Walksmtx

09/12/2022

"Generally what we find is that going from nothing to something gives us the biggest bang for buck..."

Walking briskly is beneficial for all health outcomes including dementia, heart disease, cancer and death

09/12/2022

"Crossing the Street Shouldn't Be Deadly (but it is)"

It's a design issue. Correct the design, prevent injuries and death.

Visit https://80000hours.org/notjustbikes for free advice and information about finding a career that provides an opportunity to have a positive impact on th...

09/12/2022

"Our human nature pulls us in the direction of blaming someone, anyone, most likely the person directly involved in the incident because surely they must pay. Perhaps. But what if the real responsibility lies further up the chain of events at the system level?"

In Ep 136, I connect with Jessie Singer author of There Are No Accidents: The Deadly Rise of Injury and Disaster - Who Profits and Who Pays the Price. We hea...

07/14/2022

“Here’s a checklist that will help you identify a people-oriented street:

•Does the street have no more than one lane of traffic in each direction?

•Are the lanes narrow (not much wider than the average car)?

•Is parking either directly on the street or behind the buildings?

•Are the homes and businesses close to the street with amenities (like signage and windows) sized for people?

•Would it be relatively safe and feasible for a person to cross the street at any point, including the middle of the block?

•Are there sufficient sidewalks?

•Are there people out on the street? (No, seriously; is there even a single human being?)”

You know those games you usually find on the back of a cereal box or in a kids’ magazine that present you with two seemingly identical pictures and ask you to spot the six things that are different in each? Well, here’s a much easier version of that: What differences...

07/08/2022

Thanks to David Hesiquio Rodriguez for sharing this gem with us!

"Bicycle is the slow death of the planet."

A banker made the economists think this when he said:

“A cyclist is a disaster for the country’s economy: he doesn’t buy cars and doesn’t borrow money to buy. He don't pay insurance policies. Don't buy fuel, don't pay to have the car serviced, and no repairs needed. He doesn't use paid parking. Doesn't cause any major accidents. No need for multi-lane highways.

He is not getting obese.

Healthy people are not necessary or useful to the economy. They are not buying the medicine. They dont go to hospitals or doctors.

They add nothing to the country's GDP.

"On the contrary, each new McDonald’s store creates at least 30 jobs—actually 10 cardiologists, 10 dentists, 10 dietitians and nutritionists—obviously as well as the people who work in the store itself."

Choose wisely: a bike or a McDonald's? It's something to think about.

~ Emeric Sillo

PS: walking is even worse. Pedestrians don't even buy a bicycle!

*Posted by Jessica Maria Dwyer on Linkedin (https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessdwyer/)
**Photo credit: Franz-Michael S. Mellbin (2011)

06/20/2022

"Streets designed for humans on foot build more wealth than those designed for automobile throughput, and it’s not even close. Streets designed to be safe for people walking and biking build more wealth than those designed primarily to accommodate automobiles. Streets that use good urban design, focus on building a sense of place, and connect by biking and walking to a surrounding neighborhood dramatically outperform, in terms of wealth creation, any collection of auto-oriented streets we can construct."

Streets can be about many things, but unless they are building wealth for the community, they won’t survive. Period.

06/09/2022

*THIS* is why the WalkSMTX board chose to bank with Frost! 🤗💚👣 ^kt

06/08/2022

Our friends at PakMail Thorpe Lane have extended their fundraising opportunity through the end of June! *cheering* This is the perfect time to sort through your old tax documents, insurance paperwork, and pages with personal information that need to be shredded, not simply thrown in the trash. It's kinda like Spring Cleaning...just in the summer! ;)

HUGE THANK YOU to Mary and the PakMail team! ^kt

Don't forget to come out this week and shred your old documents at the PakMail on Thorpe Lane before it is too late! 50% of the proceeds will be going to our friend Katie with Walksmtx to help her make our city more walkable! Check out her page for more info on all the amazing progress she has made so far:)

06/07/2022

This is advocacy in action! Kudos to Penny Slavik for showing us what it looks like to be a good neighbor and servant leader. 🙌

06/02/2022

"There are many reasons why pedestrian deaths have climbed to a 40-year high, but larger vehicles are surely one of them. NHTSA acknowledges that, when SUVs and pickup trucks hit a pedestrian, they are two to three times more likely to kill that person than a passenger car. And the blind spots of SUVs and pickup trucks make their drivers three to four times more likely to hit a pedestrian when turning."

Join these campaigns and send a message to Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.

06/02/2022

At some point during the day -- each and every day -- YOU are a pedestrian, too.

https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-local-correspondents/when-cars-kill-pedestrians

06/02/2022

Traffic deaths can be prevented.

Families for Safe Streets teamed up with the NYC Taxi & Limousine Commission, Department of Transportation and Police Department to make this video. Drive Li...