Recent Streetsblog NYC posts about Car Culture

If a New Car Can Demolish an Old One, How Is a Human Expected to Fare?

By Brad Aaron | Nov 18, 2009 | 2 Comments

To mark its 50th anniversary, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety recently pitted a 1959 Chevrolet Bel Air against its contemporary counterpart, a 2009 Malibu, in a 40 mph crash test. As you can see in the video, the Malibu destroys its predecessor. The results were intended to demonstrate how much safer cars are now […]

Streetfilms: Veronica Moss Goes to Times Square

By Clarence Eckerson Jr. | Nov 17, 2009 | 13 Comments

She’s back! Veronica Moss, D.C. lobbyist for the Automobile User Trade Organization (A.U.T.O.), recently returned to New York to get her first look at the new, pedestrian-friendly Times Square. Her views may rankle some in the livable streets camp, but we think it’s important to note that some influential people out there just abhor walking, […]

Use Your Phone to Find Parking! Just, Um, Not While Driving.

By Brad Aaron | Nov 17, 2009 | 10 Comments

Try as they might, City Council members haven’t cornered the market on ridiculous, counterproductive on-street parking "solutions." Now making its way to your neighborhood: "Parking Around Me," a new service that facilitates parking alerts between drivers via text message. The latest beckoning driver distraction, from Roadify. From what I can tell, here’s how it works: […]

Will “Crash-Proof” Cars Make Drivers More Dangerous?

By Ben Fried | Oct 27, 2009 | 14 Comments

Via TreeHugger, Copenhagenize reports that Volvo is in the final stages of testing technology to improve safety for people outside its products — a "pedestrian detection" system available in S60 models next year: It is meant to spot all pedestrians in front of the car as well as off to the sides in a 60 […]

NYPD Amps Up Street Noise With the “Rumbler”

By Brad Aaron | Oct 26, 2009 | 17 Comments

As if constant engine noise, gratuitous horn honking, booming stereos and screeching car alarms weren’t enough of a collective imposition on millions of New Yorkers, NYPD is about to escalate the street-level aural arms race with the "Rumbler," a souped-up siren designed primarily to pierce the cocoon of obliviousness enshrouding city motorists. Expected to be […]

Daily News: Is There a Person in Your Parking Spot? Kill Them.

By Brad Aaron | Oct 22, 2009 | 28 Comments

Ke Hai Du. Photo: Daily News Checkmate. In the unofficial battle for the most irresponsible, over-the-top media endorsement of motorist entitlement, the Daily News took the trophy this morning, declaring that drivers are within their rights to run down human beings who stand between their vehicles and on-street parking. Under an arguably racist headline, News […]

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