Wednesday 27 August 2008

Today's Fuel Gauge

Some of the reasons for going car free are ethical, some are environmental, some are social. But there's also the plain financial.

Saturday 23 August 2008

An Accidental Record

Saw a report the other day, where Queensland Ambulance reported that the number of road accidents they have attendented (January to July) has increased since last year. By itself, that's no surprise.

The surprising part was the number. 12,738 Of those, 9488 involved someone being taken to hospital.

"These statistics really are appalling," said Ambulance Commissioner David Melville. "One crash is one too many but almost 13,000 in seven months is ridiculous."

Monday 11 August 2008

Criminal Motorists

Apparently there has been a recent trend for petrol stations to become 'pre-pay'. According to the VACC, this is to curb the recent increase of fuel theft, due to high prices.

I would have thought that once you have to start resorting to criminal activity, it might be time to reconsider your transport choices.

Wednesday 6 August 2008

Jack's Bike

This is not advertising, but i reckon credit must go to this local fastfood outlet, which has installed a nice bike parking facility for its customers.


Sure it's probably because a large percentage of their target audience is pre-driving age. But still, it's relatively rare to see such a facility so nice and so close. Meanwhile, if anyone sees any bike parking at the Indro monolith, please let us know.

Tuesday 5 August 2008

Model Identity

One of the interesting things about going car free (if you're the sciency nerdy type) is observing the attachment between people and vehicles.

Recently a friend discovered in a conversation that the other person lived in the same street as her. After a short period of comparing parts of the street, my friend says "Look out for a blue festiva."

It was said in a friendly tone (not as a warning) but reminded me how car-dependence can isolate us from our community. Clearly car people realise that a chance of a face-to-face encounter with another human being (even one that lives in the same street) is so remote as to be not worth considering. Far more likely is the chance of recognising the colour and shape of an object zooming by.