I walk for errands a lot and I’ve found myself planning routes down quiet low traffic streets just like I take into account hills and shade to stay comfortable. The constant engine sound and exhaust clouds really make things unpleasant even on an otherwise picturesque street. When I’m forced to walk down a busy street I’m naturally drawn to daydreaming about my city keeping its cars on the perimeter (to be used for long distance car trips, hiking/camping) with a little monorail for getting to the garages.
Where I live here in Idaho (US) I am surrounded by nature. But when I go on walks and stuff, I can still hear all the cars around because the sound travels so far here. So annoying.
From 2025, and a great read. Excerpt that really stands out to me:
One theory is that growing up in a world dominated by vehicles puts them in a collective blind spot. In other words, car culture changes your brain. “It’s so endemic, it’s so pervasive, it’s so ubiquitous that people don’t recognize just how much it is all around them,” said Ian Walker, an environmental psychologist at Swansea University in the United Kingdom. “And if it’s all around you, it’s shaping your perceptions.”
Walker coined the word “motonormativity” to describe this bias, which causes people to apply laxer moral standards to driving than to other activities.
3 Comments
reallykindasorta@slrpnk.net · 1 pts · 47d
I walk for errands a lot and I’ve found myself planning routes down quiet low traffic streets just like I take into account hills and shade to stay comfortable. The constant engine sound and exhaust clouds really make things unpleasant even on an otherwise picturesque street. When I’m forced to walk down a busy street I’m naturally drawn to daydreaming about my city keeping its cars on the perimeter (to be used for long distance car trips, hiking/camping) with a little monorail for getting to the garages.
PapaSkwat@lemmy.today · -3 pts · 47d
Yep, it sucks.
Where I live here in Idaho (US) I am surrounded by nature. But when I go on walks and stuff, I can still hear all the cars around because the sound travels so far here. So annoying.
PapaSkwat@lemmy.today · -1 pts · 47d
From 2025, and a great read. Excerpt that really stands out to me:
One theory is that growing up in a world dominated by vehicles puts them in a collective blind spot. In other words, car culture changes your brain. “It’s so endemic, it’s so pervasive, it’s so ubiquitous that people don’t recognize just how much it is all around them,” said Ian Walker, an environmental psychologist at Swansea University in the United Kingdom. “And if it’s all around you, it’s shaping your perceptions.”
Walker coined the word “motonormativity” to describe this bias, which causes people to apply laxer moral standards to driving than to other activities.