You think driving is bad, look what parking does.
Fri, 2007-11-09 11:01
#1
You think driving is bad, look what parking does.
Fri, 2007-11-09 11:01
#2
[url=http://www.slate.com/id/2164257/nav/navoa/]Why parking your car is more environmentally destructive than driving it.[/url]
Does he have a point?
Fri, 2007-11-09 11:45
#3
I think so.
Even if we toss environmental issues to the somewhat warmer than it used to be wind, and approach it from the perspective of what roads are actually for, on street parking on major urban thoroughfares is insane.
I don't know how much it would cost to widen a street for any significant distance, but all told it would be in the millions of dollars.
A few hundred no parking signs would be a lot cheaper. And, traffic would move more economically.
I wonder how much less green house gas would be emitted if city planners used roads for what they are actually for-- moving traffic, not storing it.
I bet it would be very significant.
Fri, 2007-11-09 11:55
#4
Yes, and if it's harder to find parking, or vastly more expensive, more people will be pushed onto public transit.
Toronto allows very few (if any) parking pads anymore. Too many folks were paving the front yard to create more parking (especially landlords, who can charge higher rent if there's parking), thus reducing the already sparse green space. More pavement contributes to the pollution of lakes, because rainwater that runs off pavement instead of soaking into soil will eventually end up as contaminated run-off.
Sat, 2007-11-10 17:34
#5
[url=http://www.lead.org.au/lanv3n2/lanv3n2-4.html]Here is a study of the environmental cost of owning a private car in Germany.[/url]
Canadian figures are probably worse.
quote:
Land-use data are also brought into the equation to show that Germany's cars, if one includes driving and parking requirements, commandeer 3,700 square kilometres of land - 60 per cent more than is allocated to housing. Every German car is responsible for 200 square metres of tarmac and concrete.
The social cost is high too.
quote:
They illustrate the German accidents: each car, they experience with road traffic say, over its lifetime is responsible for 820 hours of 'life lost through a road traffic accident fatality and 2,800 hours of life damaged by a road traffic accident.
Sun, 2007-11-11 09:30
#6
Would the analysis be the same if we all rode horses?
Regardless, the message is the same: cut the driving - now there are two reasons.