how to destroy car culture...

#spindle #carculture #criticalmass #bicycles #cycling #pleasantrevolution

Yesterday night, on our bike ride from school, as my helmeted kid and I were stopped at a red light on the painted bike lane, the driver next to us lowered their window to ask me where my helmet was.

Initially taken aback by the sheer entitlement of the request, I curtly told them to mind their own business, after all they were driving 2 tons of metal so where was their helmet?

Visibly on the back foot, they tried to justify that they were a “concerned [citizen]” (wink @Beko Pharm ). I replied I was concerned cars like theirs could kill me, which gave them an opportunity to mention the hypothetical usefulness of a helmet (in a collision with a car, it’s near useless).

Then the light turned green and while we started to ride away, they pretended to ram me by swerving at low speed into the bike lane.

At this point I’m used to drivers simply annoyed at bicyclists, probably because they would like to cross at the red too, but this was a new one for me.

#BikeTooter #Bike #Bicycle #CarCulture

This is a tough story and what it doesn't point out (again, normalizing this) is our #CarCulture.

How much of her monthly bills go towards a car (which is the unexpected expense causing her financial difficulty at the moment).
Corrupt politicians of former eras locked us into a built form that enslaves us to the car, ensuring roughly 1/3 of our incomes go towards car makers and oil and gas companies.

Current politicians are in no hurry to break us free from this enslavement to car maker profits. Articles like this don't point out how messed up this is. It simply normalizes a single industry taking a huge chunk of our money as the way of life.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/london/she-worked-full-time-and-after-monthly-bills-there-was-9-left-for-food-1.7007539
#MediaBias
#MediaIsFailingUs
#ClimateChange
#ClimateCrisis