A Câmara Municipal de Lisboa vai reduzir a sua frota automóvel de 400 para 230 veículos, o que vai resultar numa poupança de 840 mil euros anuais.

Câmara de Lisboa vai reduzir frota automóvel - TSF

a mesma notícia no Público

O que é frustante é ver que poucos reconhecem que o elefante ESTÁ no meio da sala. Ou se queixam do cheiro, de que os trocos desaparecem (maldita tromba aspiradora!), de que já não há tanto espaço para se sentarem, de que têm que pagar impostos sobre paquidermes (ké isso e pq?),  de que não vêem outra forma em como ir trabalhar no circo lá bem longe, de que ainda cabem mais animais lá no zoo caseiro, etc etc…

Se calhar seria melhor reflectir possivelmente acerca de, quem sabe, equacionar hipoteticamente o porque não deixar o elefante … ups, espero não ter alarmado ninguém! Perdoem as minha palavras árduas!

Fora de metáforas,
partilho uma vez mais a minha opinião com o Miguel, a quem agradeço uma vez mais por "monitorar" este tópico e intervir numa lógica de participação cívica positiva.

A falsa questão da liberdade individual no controlo do trânsito

On my journey towards being car-less, I've noticed a good number of people who are doing the same thing. I've also got quite a few questions from others who are interested in saving money on gas, being less car dependent, and getting more exercise along the way. For those of you who have doubts, it can be done. More importantly, it can be done without stress or worry. For those who are interested, I've put together a nice list of things that you can do to become less car-dependent.

1. Start using public transportation. This is about the easiest thing you can do to become less dependent on your car. Not only will you save money, but you'll also save stress. No more road rage or traffic jams. In Atlanta, there's a huge racial and class divide in who uses the transit system. Get over it. Riding the bus won't make you poor. A monthly bus pass only costs $52 (in Atlanta) and you get unlimited ridership. Makes sense to me!
2. Ride a bicycle. Seriously. I absolutely LOVE my bike. Not only do I save money on gas, but I also get a workout. Does the cubicle life have you a little on the plump side? Get a bike. Think you live too far to ride your bike to work? Think again. In most cities you can take your bike on public transportation. In my case, I don't live close to the train station. So I put my bike on the bus, ride to the station and then bike to wherever I'm going. Sound simple? It is. And the best part is that you'll feel like a kid again. ;-)
3. Join a rideshare. Ridesharing is just a fancy name for car pooling. Something we all did as kids and can now feasibly do as adults. Everyone takes turns driving, chips in on gas and is happy. Find your local rideshare or start one! 
4. Buy a scooter. Yep, that's right a scooter will put you right square in between bicycle and car, with less pollution and more gas efficiency. And when I say gas efficiency I mean 70 to 100 miles per gallon, depending on the scooter! But what if I want to go to the grocery store? Add a rack to your scooter. People have been doing it in Europe for years. If you're not picky, a Chinese scooter will run you about $1200, but you could always find a used one for less. If you're a scooter snob like me, you want a Vespa. A vintage Vespa. I bought my scooter off of Craigslist for $2400 and I probably could have paid less. Buying a modern Vespa will run you anywhere from $3000 to $6000. One thing to note here is that a modern Vespa will depreciate, while a vintage Vespa-if properly maintained-will sell for more than you paid for. Of course if you don't want to maintain the scooter, go modern. Either way, you'll have something for those days when you really need to get somewhere quickly.
5. Walk. I know this may sound silly, but when I lived in downtown Atlanta, I walked everywhere I had to go. This was partially because everywhere I needed to go was downtown. For those places that weren't I took the bus. Yet, I am constantly amazed at the hordes of people who live downtown and drive to their job that's only a few blocks away. Even more amazing is the number of those who drive to the corner store. ??? And I take back what I said about taking transit: Walking is the easiest thing you can do to become less car dependent.

cycle commuter David Bono of Harkins Cunningham thought what every good lawyer should think: “This car is speeding away. What’s going through my mind is, you just can’t hit a pedestrian and drive away.”

Cycle Commuter Catches Hit-and-Run Corvette-Driving Bob Novak : TreeHugger

Update:
a noticia apareceu no Daily Show hoje
The only difference between Robert Novak's hit-and-run and his career is that this time someone stopped him.

I hate cars. I'll make no bones about it. From as early as I can remember I have hated cars. I hated my parents' VW minibus, rattling and rusting its way through our summer vacations. I hated much more the Pontiac my dad bought after that, and I hated the Toyotas they became addicted to through the 80s. For a brief while I had a soft spot for a 1984 Diesel Rabbit until it overheated and left me stranded on I-95 north of Portland, Maine (and I hear Jackson Browne singing...)

But what I really hate about cars is how they divided up my world as a child. Busy streets are the primary danger and barrier in the daily life of small children. I hated having to wait and worry about traffic on the busy streets in my town. I hated having to get a ride with my parents because there was no other way to get around. I hated speed limits, speeding tickets, gas stations, highway cops, insurance, accidents. I hated pavement, which never stops spreading.

I still hate all those things, and as a parent I hate having to worry about my kids running into the street. If it weren't for cars on the road, it would be just like Little House on the Praire, with children running free everywhere from a young age. Okay, maybe those days weren't perfect, but at least people didn't have to worry all the time about keeing their kids safe from being hit by cars. Most people these days solve this problem by keeping their kids indoors or in their own car at all times. Naturally the kids hate this, and demand to be let out. A constant barrage of video entertainment and addicting snack foods are required to keep the little explorers aenesthetized. (see Last Child in the Woods...)

Actually, when it comes right down to it, we all hate cars. Ever notice that in the World of Warcraft or Second Life people don't have to stop every 2 minutes to wait for cars to go by? A nice world where you'd really want to spend a lot of time is one with no cars. In fact the presence of cars, and especially the dominating presence of them, is almost always used in science fiction to emphasize the dystopian nature of the milieu; a future with lots of cars is a dirty, nasty, cruel future.

Everything I can imagine about a world without cars is good. The main thing is, more space. Over 1/4 of most cities is devoted to roads and parking. Imagine if 90% of that could be turned green. Imagine rabbits and squirrels and deer and songbirds in cities. Imagine walking, biking, or taking public transportation to get around. Imagine instead of cars, cars everywhere, green, green everywhere. We could have it, right now, if we wanted it. It would save us gobs of money. We would actually be wealthier, healthier, and probably a great deal happier without them. So why do we have them?

Mostly, I'd say, inertia. The myth that we can't do public transportation because Americans won't support public subsidy for transportation don't wash. For much less than the cost of building all of our roads, we could build fantastic public transportation networks. So it's not the problem of raising public funds for transportation. Most people who really want to move transportation forward (see Advanced Transit Association, for example) point the finger at the resistance of the government, not of ordinary citizens. When given a choice between 6 lanes of highway and 5 lanes of highway plus a fast, cheap public transportation line, the general public is rather interested in the public transportation. But the public officials are stuck.

They're stuck because they are afraid. They know that if they just build more roads, no matter how much they cost, the public will give them a break. If they build a road that nobody is using, more land is zoned for development along the new empty road, Walmart and Home Depot come in, and whoosh - in comes the traffic. Everyone's happy. No matter how much money was wasted. Most of all, the contractors that build the highways are happy, and their happiness has a funny way of making politicians like them.

So nobody seems to get any flak for wasting $100 million on a useless road. Now look at public transportation. Suppose the city funds a new rail line that costs $100 million, and hardly anybody uses it. Suddenly they're thrown to the wolves - they're out of touch, they're wasting taxpayer money, blah blah. It's humiliations galore. The fad of building downtown Automated People Movers in the 80s (Detroit, Miami, etc.) died out pretty fast when mayors were blamed for building something that ran only in a loop and only moved people between a few downtown buildings, and seemed to be aimed mainly at keeping the rich from sharing sidewalks with panhandlers.

But, my friends (oops, I let that horrible McCainism slip!), we're not really thinking straight about transportation in the first place. I'm going to post my next few entries about different aspects of transportation, and I want to think through the whole transportation problem in our society, and see what kind of solution might really be possible. If we start from the most basic physics and economic priniciples underlying the transportation problem, ideas that we can all agree on, then I believe that we can design a whole variety of transportation systems that would be cheaper, faster, better, cleaner, safer, more convenient, and better for the environment than anything that's been built to date. That's not really a tall order when one considers how incredibly dirty, expensive, slow, nasty, inconvenient and environmentally disastrous our transportation is now!

(Note: If you can't wait for more posts and want to know where I'm going with this, check out this ppt presentation.)

But give me a moment to redeem myself - I'm not a hater, I'm a lover. My hatred of cars is just my love of green, open spaces, forests, meadows, mountains, rivers, bogs, pricker bushes, burrs, mosquitoes, bears, raccoons, everything I remember fondly from my childhood - walking through the dark woods in the moonlight at summer camp or at my parent's cabin on a lake - sitting among the wildflowers on a mountain hillside in the Rocky Mountains somewhere, staring at the clouds and snow fields and seeing a tiny trail winding up the mountainside as the only hint of human habitation. I want for my children a world that is blooming with variety and growth, where pavement is buried in wildflowers and frost heaves and tree roots crumble highways and streets into rubble, where you don't have to go to the zoo to see interesting animals, but only take a walk outside your door.

Ou se calhar é porque pouca gente hoje saiu de casa, para ver o jogo, logo não houve necessidade de carburar…

Será que é desta que Portugal se apercebe que está viciado no fuel? e na bola?

(digno de globo de oiro é o ar cândido com que os jornalistas falam dos acontecimentos, faz-me lembrar o boletim metereológico: ui hoje tá muito frio, ou ufa hoje tá muito calor! Porque será!?)

June 16-20, 2008, Portland hosts an international conference to promote urban cycling and other alternatives to build carfree cities of the future.

The Towards Carfree Cities conference presented by The World Carfree Network in collaboration with SHIFT attracts community leaders, advocates and professionals who support sustainable transportation systems and hope to transform cities into environments rich in community life and public space.

"This conference is a chance to bring North America to the forefront of the international carfree movement and to empower ordinary people to change their lives, governments, and urban landscapes for the better," said Conference Coordinator Elly Blue.

With the theme "Rethinking Mobility, Rediscovering Proximity", the 2008 conference includes lectures, workshops, a film festival, walking and bicycle tours, and one public day.

"Portland is becoming an international leader in issues of sustainable transportation and urban livability," said Portland City Commissioner Sam Adams. "This conference will help us bring local and international perspectives to a challenge we all share: dependence on the private car."

For more information, visit http://www.carfreeportland.org

A verdade é que é fácil preferir a bicicleta aqui, é plano, há bastantes ciclistas, e quase que não necessárias as muitas ciclovias pois muitas estradas são aos fim-de-semana cortadas ao trânsito automóvel. Quando é preciso é mais rápido, também se pode pedalar nas auto-estradas.

Tudo é bom, e bonito ;)

Filmei um pouco e aqui está o resultado:
[são 7 minutos, tenham paciência ;) ]

Em melhor qualidade:
[blip.tv ?posts_id=982999&dest=-1]

Nota:

Para quem não percebeu a ironia: não, não é bem verdade. Isto é apenas uma vez por ano, mas mesmo assim é “apenas” o maior evento (Sternfahrt) do género no mundo: 250mil pessoas.

If you're looking for ways to create a healthier, more humane world and want to reduce your carbon footprint (and your "foodprint"), then you might want to check out these upcoming conferences in her Portland, Oregon in June.

Try Vegan Week

June 7-14, 2008

You know it's a healthy, humane, sustainable way of living, but you think it's too hard, or you feel like you just can't give up your addiction to choose. No worries! Try Vegan Week is a great opportunity to get your toes wet in the vegan pool and grab some support while you're doing it. If you're a newbie, or vegan-curious, you can get hooked up with a veteran mentor. There are also plenty of workshops, dine-outs, store tours, and fun events -- like the Vegan Prom! Don't miss out on this chance to go vegan and transform yourself...and the world. Come on! Oprah's doing it! Find out more.

Towards Carfree Cities Conference

June 16-20, 2008

If becoming less dependent on (or totally independent from) your car is more your mix, Portland is hosting the 8th international Towards Carfree Cities Conference, June 16-20 at Portland State University (among other locations). The purpose of the conference is to bring “together people from around the world who work to promote practical alternatives to car dependence.” This year’s theme is Rethinking Mobility, Rediscovering Proximity, which focuses on promoting “discussion of urban livability, mixed-use development, local agriculture, pedestrianization, strong neighborhoods, accessible public space, and sustainable transportation.”

Tuesday, June 17 is the conference’s “Public Day,” free and open to the public (registrations and small donations preferred).
Find out more.

Just after the conference, on Sunday, June 22, is Portland Sunday Parkways, a special six-hour event in which six miles of local streets in North Portland will be closed to most car traffic, so that people can bike, walk, rollerblade, skip, etc., in that area without having to worry about cars.
Find out more.

Let Live NW Animal Rights Conference

June 27-29, 2008

Want to help animals? Want a more compassionate world? Learn effective skills and strategies for becoming a better animal advocate at the Let Live NW Animal Rights Conference. Friday night features a keynote speaker, and Saturday and Sunday bring workshops on all sorts of topics, from media training to "moving the message" to understanding the audience to developing campaigns and strategies. Find out more.

(Portland MOGO will be tabling at this conference. If you'd like to volunteer to staff our tiny table, let Marsha know: pdxmogo@gmail.com.)

I'm the type of person that likes to be active about the things I am passionate about. In parenting spheres my passions include "extended" breastfeeding and carrying my child, usually in a sling. I remember when littlepixie was tiny, I used to get very excited whenever I saw anyone nursing an older baby in public, because it gave me hope during the first few difficult weeks, and I thought "well if they can do it so can I".

It's funny, when you're pregnant, you smile at all the other pregnant women who seem to be everywhere. When you have your baby all bundled up in a wrap you seem to see slings all over the place. When you breastfeed you quickly recognise other breastfeeding pairs, the little hand stuffed down mum's shirt, the new mum trying to undo her bra clasp, the way the baby is snuggling, a passerby might think the baby is asleep but you know he's hard at work feeding.

I feel that by nursing my toddler in public, or carrying her in a funky wrap, maybe someone like me might see us and feel reassured, or maybe a pregnant woman might pass by and think "I'd love to do that" or indeed maybe nobody notices, and that's cool too as littlepixie doesn't care if she's changing people's minds, all she wants is milkies and to be up on her mama's hip waving at all the people in town.

But the practicalities of life often intervene. Littlepixie doesn't feed very often outside the house now, she prefers to be up on a chair eating big person food with the rest of us. But I make an effort to give an encouraging little smile to any nursing mamas I see on my travels, they may think I'm nuts, maybe we should have a secret sign, one nursing mama to another!

And we choose to be car-free, which means I use a stroller when I go to town with littlepixie, mostly to carry the groceries but also so she can nap on the bus. And when she's not napping, she prefers to be walking. The wraps and Mei-Tais which were once so snuggly are now too constricting for this active bundle of joy who needs to jump down onto the grass right now! Which means that my beautiful slings, wraps and Mei-tais are usually left at home, apart from the ringsling, of course, which is always hiding somewhere on the stroller ready to do its job at a moment's notice.

I guess what I'm saying is littlepixie is growing up and we're entering a new phase in our family life, it's so exciting. She's over two stone now, that's almost a quarter of my weight, so she's getting heavy to carry! It may be coming close to my time to retire the "babywearer" label which I wear so happily, and instead to stick on a new "runs after crazy toddler" label. The good thing is my strong Scandinavian Mei Tais will be perfect for piggy back rides on daddy's back when she's bigger and once again realises the benefits to being carried on a long walk or a cross-country hike!

Is this a trial run for the day that we move on past our breastfeeding relationship? Is our good old reliable ringsling the same as that snuggly bedtime feed that no-one wants to let go of? If that's the case, then I'm glad littlepixie is weaning me so gently and still claps her hands when she sees the ringsling, and still enjoys the occasional hip carry, usually when she really needs her mammy!

I am thankful that littlepixie loves to walk everywhere and I'm thankful that she'll nap in the stroller, these things definitely make the gradual transition from "babywearing" to "running after crazy toddler" easier but a little part of me misses carrying her everywhere and that part of me wants a sticker for my stroller that says "Babywearer in Disguise"!

8 minutos de reportagem em prime time.

Aussi, les "villes" devraient nous aider à franchir le cap, en s'organisant pour être vivables sans voiture. Des associations sont également très actives sur ce sujet et je trouve que le mouvement Carfree né à l’étranger (Allemagne, USA et Angleterre principalement) dans les années 90 est une approche intéressante.

L’objectif de cette initiative est de montrer que l’on peut vivre sans voiture, et que la ville est plus agréable sans cette dépendance. En Allemagne, les associations sont très actives, avec des antennes dans les plus grandes villes. Leur travail est de sensibiliser les citoyens, de repérer les espaces constructibles et d’influencer les promoteurs pour qu’ils se lancent dans des "quartiers sans voiture".

A ce jour, plus d’une dizaine de quartiers a vu le jour et la ville de Munich s’est fixée comme objectif, d’ici 2015, d’avoir 10.000 logements "sans voiture".

Le principe est de construire des habitations à proximité des transports en commun existants, et des commerces de proximité. Les règles de vie dans le quartier interdisent complètement le recours à la voiture, tout comme la construction de parking en périphérie du quartier. Bref, en habitant dans un tel quartier, vous allez au bout de la logique d’abandon de la voiture.

Cependant, même si cette dernière est nuisible (pollution atmosphérique, sonore, accidents…) , elle n’en reste pas moins utile et nécessaire dans certaines situations, d’où des solutions d'auto partage mises en place dans ces quartiers.

Le dernier exemple allemand nous vient de Cologne, avec un quartier "sans voiture" sur 4 hectares et ayant pour promoteur, une société privée. Les premiers occupants de ce quartier (dès janvier 2007) sont satisfaits de leur nouvelle vie à hauteur de 95%!

En France, le mouvement Carfree est présent sur la toile depuis le début de l’année et cherche à sensibiliser un maximum de citoyens. Vous pouvez les retrouver en cliquant ici.

Je ne sais pas si vous êtes comme moi, mais ….si l’on me propose des environnements clairement adaptés à une vie sans voiture, avec des solutions alternatives de déplacement ……je franchis le cap et j’abandonne définitivement mon automobile. Pas vous ?

Illustrations d’un centre-ville en transformation: le passage de la ville-automobile à la ville piétonnière écologique…

Etape 1: Un centre-ville dominé par la voiture, typique de nos villes actuelles avec de grands bâtiments en forme de boîtes et de larges espaces de stationnement, avec sa congestion, sa pollution et l’omniprésence de l’automobile et de l’asphalte.

Etape 2: Le centre-ville en transition. La restructuration tout en réutilisant des matériaux de construction, en ramenant à la surface des cours d’eau jadis enfouis, en ajoutant l’infrastructure piétonnière et en construisant une transition vers des usages mixtes et un développement équilibré pour que les activités importantes soient accessibles sur de courtes distances.

Etape 3: Une écoville centrale avec des voies d’eau reconstituées, des ponts entre les bâtiments, des rues piétonnières, l’énergie solaire, un accès direct des toits aux rues élevées et des ponts entre les bâtiments. Lentement, les gens quittent les banlieues vers les centres de la ville, ce qui permet d’acheter et de transformer les bâtiments dans les secteurs dépendants de l’automobile. Maintenant, le centre de la ville a des rues remplies d’arbres fruitiers, est extrêmement accueillant pour les piétons (et les vélos) et toute la ville consomme beaucoup moins d’espace, faisant de la place pour plus d’agriculture et d’espaces naturels.

Illustrations de Richard Register.

Source: http://www.ecocitybuilders.org/downtown.html

Tendo disponibilidade, lá esbocei uns apontamentos e tentei entrar em contacto. O resultado podem agora aqui ouvir (consegui gravar), entrando a minha chamada depois da meia-hora de emissão. Não esperem mais do que um leve debruçar sobre os temas, mas de qualquer forma acho que o alerta para o dever de cuidar da linha do Tua conseguiu monopolizar grande parte do programa ;)

[blip.tv ?posts_id=687024&dest=-1]
download

E é isso que a Prova Oral vai fazer hoje: andar de comboio. Bem, não é exactamente andar de comboio, mas pelo menos vai até à estação: emissão em directo da Estação do Rossio, que acabou de ser reaberta.

Prova Oral: Pouca-terra pouca-terra

I've been thinking about this frequently. Very frequently in fact as our "every 20 minutes" bus is regularly late. For those of you who don't know Galway, it's a small city centre surrounded by sprawling suburban estates and chock full of cars. All the roads are narrow, and bottle-necky. So narrow roads + millions of cars + people who can't park = traffic jams. Constant traffic jams. Constant traffic jams = always late buses. And as we all know, unreliable buses means more people get in their cars which means.... more cars. And our bus goes from the East to West sides of the city, right through the centre!

Anyway, back to my point. The bus is often late. To illustrate my point, myself & littlepixie were in town at a mother & toddler group on Tuesday. Afterwards we went for lunch in a local pub. Finished lunch and went to catch the 13:05 bus, which we just missed (or so I thought). At 13:18 the 13:05 bus turns up, as does the 13:20 bus.

Both buses take on passengers and both buses drive the 20 minute journey out to where I live and both buses head back to town collecting the passengers waiting on the 13:40 in-to-town bus (and presumably the previous one which had been a no-show as it was now pretending to be the 13:40 bus).

Still with me? Excellent!

So here is my thought. If you're waiting on a bus and it's very late (i.e. 20 minutes), and the next one is in 20 minutes, would you prefer:

a) Only one bus to arrive, and the official bus guy who walks around checking that the buses are on time to look at you like you're deranged when you tell him the last one never showed. In fact the whole time you're there the late one never shows, did they beam it away?

b) Both to arrive at the same time and make a big theatrical show of providing a service even though one of them is now making a completely wasted trip. Of course, I'm not sure if bus drivers are paid per trip, in that case I completely understand a driver making the journey, I would too!

I can't decide which annoys me more! It's completely 50:50. I did call the bus depot one day to complain about a no-show only to be told that nobody else had complained and was I sure it hadn't arrived? Well with customer service like that, why would people complain? Talk about your wasted phone call!

We need a GLUAS - A Galway light rail system like the lovely Dublin LUAS - come on council, fix our public transport before the city grinds to a halt!

< You drive me crazy #4

What do you be thinking when you're driving down a main road and suddenly decide you want to stop. The urge to stop is so strong you can't possibly find a real parking space. Look at that empty foothpath. Use that. It was put there just for you.

Now park the car up on it, don't hurt your wheels though, use the little ramp in the kerb to park on, good, just like that. Now get nice and close to the wall too. Well done. Now lock the car, walk off and leave it there for the day. Good Job.

Because, personally, when walking with the buggy, I love having to walk out onto the road in the middle of the oncoming traffic to get around your beautifully parked car. The fact that you carefully placed your car on top of the little ramp in the kerb makes it all the more adventurous for me as I have to inch the buggy backwards off the high part of the kerb into the oncoming traffic. And then lug it back up onto the kerb when I'm past your thoughtfully-positioned car. And then repeat the whole process on the way back home again. All this while trying not to wake littlepixie.

It really is a fantastic way to brighten up an afternoon stroll, thanks.

I know you just need to pop into the shop really quickly to buy cigarettes / milk / whatever, and I know you're too super-important to use the regular carpark. But it is a pain in the a$$ for everyone else when the bus arrives and instead of pulling flush with the kerb has to stop out in the middle of the road.

It's kind of awkward for me to have to manhandle the buggy up onto the bus in the middle of the road. It's a little painful for the old folks to have to hike up onto the bus in the middle of the road. It's a bit high for kids to have to step up onto the bus in the middle of the road. It's a bit of a leap for anyone trying to get off the bus in the middle of the road.

And then you have the audacity to beep your horn and demand to be let out because the bus is blocking you in while it's stopped in the middle of the road.

Boo Hoo.... poor you.

Our bus goes past a primary school. The road is just wide enough for 2 cars to pass each other, but not at hometime! At hometime, the bus can get stuck for 10 to 15 minutes waiting for parents to get out of the way.

Every one of them seems utterly convinced that they are the only road user in existance. They just randomly stop their cars in the middle of the road and won't move until their precious child emerges. I've seen them get angry at bus drivers who ask them to move out of the way.

Why they can't park further down the road is a mystery. Even if it's a wet day, the parent, as an adult, should be capable of parking further away (ooh say a 3 minute walk), opening an umbrella and walking the long arduous 3 minute journey to collect their child, possibly giving them both some exercise at the same time. And clearing the road for the buses.

After all these are the same people who complain that they have to use their car for the school run because the buses are unreliable and always late. They're late because your car is parked in the middle of the road!

So, here goes...

You drive me crazy #1 - Stop turning your car in my driveway

We don't have a car. Hence the driveway is empty. The driveway is empty because we don't have a car. Not because I want a load of numbskulls turning their hunk of metal in it because they're too lazy to drive to the roundy-bit at the end of the road and turn there.

Here's the thing. Imagine there is a buggy in the middle of the driveway, with a child in it, and a woman locking her front door. What part of that picture makes the driveway an inviting u-turn spot?

I have actually had a guy reverse into our driveway while I was putting rubbish in the bin, I wheeled littlepixie out in her buggy, stood pointing out all the local wonders to her (houses, trees, grass, the usual), turned my back to put the bag in the bin and sudenly some idiot is reversing towards her. I got the fright of my life, grabbed the buggy and ran inside, By the time I got back out, he had scarpered. I honestly don't think he noticed we were there.

It's a little residential cul-de-sac, there are no walls or gates, so nothing to block a driver's view. Except their own blind car-driving-induced superiority complex, I suppose!

This is cathartic, watch out there will be more...

You drive me crazy #2 >

Disclaimer: I hate cars, I know there are a million reasons why people have them, but to me they're a glaring daily reminder of the problems inherent in our society.

Por um lado sabemos que o estilo de vida ocidental é influenciador, apetecivel, e não seria "justo" privar os países em desenvolvimento dos estilos de vida que agora começamos a pôr em causa... Mas ao mesmo tempo já vimos o que a filosofia do "mais barato possível", produção em massa, descartabilidade, etc resulta.

Talvez o cerne do problema resida no modelo de transportabilidade privado, a lata pessoal... não sei, digo eu e mais alguns...

MUMBAI: There was the $400 airplane seat that plummeted to $40. Then there was the $2,000 laptop reborn for $200. And now the $25,000 car has a $2,500 cousin.

...

The car's cheapness could come at the cost of longevity.

...

And the car may be less than environmentally friendly even in complying with Indian standards. ...  Michael Walsh, a pollution consultant and former U.S. Environmental Protection Agency regulator, said that a car so cheap was likely to lack the complex technology to maintain its initial level of emissions and that without such technology cars could pollute four to five times their initial amount before long.

"It strikes me as impossible that such a vehicle will be a very clean vehicle over the life of the vehicle," Walsh said.

In a recent interview, Ratan Tata, chairman of Tata Group, also suggested that the car's lightness, while favorable for the environment, had frustrated efforts to make it safe. "We will have far lower emissions than today's low-end cars," he said. But, he added, "The emissions standards were much easier to meet than the crash test."

...

Adrian Lund, president of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety in Arlington, Virginia. But, he added, "If what we're talking about in India is people having the option of getting off the streets, from motorcycles and bicycles where they are at risk from bigger vehicles, this may actually be an improvement of the safety environment."

India offers cheapest car on earth - International Herald Tribune