Cars
Despite their contribution to untold roadway carnage, resource wars, endless sprawl, consumer dystopia (big box stores, strip malls, parking lots, fast food "restaurants," etc.) road rage, and so many other cultural catastrophes, private motor vehicles remain the dominant transportation mode in Portland, Oregon.
Autopoetic
- cars rock a lot.
- now if only more ran on e85...
- using cellulosic ethanol...
- some run on biodiesel
- there are even electric cars now!
- - by Michael
News Links
- American Automobile Glut? Unsold Cars Are Piling Up
- Unsold Cars
- Unsold Cars Around The World
- Where the World's Unsold Cars Go To Die
Drivers Not Wanted
- Over the past hundred years, as automobiles have been woven into the fabric of our daily lives, our legal system has undermined public safety, and we’ve been collectively trained to think of these deaths as unavoidable “accidents” or acts of God. Today, despite the efforts of major public-health agencies and grassroots safety campaigns, few are aware that car crashes are the number one cause of death for Americans under 35.
- The True Costs of Driving: Car owners don’t come close to covering the price of maintaining the roads they use.
- JOE CORTRIGHT, The Atlantic: The amount that road users pay through gas taxes now accounts for less than half of what’s spent to maintain and expand the road system. The resulting shortfall is made up from other sources of tax revenue at the state and local levels, generated by drivers and non-drivers alike. This subsidizing of car ownership costs the typical household about $1,100 per year—over and above the costs of gas taxes, tolls, and other user fees.
- "We want to make it better for pedestrians, cyclists. It will be better for shops and everyone."