CARFREE TOKYO

- a collection of notes and reflections on urban living from the perspective of a family of five in Tokyo. My epiphany was many years ago, but being hit by a motorbike and seeing my life flash before my eyes caused a sudden change that slowly made me reflect on whether American style auto-centric urban transportation of the Roosevelt era really is a capital G "Good Idea" for civilized modern cities in the 21st Century. This blog explores the good and the bad in urban planning and design, here and elsewhere. The goal is simple - not "death to all cars," just more walkable communities, quiet tree-lined streets, good public transport, traffic calming, Velib style bicycle sharing and a bit of common sense. The bolg is mostly theraputic, so I don't go wanting to throttle every dangerous driver I come across, but partly also out of a real desire to see positive change. This blog explores how it can be done, the people who do it, and how, in many small ways, this very old idea may at last have found its zeitgeist. Comments and suggestions welcome.

Wednesday, January 25, 2006

25 January

While I am here, I should tap out a little rant about cars. I have a theory - many car drivers behave badly/dangerously because drivers are so thoroughly enveloped in their sound-proof machines, there is no opportunity for the rest of us to give them a good clip around the ears when the do something really dangerous - like get agro at someone. You can't even give them a proper piece of your mind when they are hiding away in their little steel coffins pretending not to notice you flip them off. So they do it again next time, do something stupid again like tailgating, they get away with it, it makes them feel tough, and the cycle continues till they kill someone. Damn fools.

Is there a national database of bad drivers? It should be advertised on TV, if there is. Seems like we could develop an "X strikes and you are out" kind of policy.
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