sidewalk ended apparently. i am imagining some super hostile urban planning. like did a cyclist cheat with the planner's spouse? is there not another route?

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cons0le 4 days ago | parent | next [-]

It's impossible for people to get how bad it is until they see it. My old house had a grocery store 1.2 miles away. To walk there, you have to cross a 6 lane highway. Entire neighborhoods here have no sidewalks. And the roads are so torn up they're unusable. My friend had to get rid of his road bike and get a fat tire suspension bike. None of the intersections have any lights or visibility. And you can't run off the road because the ditches have broken glass and garbage in them!. Trash that hasn't been cleaned up in years. Add to that there's a general culture of hostility towards bicycles.

A pedestrian got hit by a pickup truck and the trucks made a "caravan" to roll coal at the memorial spot where they hit her.

There's no consistency in america. I moved 15 minutes away to "the good" part of town, and every street is new and perfectly smooth. There are marked bike lanes everywhere and they're all connected. I didn't understand at the time, but moving to where the bike lanes are completely changed my life and opened up the entire city for exploring in a way that I didn't expect.

Aside from getting my adorable cats on craigslist, no other 1 decision has changed my life for the better so drastically. I sold my car. I bike to new food places on my lunch break. I met tons of amazing new friends. My fitness is way up.

People aren't good at visualizing what being in a car all the time is taking from them. In terms of happiness, I honestly feel like I got a 50k raise at my job or something. Car centric design is robbing people of the chance to disscover thier own cities

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komali2 4 days ago | parent | next [-]

> People aren't good at visualizing what being in a car all the time is taking from them.

I really wish someone would do a study somehow on what kind of psychological effects are caused by being angry at everyone in your city for an hour twice a day (sitting in traffic).

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dredmorbius 4 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Too, in regions with winter weather (snow, or worse, sleet and ice), what few sidewalks or walking/biking trails which might exist are often further limited due to accumulated snow, if not slick with ice.

This can be found even within town/village centres, let alone the stroads and strip-malls on their peripheries. Walking and cycling become far more perilous.

Not impossible, but challenging, and a clear danger for the very young, elderly, or disabled.

Local ordinances to maintain clear sidewalks are quite often observed in the breach.

Then there's the shortened daylight hours, mentioned elsewhere in this thread.

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nrhrjrjrjtntbt 4 days ago | parent | prev [-]

You are right for most people. I am not (and cannot get) fit enough to walk and ride everywhere. I walk as much as I can because cars suck but I appreciate the car. You got me thinking about ebikes. Speed is also a thing though. Getting somewhere in 2 minutes instead of 10 is very convenient.

	▲	neckardt 3 days ago \| parent \| next [-]
		The best cities have laws that allow for light motorized vehicles in the bike lanes. Not just ebikes, but also mobility scooters, microcars, electric wheelchairs, and adaptive bicycles.
	▲	cons0le 3 days ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		My friend has a velotric T1 and it's really great. Definitely get an ebike. I got a reflective jacket on ebay for $20 so cars can see me at night. Ebikes are just as good as normal bikes ( it took me years to realize this ). I have an EUC so I wont get an ebike fore now. And yeah if I end up having kids, Ill get a minivan or something for chauffeuring. Sometimes you do in fact, need a car

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lotsofpulp 4 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Streetview almost any US suburb. There often is not a way to safely cross a 60ft+ wide road with a 40mph speed limit (which means large vehicles with distracted drivers are driving 50mph+.

Almost all businesses are located on these wide roads, and neighborhoods basically become islands for the kids. It’s especially bad in the winter, because it gets dark quicker, and crossing that 60ft+ wide 40mph+ road gets dicey even as an adult.

	▲	D13Fd 4 days ago \| parent \| next [-]
		I wish we had a neighborhood island. The road we live on is a quarter mile long (so, short) with few houses. It ends in a road where cars go 40+ mph. That road is awful - not only are there no sidewalks, but it twists and turns, and the road is cut into a hill with steep unwalkable slopes on either side. At any point a car could be coming downhill around the bend and your options as a pedestrian are to hope they see you or to just get run over.
	▲	nrhrjrjrjtntbt 3 days ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		I took you up on the challenge. Something near SF since HN's spiritual home, and not too out in the sticks. https://maps.app.goo.gl/CzuphnMwvwmoo8yLA Yeah that looks terrible. That was pretty much random first place I looked.

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MattGaiser 4 days ago | parent | prev [-]

I stayed at a hotel in Dallas that has a free shuttle for crossing the road.

As there isn’t a way to walk to the strip mall across the road.