Car Culture

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:

Having dispensed with the question of whether an African-American or woman will ever make it to the White House, conservative Culture Warriors have moved on to defining and dividing Americans over their chosen mode of transportation. These two images have been floating around the right wing blogosphere under the shrieky, all-caps headline, "THIS IS ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW." Somehow or another this strikes me as a promising development.

This intriguing bit of street art is the work of Peter Gibson, a.k.a. "Roadsworth", who's been painting Montreal streets, sidewalks, and public spaces since 2001. He's motivated by "a desire for more bike paths in the city and a questioning of 'car culture' in general," according to the design blog Toxel, where you can catch more of his pieces.

Think web sites are saturated with car ads? The internet's got nothing on local TV.

Author Tom Vanderbilt will be on Leonard Lopate at noon today, WNYC, 93.9 FM. Streetsbloggers will want to tune in.

Two recent road rage incidents are all over the news in Portland. Earlier this month, a drunken man on a bike became aggravated when a driver, himself a self-described bike advocate, reprimanded the cyclist for blowing a stoplight. The cyclist threatened the driver, picking up his bike and hitting the car with it. Then this week, a driver struck a cyclist and continued to drive as the victim, who escaped without serious injury, clung to the windshield.

Are you "a certain kind of urban idealist"? Chances are that if you read Streetsblog, the answer is yes. At least according to the New York Times.

In an effort to improve safety and mobility for pedestrians and cyclists, Washington, DC has embarked on a number of livable streets reforms (market rate street parking), and is considering others (reclaiming auto-occupied street space for people). Though a recent article in the Washington Post casts these initiatives as a "war" against car commuters, it's clear that DC officials -- like those in many US cities -- are in fact acting to level the field following decades of auto dominance, and at a time when driving has become a more expensive, less desirable option.

Via Streetsblog LA, a story of motorist anger run amok this past holiday weekend: