Matthew Steenhoek

Notes from San Jose, CA mostly on urbanism, bicycles, design, economic development, travel, and general happenings.

[Greg Shill @greg_shill]

It’s remarkable how individual scooters parked by users in the wrong places is somehow evidence that they should be outlawed while cars *designed and built to break the law* provides no occasion for reflection. Stellantis is a big company; it wouldn’t be hard to find a hook here.

[Qagggy! @Qagggy]

What if we built streets for kids? How would we allocate street space?

[Matthew Steenhoek @mhoek]

Headline should be: “First place on the "other-driver" fatality list is the Ram 3500 Crew Cab long bed 4WD at 189. Several full-size pickups are at the top of this dataset, in fact. Of the top 10 cars most likely to kill another driver in an accident, six are full-size pickups”

[The Drive @thedrive]

Driving a tiny car in a sea of pickup trucks is a dangerous proposition. https://t.co/OIhjodsNx9

[Jeremy Glover @JGrantGlover]

Drivers honestly think they're being nice for "letting" pedestrians cross the street. If a pedestrian doesn't display submission -- by running across or saying thank you -- they're considered rude.

Newsflash: we aren't your guests. We have a right to the street. We belong there.

[Matthew Steenhoek @mhoek]

@Cobylefko To judge them fairly, we must give it some time to get dirt under its fingernails, let the trees grow in, let some business & people come and go and leave their mark. If you took the patina of time off of many beloved neighborhoods they’d feel quite similar. Are the bones good?

[Andy Boenau @Boenau]

When the average American parent hears about a traffic calming project, the instinct is to be annoyed that they'll have to slow down while rushing their kids somewhere.

But after a parent loses their child in a preventable crash, they become a safe streets champion. Traffic calming is suddenly an obvious solution.

There's no reason to keep increasing the number of grieving parents.
⏺️ Bad street design encourages bad driving habits.
⏺️ Good street design encourages good driving habits.

[Matthew Steenhoek @mhoek]

Headed to #Minneapolis next weekend with some pals. Any must eat/drink/see/do’s?

[Coby @Cobylefko]

Removing on street parking in Toronto in favor of dining parklets led to a nearly 50x increase in revenue as compared to parking fees.

The math is common sense - we should build cities for people, not cars!

[Alex Dickson @AlexDicksonDC]

We could be, in fact, more like Paris.

[David Ho @_david_ho_]

Behold my favorite traffic calming device.

[Sarah @Henryz_mom]

I'll never forget the day my very smart and highly educated friend said 'something big would have to happen to change people's attitude about cars' I don't know. The loss of Henry + 43,000 other American citizens and climate collapse seems pretty big to me.

[Andy Boenau @Boenau]

No matter how much you demonstrate ways that ordinary Americans could make short trips on a bicycle, there will be a group of people who screech about commutes.

Forget about the commute.

Half of America's car trips are under a few miles. With the right infrastructure, those would be easy bike trips.

[Christian Dimmer @Remmid]

“The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.”

—Alvin Toffler

"Insanity is making the same mistakes and expecting different results.”

—Albert Einstein

[⛑Accident Bandicoot⛑ @CarHelmets]

"A major incident was declared, but the Met said it was not being treated as terror-related."

16 injuries including the killing of an 8-year-old girl. It's not terrorism if a belligerently-driven luxury SUV is involved. Just normalized vehicular violence. https://t.co/JlNEGR28GC

[Brent Toderian @BrentToderian]

I’M AMAZED I’VE NEVER SEEN THIS BEFORE!

Didn’t think I could like Bill Nye more.

Via @CarsRuinedCity @BillNye

[Matthew Steenhoek @mhoek]

@SanJoseDOT Sadly people will drive the speed they feel comfortable at and that almost always is above the speed limit bc of the over engineered roads that are too wide. Pls make physical changes to the roads. Reduce land width, add stop signs, use real bollards. Do something to save a life.