(Source:  Streetsblog)

Automobile congestion is too often portrayed as mere nuisance or inconvenience. A new study from Germany, which we heard about via Streetsblog Network member blog The Hard Drive, reminds us that it is much more than that. The study, presented at the American Heart Association’s 49th Annual Conference on Cardiovascular Disease Epidemiology and Prevention last week, shows that being in a traffic jam — whether in a car, on a bike, or on a bus — can triple a person’s chance of having a heart attack:

“Overall, time spent in any mode of transportation in traffic was associated with a 3.2 times higher risk than time spent away from this trigger,” the study says.

The researchers didn’t try to pinpoint the reasons for the increased risks, but stress is a suspect. Another one: the exhaust and air pollution coming from other cars, the authors said.Past studies have discovered that pollution from car exhausts causes arteries to stiffen, resulting in higher blood pressure and reduced blood flow to the heart.

Women, the researchers found, seem to be particularly at risk.  Click here to read the entire article.

(Source:  Autobloggreen)

 It’s rare for the Detroit 3 automakers, the UAW and various politicians to agree on anything meaningful, but that’s exactly what appears to be happening after Rep. Betty Sutton of Ohio (D) introduced a bill in Congress called Consumer Assistance to Recycle and Save bill (CARS Act) that revives the so-called “Cash for Clunkers” plan. This bill would offer consumers up to $5,000 to trade in a vehicle that’s at least 8 years old in exchange for a new one built in the United States that gets at least 27 mpg if it’s a car or 24 mpg if it’s a truck or SUV. The total payout would be based on the new vehicle’s mileage rating.

The International Energy Agency on Friday lowered its estimate for global oil demand in 2009 as the crisis curbs demand in the United States, Russia and China.

The agency said demand would drop for a second consecutive year for the first time since 1982-1983.

In its closely watched monthly survey, the IEA cut its forecast for demand this year by 270,000 barrels a day to 84.4 million barrels a day — 1.5 percent lower than a year earlier.

The Paris-based agency said demand for oil last year was estimated to have slid 0.4 percent to 85.7 million barrels a day.

To put that into some kind of concrete yet still unimaginably large and therefore abstract terms, the IEA estimates that the world will consume 270,000 fewer barrels of oil every day. On a related not, a professor at Cambridge University is predicting a 40-50% drop in greenhouse gas emissions due to the global economic downturn.” reports GreenDaily.com

Click here to read more.

(Source: Autobloggreen)

Spain’s fourth largest city is getting 75 public electric vehicle recharging stations throughout the city this year. Spain’s ambitious program of introducing EVs, hybrid and plug-in cars (a million units for 2012) is promoting the new network under the Movele program. Seville is getting recharging stations in the most used parking lots in the city, as well as at the airport, city hall offices and other official buildings. The plan includes 500 electric cars, which will be allocated not only to public institutions but for private users as well. It’s expected that each simple recharging post will cost €1,000.  The picture shows a recharging post in Lisbon, Portugal.

Click here to read the entire post. 

(Source: Autobloggreen)

 

Last November, when we talked with SmartUSA boss Dave Schembri at the LA Auto Show, he acknowledged that a number of the people who had placed early orders for the tiny fortwo had canceled before taking delivery. At that time, the cancellation rate was about thirty percent, although most of those cars were being taken up by people who wanted immediate delivery. Apparently, that situation has changed as dealers who last year typically had no more than a meager handful of cars in stock now sometimes have dozens. 

Click here to read the entire article. 

(Source: USA Today; Photo: Dmitry Lovetsky, AP)

 

“For so long, Americans have viewed the automobile and the airplane as our transportation vehicles,” says Anne Canby, a former transportation secretary for Delaware and train advocate. “Until now, rail hasn’t been a major player in the discussion.”

Driving the new-found interest in trains is $8 billion that was tucked into the president’s economic stimulus legislation signed last month.

“People in this country don’t appreciate what modern rail travel is,” says Doyle, referring to the 180 mph Talgo system. “It is as smooth as riding in an airplane without any turbulence.”

Click here to read the entire article.

(Source:  Autobloggreen)

This week, Congress and President Obama have approved a bill that includes a June 30th deadline for the EPA to decide whether or not to allow California the right to enact its own greenhouse gas rules. Earlier this year, President Obama directed the EPA to reconsider California’s request for a waiver that would allow it to regulate gases like carbon dioxide, which is widely seen as a way for the state to set its own fuel efficiency requirements

Click here to read the entire article.

(Source: NHTSA)

The website states ” The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has provided the information in this booklet in compliance with Federal law as an aid to consumers considering the purchase of new vehicles. The booklet compares differences in insurance costs for different makes and models of passenger cars, utility vehicles, light trucks, and vans on the basis of damage susceptibility for the vehicle. However, it does not indicate a vehicle’s relative safety for occupants. ”

Click here to print or download a PDF.    Shown below is the PDF version for viewing:

(Source: Freakonomics,New York Times via Planetizen; Photo Courtesy: respres@Flickr)

• Los Angeles Transportation Facts and Fiction: Transit
• Los Angeles Transportation Facts and Fiction: Freeways
• Los Angeles Transportation Facts and Fiction: Smog
• Los Angeles Transportation Facts and Fiction: Sprawl
• Los Angeles Transportation: Facts and Fiction, Introduction

——————————————————————————————————————————————

Here is the article on Driving and Delay:

Time to bring the quiz to a close. We’ve seen in past posts that, by the standards of U.S. cities, Los Angeles is not sprawling, has a fairly extensive transit system, and is decidedly light on freeways. The smog situation has vastly improved. The final two stereotypes await.

Thanks to the great distances between far-flung destinations, and perhaps Angelenos’ famed “love affair” with the car, Angelenos drive considerably more miles than most Americans. 

Answer: False.

 According to the Federal Highway Administration, Angelenos drive 23 miles per resident per day. This ranks the Los Angeles metro area 21st highest among the largest 37 cities. The champions (or losers) are probably Houston, followed by Jacksonville and Orlando, all of which are over 30 miles per day. New Yorkers drive the fewest miles (17 VMT per resident per day), thanks in large part to relatively high transit ridership and lots of walking trips.

Despite our reputation, we Angelenos don’t exhibit any particularly great predilection for freeway travel either. Los Angeles ranks 14th out of the 37 largest metro areas in terms of highway miles driven per resident per day. To be sure, this is above the median, but it hardly points to the sort of unique freeway fetish Angelenos are accused of harboring.

(Source:  Transportation for America)

Before and after of a completed street. Tell Congress to support complete streets.

Did you know that almost half of all the trips we take each day are under three miles? So why aren’t more of us walking or biking for some of these shorter trips each day? Frankly, most of our streets just aren’t designed for safe and comfortable use by everyone — and almost all of us are pedestrians at some point during each day.

Complete streets are safe and accessible for everyone that needs to use them — cars, transit users, bicyclists, pedestrians, young, old, disabled, and everyone else.

Over the last two days, Complete Streets bills have been introduced in both the House and Senate.

Introduced by Sen. Tom Harkin in the Senate, and Rep. Doris Matsui in the House, these bills need our support — and more congressional sponsors. (Sen. Tom Carper and Rep. Ellen Tauscher, Rep. Carolyn Maloney, and Rep. David Wu are the current co-sponsors.)

Complete streets make it possible for children to walk and bike to school safely, give seniors more security traveling to appointments, and provide everyone with safer, greener and more convenient ways of getting around without their cars.

Click here to read the entire article.