Tab Combs @DrTCombs@transportation.social

The people who prop up #CarCulture are the ones who tell #pedestrians, #cyclists, and others they are vulnerable and must watch for cars.

The people who prop up #RapeCulture are the ones who tell women they are vulnerable and must not go out after dark.

These are the same thing.

No one should get to build or perpetuate a system that knowingly and consistently puts people in harm's way and then call those people "vulnerable"

#CarBrain #RoadSafety #VisionZero #NoMoreVRU (4/4)

The term #VRU implies that being in danger (e.g., in danger of being hit by someone driving a car on a poorly designed street) is a condition the 'vulnerable user' opted in to.

#VulnerableRoadUser is thus used to define people ouside of cars according to the dangers imposed by cars and the people who drive, design, and cater to cars.

It's textbook #VictimBlaming, characterizing people as vulnerable because they dare exist in public without a #car.

#CarBrain #RoadSafety #VisionZero (3/4)

Vulnerability is not an intrinsic characteristic of anyone. It's a condition imposed on people by their environments (be those environments physical, social, economic, political, etc).

#VulnerableRoadUser language dehumanizes and makes it easy to shift blame and responsibility off those causing harm and onto those receiving it.

#CarBrain #RoadSafety #VisionZero (2/4)

Since it's come up on other platforms again, here's your semi-annual reminder that the term "Vulnerable Road User," or #VRU, is a #transportation catchall for "humans not safely ensconsed inside a motor vehicle," and it's lazy, inaccurate, offensive, and counterproductive.

#CarBrain #RoadSafety #VisionZero 🧵

Q. Does your big promotion mean you'll be able to drive to work now?
A. I actually like biking.
Q. But you at least get a parking spot?
A. No, I don't get a parking spot.
Q. But you could drive if you needed to?
A. Yes, but it wouldn't get me to work any quicker than biking.
Q. But what if it rains?
A. I get rained on.
Q. But wouldn't you rather drive if it's raining?
A. I'd get rained if I drove too.
Q. But...but...but...

#Biking is just better.
#iykyk
#fedibikes #BikeTooter

said toddler is 10 now, so the stashes have gotten bigger, but they're still just as loved as ever. It's a great way to use up whatever random bits of food you've got lying around. Bonus points for making it feel like snacking.

I admit I went a little overboard, but the "squirrel stash" is a favorite meal around here and I will never stop evangelizing it.

We found our first #SquirrelStash on the kids' menu of an outdoor cafe/petting zoo (yes) in #Aotearoa #NewZealand when our daughter was a toddler, and have been attempting to replicate it ever since.

Basically, you put a few pieces of whatever reasonably healthy food items you have on hand + 1 or 2 junk items on a plate and get out of the way.

I asked the kid to make ID tags for the purple broccoli I'm setting out in the #garden today.

#WinterGarden

I dislike nearly everything about tennis, but the part I hate the most is the elbow.

Hey friends! I'm looking for lightweight, light-duty #ebikes for a pair of semi-nomadic septuagenarians with dodgy knees.

Mainly for recreation. Affordability (theft potential is high), ease of use (old people), and batteries that won't go boom (obviously) are the main needs.

Any suggestions out there?
Thank you!!!

#ebike #Fedibikes #BikeTooter

For those who really want to explain urban heat to me, save yourself the trouble.

Urban heat is a thing because cities are covered in concrete, and concrete traps and then radiates heat.

Cities are covered in concrete because of cars.

IT'S THE CARS. Cars are the reason cities are hot, noisy, stinky, dirty, and expensive.

Hey #NorthCarolina friends. Please use this tool to let #NCDOT understand what kinds of #transportation investments matter to you!!!

#climatechange #mobility #biketooter #roadsafety #walking #safestreets

https://live.metroquestsurvey.com/?u=oq8i8y%23!%2F%3Fp&pm=dynamic&popup=IntroPopup#!/?p=web&pm=dynamic&popup=IntroPopup#!%2F%3Fp=web&pm=dynamic&popup=IntroPopup

I just got back from a grocery run, and holy crap. The difference in temperature between a greenway in the woods and a sidewalk next to a multilane road is mindboggling. The greenway was almost pleasant. The road felt more like the surface of the sun.

It's almost* as if continuing to coddle drivers by building out more and more roads is actually contributing to the global heat wave we're living in right now. [*sarcasm]

I'm old enough to remember when the Windows log-in screen was just a pretty picture.

I don't need baseball scores, stock tips, or wild promises about what copilot can do for my productivity, thank you. I'd just like to start my work day, please.

Posh haircut just in time for the heat dome

#DogsOfMastodon