What We Did on Our Summer Vacation, featuring Rick Steves
The War on Cars
Why do Americans spend lots of money to visit walkable, bikeable, transit-friendly European cities, only to come back to the U.S. and oppose all those things where they live? Rick Steves has some thoughts. Countless people know and love the popular travel writer for his guidebooks and long-running television programs, which encourage people to explore Europe’s “backdoor” destinations—those off-the-beaten-path locations that have just as much or more to offer than its more touristy cities and sights. Rick takes a thoughtful and philosophical approach to travel and believes it offers...
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TEASER: Voices of Velo-city
The War on Cars
This is a preview of a Patreon-exclusive bonus episode. For complete access to this and all of our bonus content, . In June, Doug attended Velo-city, an annual cycling summit hosted by the European Cyclists' Federation that brings the bike world together. This year's conference was held in the Belgian city of Ghent. While there, Doug wandered the exhibition floor talking with people from all over the world — including elected officials, city planners, advocates, industry representatives, academics and bike-curious regular citizens — about why it was important for them to attend...
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Listener Origin Stories (Patreon Bonus Re-Release)
The War on Cars
Episode 133: Listener Origin Stories (Patreon bonus re-release) We’re taking a short break to work on our forthcoming book and some of our upcoming fall shows. We’ll be back with new free episodes in early September. In the meantime, please enjoy this re-release of our Patreon bonus episode from December 26, 2023. You can get all of our Patreon bonus episodes and more subscriber-only content – plus stickers! – by signing up to support us at . (A new Patreon-exclusive bonus episode will be released in two weeks.) * * * * * Last November we told you . Everything from early...
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TEASER: Walking 4,000 Miles with Holden Ringer
The War on Cars
This is a preview of a Patreon-exclusive bonus episode. For complete access to this and all of our bonus content, . This month’s exclusive Patreon bonus episode is an interview with Holden Ringer, who recently finished walking more than 4,000 miles across the country from the starting point of LaPush, Washington. Holden is a 26-year-old originally from Dallas, Texas, and he used his odyssey to fundraise for the organization America Walks, as well as to raise awareness about active transportation and meet with fellow-minded advocates along the way. As he says, “Advocacy is built into...
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Vehicular Cycling and John Forester, Part 2
The War on Cars
NOTE: This is part two of a two-part episode. To hear both parts right now and without ads, . In part two of our deep dive on John Forester and his 1976 book Effective Cycling, we take a look at the paltry data and research underpinning the alleged safety benefits of vehicular cycling and the long-term impact Forester had on cycling for transportation in the United States. Even though cities such as New York started building protected bicycle lanes in earnest in the late 2000s and early 2010s — and even though quality bike infrastructure has existed in places such as Davis, California...
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Vehicular Cycling and John Forester, Part 1
The War on Cars
NOTE: This is part one of a two-part episode. To hear both parts right now and without ads, . "Cyclists fare best when they act and are treated as drivers of vehicles." That quote is the core philosophy of John Forester, the father of vehicular cycling. Forester, who died in 2020, was a major figure in the the world of cycling advocacy and transportation policy, and his influence shaped street design and bicycle safety in the United States for decades. We take a deep dive into Forester's 1976 book, Effective Cycling. Part guidebook, part encyclopedia, part polemic, Effective...
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Critical Mass Nairobi with Cyprine Odada
The War on Cars
Cyprine Odada is the Executive Director of Critical Mass Nairobi and an urban planner specializing in active mobility. Ever since founding the Kenyan capital’s chapter of Critical Mass, the largest gathering of non-competitive cyclists in Africa, Cyprine has helped get more people on bikes from different neighborhoods, ages, and social and economic groups, changing the perception of who rides a bike in Nairobi and building more political support for bike infrastructure in a city where cars dominate. By focusing on the joy of cycling and the way in which the bicycle can connect people and...
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Killed by a Traffic Engineer
The War on Cars
Because it has the word “engineering” right in there, the field of traffic engineering is something most people assume is governed by science and rational rules. But a new book, written by a traffic engineer himself, argues that is not the case at all. In , Wes Marshall — a professor of civil engineering at the University of Colorado Denver — says that the idea that the design of our transportation system is based on science couldn't be further from the truth. By examining a century's worth of history, studies, old professional journals and current standards, Marshall argues that his...
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Women's Freedom to Ride
The War on Cars
Why don’t more women ride bicycles in London? The advocacy group wanted to know, and so they asked. What they discovered was disturbing: Among more than a thousand women surveyed, nine out of ten said they experienced verbal abuse and aggression while biking. Ninety-three percent said drivers had used vehicles to intimidate them. One in five said they had given up riding permanently or temporarily after they had been harassed. And when women reported incidents of aggression to the police? The cops almost never followed up. We spoke with the London Cycling Campaign’s Kate Bartlett about...
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Kathy Hochul's Congestion Pricing Flip-Flop Fiasco
The War on Cars
In this emergency episode, we discuss New York State Governor Kathy Hochul's 11th-hour decision to "indefinitely suspend" congestion pricing, the program that would have charged drivers to enter Manhattan below 60th Street. Her move, announced in a prerecorded video on Wednesday, June 5th, came mere weeks before congestion pricing was set to launch, jeopardizing what was set to be a major funding source for transit and a revolutionary plan to reduce traffic in a way never seen before in the United States. Why did Hochul do this? Is it bad politics or atrociously bad politics? What does this...
info_outlineNOTE: This is part one of a two-part episode. To hear both parts right now and without ads, become a Patreon supporter of The War on Cars.
"Cyclists fare best when they act and are treated as drivers of vehicles."
That quote is the core philosophy of John Forester, the father of vehicular cycling. Forester, who died in 2020, was a major figure in the the world of cycling advocacy and transportation policy, and his influence shaped street design and bicycle safety in the United States for decades. We take a deep dive into Forester's 1976 book, Effective Cycling. Part guidebook, part encyclopedia, part polemic, Effective Cycling explains why cyclists should not be afraid to ride not just in traffic, but as traffic. Throughout the book, Forester dismisses anyone who might be afraid of taking the lane with fast-moving cars and trucks as suffering from what he calls the "cyclist inferiority complex" and asserts that only a strict adherence to the principles of vehicular cycling can keep everyone safe.
Who was John Forester? What is vehicular cycling? Why are we talking about a book that was published almost fifty years ago? It's all here in this mega episode.
This episode was sponsored by Cleverhood and Pinhead Locks. Listen for the latest discount codes.
LINKS/SOURCES
Read Peter Flax in conversation with John Forester, via Bicycling Magazine.
Northeastern University's Peter Furth takes on John Forester.
STUDY: "Risk of injury for bicycling on cycle tracks versus in the street," by Lusk, Furth, et. al.
PAPER: "A Historical Perspective on the AASHTO Guide for the Development of Bicycle Facilities and the Impact of the Vehicular Cycling Movement," Schultheiss, Sanders, and Toole, 2018
AASHTO’s Draft Bikeway Guide Includes Protected Bike Lanes and More, Streetsblog 2016
Key Design Guide to Finally Include Protected Bike Lanes, Streetsblog 2018
'Death Of A ‘Dinosaur:’ Anti-Cycleway Campaigner John Forester Dies, Aged 90, by Carlton Reid in Forbes
Read Bike Boom: The Unexpected Resurgence of Cycling, by Carlton Reid.
Read Bike Battles: A History of Sharing the American Road, by James Longhurst.
How the former Dallas bicycle coordinator held back cycling infrastructure for years, via the Texas Observer.
Dallas' Former Bike Czar Tells Newbie Riders to Go Play in Traffic, via the Dallas Observer
Access John Forester's website via the Wayback Machine.
If you're a glutton for punishment, pick up a copy of John Forester's Effective Cycling.
Grab some merch in our official store!
This episode was edited by Yessenia Moreno. It was recorded by Josh Wilcox at the Brooklyn Podcasting Studio.