follow stupid orders.

We can not possibly blame the pedestrians and cyclists, right?

Nope. *Who can you blame? *Everyone does what they think is best for
them and theirs. *It's not a holistic approach.

--
JS.

It's a profiteering approach, that's all it is.

Blame Henry Ford and yourself, the American Public. Henry built a car
that was cheap enough for Mr. Average Man to buy and Mr. Average
immediately began to clamor for better roads to drive his new Ford on.
Cheers,
John B.

The American public could not have been that dumb. It needed to kill
the trolleys, public transportation, walking and biking as viable
options. Then advertising did the rest.


I hate to tell you, but you are imagining things. The reason trolley
lines and other forms of public transportation died is due to lack of
public use. Income dropped and the systems were abandoned. In locales
where it is less practical to drive the systems are still in use.
Think New York, London and other city subway systems.

As for the public's stupidity, I lived in a suburb of Los Angeles back
in the late 60's and early 70's and watched the citizens vote against
financing the building of a public transport system for the city, not
once, but twice.

Anyway let's lay out what we need and what we don't:

(in my humble opinion)

On Jul 31, 11:25*am, "possum" wrote:
"Julian" wrote in
...









On 31/07/2012 09:52, qzwxec wrote:
"Julian" wrote in
message
...
On 30/07/2012 14:40, TibetanMonkey, the
Beach Cruiser Philosopher wrote:
(I may have given up my dream of riding
a bike in America, but
walking... walking is the ultimate
necessity of the human being.

Are paraplegics not human?

Cannot see the point.

All are very sorry for paraplegics.

Do you mean that because of paraplegics
other healthy more lucky humans
should not practice & enjoy walking?

No.

there's the issue that monkey's claim that
"walking is the ultimate necessity of the
human being" can't stand up, if you'll
pardon the pun.

possum

To make it dangerous, to make it stupid, to make it impractical
doesn't mean walking is not the ultimate need of the human being.

In most places around the world --those who dismiss the American way
of life-- walking is still the way to go. But not only that, walking
allows socialization, which is another human necessity.


And once again your pipe dreams overcome reality.

In most places around the world people, as soon as they earn a bit of
money, buy a bicycle. A few years later, when salaries increase a bit
they buy a motorbike and then a bit later on as the economy gets even
better they buy an automobile. In a really dynamic economy the whole
process takes less then 50 years to happen.

When we want to punish people we put them in solitary confinement in a
3' by 3' cell. "Roaming free" is the ultimate necessity, which
includes the bike, the scooter, the motorcycle and anything that is
not a cage. Grab a donkey if you will and go exploring your world.
That's what Jesus would do.

People aren't confined to cells. You can walk, or ride a bike, in any
city. I walk/ride in Bangkok which has some of the most hectic traffic
in the world. You could do the same if you would only open the front
door and go out "there".

Cheers,
John B.