The War on Cars Watch is a weekly feature of the NMA blog. The War on Cars Watch focuses on road diets, traffic calming and programs such as Vision Zero and Complete Streets as well as studies, court cases, and other news that affect motorists.
Special commentary from NMA California Member Michael Jabbra is notated with an MJ: designation and all other comments are those of Shelia Dunn, NMA Communications Director and editor/curator of this blog.
We love to hear from you about the War on Cars Watch. Please feel free to comment below the post.
War on Cars Watch Story of the Week
IIHS urges NHTSA to look beyond education to address speed problem –IIHS is auto insurance-funded and, of course, wants to create a situation for motorists that brings insurance companies more money whenever motorists receive more points for tickets. It also supports all forms of automated traffic enforcement devices such as speed cameras.
MJ: Yay, automated enforcement: More Big Brother, brought to you by government and corporations in bed with each other as usual. George Orwell only got two things wrong: he was off by about 30 years in terms of the technology, and he did not see that the private sector (Big Tech) would provide most of Big Brother’s surveillance.
National War on Cars Watch Stories
- Feds suggest all 50 states should make wearing bike helmets mandatory –The bike lobby is screaming like bloody murder that requiring bicyclists to wear helmets will de-incentivize riding but I know a helmet has saved my head at least once in a bike crash…safety should always trump incentives to ride. Here is another take from AutoBlog: Mandate bike helmets for all cyclists, says NTSB — not a single state does
- NHTSA Urged to Address Bias in Its Vehicle Crash Tests –Women are generally shorter and proportioned differently than men. This should be considered as part of the safety vehicle crash test.
- US Supreme Court Takes Up the Owner Is The Driver Presumption
- Opinion: The Supreme Court is thinking about giving police a new excuse to pull you over
- Does Car Technology Make Roads More Dangerous? – You betcha—if it is distracting –Here is another perspective from the Boston Globe: ‘Whoever is driving should be in control’: These drivers are fed up with automated safety features
- War on Cars Watch: Lyft Asks Americans to Ditch Their Cars for Ride-Hailing Vouchers (Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Chicago only)
- Five biggest driving risks revealed in new telematics data –Big data tells us what most of us already know!
- War on Cars Watch: A manifesto for a new Suburbia
MJ: Lyft says: Give us a captive audience! Don’t be surprised if Lyft and Uber and similar outfits start putting up campaign funds for anti-car politicians.
- What States Have the Strictest Distracted Driving Laws?
- Electric Cars—and Irrationality—Just Might Save the Stick Shift
International War on Cars Watch Stories
- New Brunswick, Canada: Fixing Moncton’s ‘road diet’ could cost up to $6.5 million
- Germany: Urban Planners Herald End of Cars in Cities (War on Cars Watch)
- UK: Police ticket ‘one of the worst’ lane hogs ever, highlighting slowpoke laws
- Bristol, UK Signs Off on Diesel Ban, Leaving Thousands With Second-class Cars
Regional and Local War on Cars Watch Stories
California
- Los Angeles Area Road Diet: Eagle Rock’s other boulevard to get $16.2 million in TLC
- Los Angeles War on Cars Watch: City Council Approves Expo Line Signal Prioritization and Final Expo Line Neighborhood Plans
- Safety questions still swirl in Paradise, CA year after wildfire
- Mysterious ‘high velocity’ projectiles pepper cars near Prunedale, California (Central Coast Area). What’s going on?
- Sacramento plans to expand protected bike lane network
- San Francisco Supervisors declare “State of Emergency” over increase in traffic-related deaths (Vision Zero Watch)
- More Drivers, Fewer Parkers: Parking in Downtown Santa Monica, CA is More Abundant Than Ever — Let’s Reclaim Our Streets
Colorado
- Denver Reduces Speed Limits On More City Streets (video report)
- Denver’s Marion Parkway could have protected bike lane by summer 2020
- Denver War on Cars Watch: Marion Parkway Bike Lane Critics Walk out as City Presents Design –this Streetsblog Denver article is so biased and indicates to us that the bike lane is a done deal…not surprised…the “done deal” community meeting/workshop/town hall is generally what happens in these types of situations. Folks still need to fight bike lanes on arterials though…there are better and safer ways to have bike lanes.
District of Columbia
- DC Downtown dedicated bus lanes will be made permanent next week
- Are DC’s Streets Finally Getting Safer? (Vision Zero Watch)
Florida
Hawaii
- Hawaii Letter-to-the-Editor on Lane Courtesy: Slow drivers dangerous, can cause accidents –Lane Courtesy is one of the NMA’s biggest issues—slower speed is a cause of many accidents…please practice lane courtesy, Drive Right/Pass Left every time you drive!
Illinois
- Uber and Lyft hurt CTA ridership, slow down buses, and worsen congestion in Chicago (and probably everywhere else, too)
- Chicago War on Cars Watch: A vision beyond Uber: We don’t need to plan our transportation system around cars –Again, are these folks who say or write these things living in the real world!
- Chicago traffic fatalities are down so far this year. Is it luck, or is the city’s ‘Vision Zero’ policy making the difference (Vision Zero Watch)
Massachusetts
Michigan
Montana
New York
- NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio still unsure on plan to close lanes on Fifth Ave. during busy holiday season
- NYC’s 14th Street busway rolls into its next pedestrian-friendly phase (War on Cars Watch)
- NYC’s war on cars has eliminated 6100 parking spots in two years (NMA mention) –The War on Cars is also indeed a War on Parking!
Ohio
Oklahoma
Pennsylvania
Tennessee
Utah
Washington State
MJ: Well done, voters of Washington!
Wisconsin
Milwaukee, WI judge says temporary lack of driver’s education part of reckless driving problem –Young people need driver’s education in order to learn this life skill that will help them the rest of their lives.
That’s this week’s War on Car Watch blog. If you find a story online about the War on Cars, please feel free to email the URL to me at nma@motorists.org.
Check out the NMA Facebook Page called the War on Cars Watch
Be Safe Out There,
Shelia Dunn
NMA Communications Director
P.S. Here are a few NMA Blog Posts the might interest you:
