Cartoon Tuesday: Tales From the Dark Side (of the Road)
The UK Department for Transport's no-holds-barred THINK! road safety campaign isn't just for adults. This creepy toon, one in a series designed to influence how kids interact with auto traffic (here's another), encourages bright colored clothing in favor of "trendy" darker tones when walking at night.
March 17, 2009
Campaign Enlists Comedians to Curb Reckless Teen Driving
The Ad Council has some new material in its campaign aimed at teenage drivers. In these spots, a comedic actor (Fred Willard in the ad above) in the backseat of a car with three teens cajoles or threatens the driver into slowing down or minding the road. The gist of the campaign, corresponding with the title of its web site, is "speak up or else" -- a name perhaps more suited to hard-hitting PSAs from overseas.
March 9, 2009
Obama: America “Cannot Walk Away” From the Automobile
In his first address to a joint session of Congress, President Barack Obama last night emphasized his administration’s commitment to keeping the domestic auto industry afloat, while offering only a passing mention to the nation’s mass transit systems. Said Obama: As for our auto industry, everyone recognizes that years of bad decision-making and a global … Continued
February 25, 2009
Mercedes: Reckless Driving Is Smarter
Here's a particularly egregious bit of "open road" propaganda from Mercedes. In this ad, currently airing in US markets, a new Benz GLK whips through the narrow streets of what appears to be a small European village, the inhabitants of which are reduced to slo-mo scenery.
February 23, 2009
Did Team Obama Gut Transit Funds From the Stimulus Package?
Reporting on last week's stimulus letdown
-- when a proposal by US Rep. James Oberstar's Transportation and
Infrastructure Committee for $17 billion in mass transit spending was
slashed by the Appropriations Committee, while $30 billion in proposed
allocations for roads and bridges remained the same -- Grist got word that the then-incoming Obama administration may have had a hand in paring down the transportation package.
January 21, 2009
Wiki Wednesday: Farmer’s Markets
South Bronx Greenmarket. Photo: Susan Donovan Streetsblogger rex commented earlier today that we may be headed for what he termed a “Grapes of Wrath kind of economy” — one in which businesses prosper by paring down inventories to bare essentials while doing what they can to make themselves more accessible to the car-free masses. Another … Continued
December 10, 2008
Wiki Wednesday: Community Mapping
As
a kid I used to periodically raid my grandparents' stash of National
Geographics. Not for photos of women in scant native dress, but for the
way cool maps, with which I would wallpaper my room.
December 3, 2008