Car Culture
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Horns, What Are They Good For?
Lots of forehead-slapping absurdity in this Slate piece by Dave Johns on the history of the car horn. Like many car culture foibles, horn-honking has a long tradition of intractable drawbacks that outweigh any supposed benefits:
November 26, 2008
Thompson: Car Commuters Should Pay Their Fair Share
City comptroller and mayoral candidate William Thompson is urging the Ravitch Commission today to push for a revival of the commuter tax to help stave off an MTA "doomsday scenario," expected to unfold next spring unless the agency gets help.
November 24, 2008
Buy One Albatross, Get One Free!
Detroit's customer incentives have had an air of desperation for a while. With Big Three bankruptcy looking more likely every day, some dealers -- like this one in Pembroke Pines, Florida -- are venturing into liquidation sale territory (and then some).
November 21, 2008
GM’s Ransom Note to America
With the president-elect, Congress and the current White House divided on how or if American taxpayers should save the domestic auto industry, General Motors is taking its case directly to the public with this video and accompanying web site. More threat than appeal, the message, in a nutshell, is "Do it, or else."
November 17, 2008
Ad Nauseam: Spare the Toll, Save the Carmaker
Yesterday we noted the auto-centric bias in local media coverage of an expected Ravitch Commission proposal to toll East River bridges as one source of revenue for the cash-strapped MTA. In perusing said coverage, we couldn't help but notice a second common element. See if you can guess what it is.
November 11, 2008
Pelosi, Reid and Emanuel Push for Carmaker Bailout
Over the weekend, Democratic leaders in the House and Senate urged the Bush administration to extend financial aid intended for Wall Street to struggling domestic carmakers, a move that could have the support of President-elect Obama.
November 10, 2008
Texas Governor Rick Perry Celebrates 18 Lanes of “Freedom”
Texas officials this week marked the opening of new lanes on the Katy Freeway, a stretch of Interstate 10 that runs 40 miles west from downtown Houston. The state has added 20 miles of interior lanes, including 12 miles of HOV lanes, which officials say will eventually be converted to variable-rate HOT use. The rebuilt Katy Freeway is 18 lanes wide.
October 30, 2008
No Takers for Contest to Make Fun of Walking, Biking, Transit
From the Competitive Enterprise Institute -- the Phillip Morris-Amoco-Texaco-Ford-funded activist "think tank" that brought you such informational videos as "Where's the Warming?" -- comes this attack on World Carfree Day.
October 27, 2008
Flouting Traffic Laws: The Gateway to Lying to Police
Everyone following the blow-by-blow of the presidential race is now familiar with Ashley Todd, the undergrad campaign volunteer who falsely claimed that a black man carved the letter "B" in her face after seeing her McCain bumper sticker. Before Todd's story was proven to be a total fabrication, her Twitter feed surfaced on the Smoking Gun, revealing a preoccupation with traffic, reckless driving, and weaseling out of traffic tickets:
October 27, 2008
Memo to MTV: “Pimp My Bike” = Ratings Gold
Via TreeHugger, this YouTube clip features Oakland's Trunk Boiz boasting about their scraper bikes, which sport custom-painted frames and rims to match (more photos here). The video has become an online sensation, drawing more than two million views. Tyrone Stevenson, one of the creators of the scraper bike style, is ready to capitalize, reports NPR:
September 29, 2008