QOTD: Take Back the Streets?

Steph Willems
by Steph Willems

The ongoing fight against an increasingly terrifying virus that can ruin your life in a dozen different ways has led to a conundrum. People are advised to stay at least six feet away from each other, but the spaces we’ve built for people often requires them to move in much closer formation.

Public transit, airliners, nightclubs, even sidewalks are designed for crowds, for people rubbing elbows, for packing in as much humanity as regulations will allow. What happens when every last one of those people suddenly requires an order of magnitude more space?

Lets focus on the sidewalk problem, as nightclubs and pandemic dating aren’t really this publication’s bag.

In cities everywhere, local governments are finding new space in which to put pedestrians — and that new acreage is always subtracted from space once set aside for motor vehicle use. Blocked-off lanes, removed parking, and streets shut down in their entirety are how cities plan to ensure (or at least assist) physical distancing.

If you’re reading this, you’re a driver. Maybe not all the time, and certainly not for every last yard and inch traveled in your day-to-day, but undoubtedly you’re being impacted — or will be impacted — when pedestrians and cyclists start encroaching on what was once your turf. You’d also be impacted if virus transmission flares up again after a torturous spring peak.

Today we’re asking: how much are you willing to give up? These measures could last for six months or quadruple that. It could be permanent. Would you be okay with urban street parking halved? Every fifth one-way or bidirectional street in a downtown area closed off, only allowing local traffic? Four lanes becoming two?

What’s your personal take on the matter?

[Image: Toyota]

Steph Willems
Steph Willems

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  • -Nate -Nate on Apr 30, 2020

    "We would be in much better shape as a nation if people weren’t idiots." One million times this . I'm so glad I broke my ass to buy my crappy little Ghetto house where I can hide out and then drive my car / ride my Moto away where there's no one else . I've even managed to find a deserted park where my brother and I ate out take out lunch the other day . The parks / beaches / etc. closed deal is very simple : most places like this when opened up, instantly have crowds of people all jammed to - gether... Unless you're a mouth breather this isn't rocket science . I used to live in densely crowded places, some time apartments, I worry for those who still do . -Nate

  • -Nate -Nate on Apr 30, 2020

    Maybe just go out of town a bit ? . This isn't far from me, I cannot ride like this at all but I _can_ ride the paved Desert back roads.... Enjoy ! : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AY5BzidOlH0&utm_source=ActiveCampaign&utm_medium=email&utm_content=BikeBandit+News%21&utm_campaign=BikeBandit+News -Nate

  • MaintenanceCosts It's not a Benz or a Jag / it's a 5-0 with a rag /And I don't wanna brag / but I could never be stag
  • 3-On-The-Tree Son has a 2016 Mustang GT 5.0 and I have a 2009 C6 Corvette LS3 6spd. And on paper they are pretty close.
  • 3-On-The-Tree Same as the Land Cruiser, emissions. I have a 1985 FJ60 Land Cruiser and it’s a beast off-roading.
  • CanadaCraig I would like for this anniversary special to be a bare-bones Plain-Jane model offered in Dynasty Green and Vintage Burgundy.
  • ToolGuy Ford is good at drifting all right... 😉
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