253
When people say Americans don't walk anywhere, they seem to not know about this part.
It's mind boggling how much people outside the US don't realize the barriers we face to doing the things they suggest we do. "Why don't you riot and blockade your congress?" Because it would take me 8 days of driving - 4 there and 4 back - to protest at the capital for just a single day, and I'd lose my job for being gone that long. "Why don't you walk more?" Because I'm 100x more likely to get killed by a car due to street design, and the store I need to go to is no less than 5 miles away if I'm lucky. Etc etc etc.
My nearest stores at 8 miles away and while it's all down hill there so the bike ride or walking is easy. Coming back is FUCKING AWFUL.
The best advice I can give is to get involved at a local level, especially now during local elections. Call the people running for town/county positions, make your voice heard. Doesn't matter which side you'll vote for, call both people running. Livable infrastructure is bipartisan.
Sadly we have reached a point in this country where any larger metropolitan area (like where I live) really doesn't give a shit even at local levels, because the vast majority of their constituents respond more to propaganda than real political action, and big money donors have the most influence there.
Your comment is still right, it's just looking real bleak these days. Until we can sort out how to get money out of politics (or, you know, capitalism as the driving ideology) were in trouble
While I agree with your sentiment and feel the same way you do, change for us will not happen without people putting boots on the ground and letting people in charge know how we feel.
Yes, that's why I still participate in grassroots campaigning. I even have an idea that has been incubating among myself and a select few friends and former colleagues on how to tackle this. But we've yet to find the last two things we need: a political finance expert and a constitutional lawyer, both willing to stick their necks out to passionately disrupt the very industries in which they thrive
I've watched enough NotJustBikes to know your struggles. It's not your fault. I hope city planning will get less car centric at your place at some point. Greetings from a walkable city outside the US.
I travel a lot. My brother lives in Amsterdam. I've visited several times and rented an ebike. I intend to leave ASAP but my ongoing divorce and career make it impossible at the moment. :(
Your solidarity is appreciated.
It is our collective fault though. Urban planning doesn't spring out of nothing, elected officials create it.
There is a difference between fault and responsibility. Moneyed and selfish interests are at fault for taking advantage of every opportunity to profit at the expense of the peoples ' well-being. They will pull any and every lever possible to get elected despite their misbehavior. But it was and is our responsibility to resist them.
Companies are made of people too. I think it's rather passive to other the responsibility like that: it's the corrupt politicians, it's the corrupt companies, etc. It's our corrupt selves. We have to own it to spring us into action.
Absolutely not. This is like how they want people to believe climate change can be stopped my everyone compostin, when something like 60%+ of emissions come from 10 known polluters
Democratizing blame is a tactic of manipulators to avoid accountability.
As I said, fault and responsibility are different.
It is clear who is at fault. And it is clear we are responsible for purging the societal parasites.
We can talk about improving future mitigation against abuse, but victim blaming under the pretention of "cultural responsibility" is bullshit. America's car-centric culture is demonstrably NOT a naturally occuring phenomenon like bigotry but a deliberately manufactured environment for the benefit of moneyed interests
I don't think we'll see eye to eye in this, but I want to set the record straight on one thing. I'm not advocating for individual action like you're suggesting. The opposite. I want people to press and execute change in how politics are done, so that regulations can be enacted to our benefit.
As to our disagreement, I do believe the body politik of a people only does as the people allows it, and therefore their inaction makes them share fault. You seem to disagree. That's not an objective statement, it can't be proven or disproven. What matters most is this doesn't prevent us from acting to fix the problem. We seem quite aligned on what must be done.
Desire to end car dependency
this post was submitted on 04 Sep 2025
253 points (100.0% liked)
Desire Paths
2574 readers
4 users here now
Desire paths Desire paths can be paths created as a consequence of erosion caused by human or animal foot-fall or traffic. The paths usually represent the shortest or most easily navigated routes between origins and destinations. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desire_path
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS