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Tire dust makes up the majority of ocean microplastics

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Re: Tire dust makes up the majority of ocean microplastics

#571
post #440

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it is marginally reduced, definitely not solved. It also depends on the tires a consumer puts on their EV once it leaves the factory, and anything about 50kmph is still very noisy. I think that is good in one aspect though, road noise is the only warning you get that an EV is approaching, which in a PED/Cylcing friendly city is important.

EVs already need to make noise at 19mph or under in the US. Personally, I'd prefer strongly if road noise were eliminated entirely. It'd lead to a better society broadly by reducing noise pollution. Ped/cyclist safety is better handled by other policies than "just make more noise" IMO.

Well I agree with both points, especially the latter. But I would certainly prefer we solve for the latter first.

Re: Tire dust makes up the majority of ocean microplastics

#572
post #166

Has anyone here ever lived near a freeway or even moderately busy road? I made the mistake of renting next to the freeway. Noise was perfectly tolerable, but I could not use my back porch, because after just a few weeks, everything had a fine coating of black dust. I could not keep my windows open in the summer. I was certainly breathing this vile shit the entire time I lived there. This doesn't surprise me in the le…

I lived near 880 in Oakland and always had massive amounts of this super fine sticky dust. They call that 880 corridor cancer corridor. My friends who lived next door who I was renting from, their son got leukemia and they think that had something to do with it.

That sounds like a really easy thing to study. (Does living near a highway significantly increase risk of cancer?) A single anecdote like that isn't very convincing.

Re: Tire dust makes up the majority of ocean microplastics

#574

With the continued shift to EVs, petrol taxes just don't make sense as a form of taxation to pay for roads. I think we should be shifting entirely to a gross curb weight tax for all vehicles. The fourth power law states that the greater the axle load of a vehicle, the stress on the road caused by the motor vehicle increases in proportion to the fourth power of the axle load. Meaning heavier EVs cough hummer , are doi…

I keep seeing people bringing this up, but what this misses is that a significant portion of road construction and maintenance costs are not due to damage from tires, but other factors like weather (especially freeze/thaw cycles) and the need to widen roads to accommodate the amount of space cars take up while driving.

I support the idea of factoring in axle load to any future road use tax, but it's definitely not the only factor or even necessarily the biggest one.

Re: Tire dust makes up the majority of ocean microplastics

#575

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You aren't wrong that government support of automotive transport is immense. But that government support comes from decades of popular electoral support for those policies from all across of the political spectrum. Why? Because cars give people more convenient and independent transportation then just about any other mode. And people push their politicians and representatives to support that kind of transportation. If…

But we also built our society to make the car more convenient. Can’t remember the ratio but the amount of parking space available per car is absolutely insane. That means a relatively cheap access to put your giant car almost anywhere you go. Most cities are built around that idea and that makes other form of transportations almost impractical. So yes the car is convenient but we also built many things to make it mor…

800 parking spots per car in the US.

Re: Tire dust makes up the majority of ocean microplastics

#576

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’ve been looking at places for retirement where I can live car-free or at least very car-lite. There are very few places in the US where this will be possible in my lifetime. Absolutely, let’s more towards an EV future because that’s the best we’ll do in most people’s lifetimes but we can’t expect that change to fix what we’ve spent 100 years building. It needs to be seen as step one of many yet so many Americans ar…

I’ve had several elderly relatives live without cars in apartment buildings in major US cities.

Yes it's called NYC. Cars everywhere but you don't need one. Every neighborhood has everything you need. Subway taxis and Ubers and delivery for everything else.

Re: Tire dust makes up the majority of ocean microplastics

#577
post #315

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Roads, utilities, emergency services…

Per mile, small urban roads were millions of usd a mile (see department of transports annual report and it varies by region). Maintenance is even worse. It’s the 5th highest expense for most cities (US census survey of local and state governments 2020). Of course the suburbs don’t make sense, you have a half mile of road out to a neighborhood and another half mile of street in the neighborhood itself. The percentage…

Already have this problem with our subdivision lol. Private road, and replacing the road is going to be $20k a house even over 20 years or something even with a bond lol, and that’s a normal, reasonable-density subdivision. People don’t realize how much rural and suburban roads are getting subsidized.

Re: Tire dust makes up the majority of ocean microplastics

#578

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From the perspective of the child, it's much worse. You are basically arrested until you are 16-18. No independence whatsoever. Want to meet a friend? Ask your parents to drive. They're busy? Too bad.

Why can't they just walk or bike to their friends? 2-3 km walking distance is perfectly fine, bike extends that range significantly (10 km at least). This was the case for me. Sorry if the question is naive, I don't live in USA.

Because your friends can easily be 10-30 miles away and only accessible via shared roadways with 55mph road traffic. There are no cross country bike routes here.

Building around roads results in everything being pushed farther away and that includes other people’s homes too.

Re: Tire dust makes up the majority of ocean microplastics

#579
post #578

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why can't they just walk or bike to their friends? 2-3 km walking distance is perfectly fine, bike extends that range significantly (10 km at least). This was the case for me. Sorry if the question is naive, I don't live in USA.

Because your friends can easily be 10-30 miles away and only accessible via shared roadways with 55mph road traffic. There are no cross country bike routes here. Building around roads results in everything being pushed farther away and that includes other people’s homes too.

Fair point about shared roadways that probably split communities.

Do kids attending the same school really live that far apart? Seems like a very long distance, especially in a suburbian neighbourhood.

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