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Helsinki records zero traffic deaths for full year

helsinkitimes.fi

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Re: Helsinki records zero traffic deaths for full year

#181

Post by kennywinker »

DaveZale wrote: post #4
moralestapia wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

50 km/h to 30 km/h on a city commute doesn't make a substantial difference. If you're willing to risk people dying just to get to your preferred McDonald's three minutes earlier, then the problem is you.

I wonder if the "5 minute city" approach would also help. Just zone the cities so that getting that burger doesn't even involve driving at all, just a brisk walk?

Good for the environment. Good for your health (more walking). Good for traffic safety (less fatalities). Good for the health care system. Good for your mental health and feeling of connectedness to your community. Good for the economy (more local businesses and less large box monopolies means more employment).

And on the cons side… hurts oil execs, national and international retailers, and people who define freedom as having to pay $5 to exxon to get groceries.

Re: Helsinki records zero traffic deaths for full year

#182

Post by matsemann »

arp242 wrote: post #168
cyberax wrote: post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

> Bike lanes make lives actively worse for everyone. Except for ... cyclists?

And pedestrians that then don't get cyclists on the pavements. And drivers getting less congestion. Someone seriously claiming cycle lanes is bad for a city knows little about urban planning.

Re: Helsinki records zero traffic deaths for full year

#183

Post by TimorousBestie »

whateveracct wrote: post #179
deadbabe wrote: post #174

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

Cyclists switch between pedestrian and car rules at will. I see them blow stop signs and lights constantly.

In their defense, neither set of rules offers them much in the way of safety and protection.

Re: Helsinki records zero traffic deaths for full year

#184

Post by Muromec »

numpad0 wrote: post #104
AnthonyMouse wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 50 km/h to 30 km/h on a city commute doesn't make a substantial difference. This seems like a weird argument. If your commute is an hour at 50 km/h then it's an hour and 40 minutes at 30 km/h, every day, each way. That seems like... quite a lot?

See, the real problem is that people cover too much distances daily. 50km is more than Luxembourg is wide where it's narrowest. They probably don't commute internationally every day there.

I think people allocate themselves an hour or what their comfortable time is to commute and travel whatever distance they can cover in that time. If something is too far, they either move closer or pass on it. The exact mode, distance and speed can all vary, but what's budgeted for is time.

Re: Helsinki records zero traffic deaths for full year

#185

Post by levocardia »

egypturnash wrote: post #169
rimbo789 wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Itll for sure get worse once most cars are autonomous and are programmed badly

Every time I see a Cybertruck while I'm on my bike I am stunned at how badly that thing is designed, it's got a hood higher than my head and a front that slopes backwards as it goes down, so that anything it hits is just naturally shoved under it, this is a machine built for vehicular homicide. How the fuck did that get allowed on the road at all.

FWIW Cybertruck (and all other teslas) have a forward collision warning system that can detect pedestrians and automatically brake. Not perfectly of course, but better than other cars. Large cars are not the primary driver of increased pedestrian deaths in the USA, either.

Re: Helsinki records zero traffic deaths for full year

#186

Post by timeon »

deadbabe wrote: post #174
mzmzmzm wrote: post #80

At the same time NYC and Toronto, we are removing protected bike lanes. In North America the acceptable amount of lives per year to sacrifice for a little convenience for drivers is above zero, and apparently rising.

[flagged]

I had similar experiences with cars.

Re: Helsinki records zero traffic deaths for full year

#187

Post by levocardia »

max_ wrote: post #35

"More than half of Helsinki’s streets now have speed limits of 30 km/h." This is the only secret. People over speeding is what kills.

I think you also have to enforce it. Helsinki also has many automatic speeding cameras. I doubt just putting up a 20 mph speed limit sign would make a big difference without more enforcement.

Re: Helsinki records zero traffic deaths for full year

#188

Post by timeon »

cyberax wrote: post #161
mzmzmzm wrote: post #80

At the same time NYC and Toronto, we are removing protected bike lanes. In North America the acceptable amount of lives per year to sacrifice for a little convenience for drivers is above zero, and apparently rising.

[flagged]

> actively worse for everyone

Can you elaborate?

Re: Helsinki records zero traffic deaths for full year

#189

Post by gerdesj »

enaaem wrote: post #163
mzmzmzm wrote: post #80

At the same time NYC and Toronto, we are removing protected bike lanes. In North America the acceptable amount of lives per year to sacrifice for a little convenience for drivers is above zero, and apparently rising.

In the 70s there were massive protests in the Netherlands called "Stop the Child Murder". Note that these protests were based on conservatism. People were used to safe streets where children could cycle independently to school, go to sports clubs and hang out with their friends around the city. Then cars came and started killing their children. At the height of the killings, 420 Children were killed per year: that is…

I can certainly attest that cycling around the Netherlands was a joy during the late 70s and 80s. I lived in West Germany on and off, mostly in the north and close to the border. A lot of German roads had very decent cycle lanes too.

It was a bit of a shock cycling in the UK but to be fair all roads were a lot less busy back then. I also don't recall the hostility to cyclists back then that exists now.

A bunch of Dutch hydo-engineers probably (there were rather a lot of skilled folk over there) assisted Somerset back around C17+ to drain and reclaim some pretty large tracts of land in the "Levels". Perhaps we need some cycle lane building assistance.

Re: Helsinki records zero traffic deaths for full year

#190

Post by jeffbee »

Muromec wrote: post #158
jeffbee wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If we were a real country, we would actively hunt down people who express this sentiment and seize their vehicles until after they satisfy a psychological exam.

And then if they fail the exam, appoint to the public office.

Thereby increasing the number of officials without access to cars? A diabolical plan!
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