Tab Combs @DrTCombs@transportation.social

All of my computer keys suddenly, en masse, of their own accord, have turned into shortcut keys. There is no typing. Only shortcutting.

I think this means I am done working today.

#DigitalEntropy

We're sure this guy checked his blind spot before veering into the bike lane to pass another car on the right in an intersection, right?

#DeathMachines #OversizedTrucks

I take a lot of photos of these trucks, trying to illustrate just how menacing and out of place they are. I get a lot of grief for it too, but the thing is, when I encounter one of these monsters while walking or biking with my kid, it's almost always in a place that kids should expect to feel safe: on a neighborhood street. Next to a playground. At the bus stop. In the school drop-off line. In a crosswalk. At the soccer park. In a bike lane. On a sidewalk.

It's not ok.

The soccer field is half a mile from our house, but my kid can't go there on her own, or even ride her own bike with me, because of vehicles like this. There is zero chance the driver of that truck, or the hundreds of others like it that congregate at the soccer fields every evening, would see her.

There is no place for vehicles like this anywhere on city streets. And especially not where little kids hang out.

This picture was captured from a camera mounted on the handlebars of my bike, approximately three and a half feet off the ground, as I was dropping my kid off at soccer practice.

#DeathMachine #OversizedTruck

My plan to refer to my speaker notes on paper failed to take into account my broken reading glasses

I'm all for getting people out of cars and cars off the roads.

But when a sudden disruption in transportation facilities causes car traffic to "evaporate," we need to look very carefully at whose traffic is evaporating, and at what cost.

“Here, for once, was a product of man’s brain which was
entirely beneficial to those who used it, and of no harm or
irritation to others. Progress should have stopped when man
invented the bicycle.” - Elizabeth Howard West

How many children actually have to die before we stop this? It could easily have been my child, doing everything right--using the crossing, looking both ways, and looking both ways again, following the walk signal--and still getting fucking run over because somebody decided their "right" to drive a killing machine on a public street was more important than a child's life.

...but OMFW the literal death threats my kid and I received once the trolls found my twitter handle. We deserve to die simply because neither of us is tall enough to see over the hood of a truck. Because we dare try to point out the risks these ridiculous vehicles and their drivers impose on us just for wanting to walk down our own street.

Literal death threats.

The photo I posted here last week of my child, standing in front a lifted GMC Sierra parked in the street near our house--a street we are forced to walk in because we have no sidewalks, despite being in spitting distance of a school and a playground--has made the rounds on reddit, 4chan, and numerous other social sites I did not know existed.
The response seems to have been mostly, surprisingly, positive...

Nothing seems to trigger carbrain more than pictures that illustrate the danger that modern-day pick-up trucks and SUVs pose to children.

It's amazing how defensive some people get about their so-called right to drive death machines on public streets.

Yet another child's life lost because of our collective refusal to put a stop to this nonsense.

Outside a fucking children's museum.

https://www.universalhub.com/2024/little-girl-dies-after-being-hit-f150-outside

Heads up. Having your #xitter account locked down no longer keeps violent trolls away.

This is the kick I needed to finally deactivate my account. It was a good run, but it's done.

#twitter

TIL there is a 'lifted trucks' subreddit comprised of serious questions about how to raise the height of pickup trucks to make them "more aggressive" interspersed with jokes about murdering children.

HEY!! Are you coming to the AAAF Safe Mobility Conference in #ChapelHillNC next week?
If so, we have advice on getting around town *without a car*!

https://chapelhillmoves.com/news/2024-safe-mobility-conference-bike-routes

I could drive, and sit in traffic with everyone else.
Or I could ride my #bike, and whiz past that traffic in the fast lane.

#BikeTooter #carsRuinCities

https://urbanists.video/w/pmnZc6MHtP67PtEeF6DPJr

When you send me a document with bright yellow highlighting on it, here's what happens:

1. I open the document.
2. My eyes register the yellow as Bright Flashing Lights of Doom.
3. My brain, sensing a migraine, goes into panic mode.
4. I close the document and walk away.
5. Your document is wiped from my memory.
6. Our deliverable is late and you send me nastygrams, typically covered in Bright Yellow Highlighting.
7. Repeat.

Please don't use #BrightYellow highlighting.

This week in Complete, Safe, Equitable Streets: Matching walking and biking infrastructure to environment, traffic, and population contexts.

Lesson 1: Grading the appropriateness of infrastructure based on SEVDEA principles: Separation, Elevation, Visibility, Dedication, Accommodation, and Escapability

#CompleteStreets #SafeStreetsForAll #BikeTooter #WalkTooter #CarolinaPlanning