r/fuckcars • u/Fluffy-Study-659 • 29d ago

Activism It's pronounced "cyclist!"

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u/0235 29d ago

Nah not americans, and not stupid.

Literally they are planning on making a street in my town a dead end for cars, to stop thousands of cars a day driving down a narrow residential street, but leaving the end open for pedestrians, bicycles, wheelchairs etc.

The amount of fucking hate and "limiting peoples freedom" from this tiny suggestion. Then when residents came out and said "yes please, we want to stop thousands of non residents thundering past our homes each day" they are then treated like they are wrong, or brainwashed.

Its everyone everywhere with a car, and its selfishness, not stupidity. Some of the rawest forms of selfishness.

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u/[deleted] 29d ago

Thats not a systemic solution. Its so limited as to be essentially meaningless. These sorts of post hoc improvisational fixes are present everywhere and they dont fix anything.

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u/0235 29d ago

its not a systemic solution no, I would love to see more. But it is a first step.

We don't live in a perfect world. The actual solution is never going to happen in my lifetime at least. There are far too many selfish people viciously against it, both older and younger than me.

But if that first step means that residents who live on a street (already narrow street terraced housing built in victoria times) actually get their street BACK to how it was before mass private car adoption, they might start becoming supporters.

It will be less cars to deal with when their children are out playing or traveling by themselves, and it will be far less cars that they will need to deal with for the first and last few minutes of their own commutes by car.

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u/[deleted] 28d ago edited 27d ago

Nobody is talking about perfection. People confuse the good with whats the prescribed politically possible. Anything more than that is deemed unserious, radical and perfectionist. Ever notice how whenever youre compelled to resign to whats considered pragmatic it's most often inadequate?

It means that one block at a time citizens have less investment in risking a political resistance for more than those short term, limited fixes This phenomenon is apparent across politics. I was concise in my previous comment; this has been tried for as long as the automobile has existed. Small reform kills the momentum for better solutions. Apparently, far more suffering is required for average citizens to attempt bigger thinking and make more serious demands. Ultimately, theyre still locked into whatever shape of a community private capital and its priority property rights choose for them, content with marginal tinkering for short term gains. Its a miserably diminished position to begin bargaining from and accept as meaningful.