Carlessness

Though I risk being dubbed un-American and having my political career ruined before it even begins, I must confess that we do not own a car. Not here and, at the moment, not even back in the States.


It's not just the gross inefficiency of the internal combustion engine (80% of the energy value of the gas is simply lost), or the pollution (warning - the neutrality of the link is disputed), or the noise, or the space dedicated to roads and parking (1.7% of U.S. land area according to Kaufmann, 2001, I have to admit here that some of the stats may be slanted), or number of pedestrians killed by automobiles (just under 5000 people annually in the U.S.). For me, as much as any of these, is that it's awfully difficult to connect with the earth or our neighbors when we wrap ourselves in steel.

On the other hand, I too enjoy whizzing across continents to visit friends and relations, see new and different places, and attend work meetings. There are even those occasions where I see a car as a thing of beauty (e.g. Brother Evans' Ford Fairlane). My purpose today is not to advocate the elimination of the automobile, but simply to report on the things we like and dislike about being carless.


What I like about not having a car:

•  Walking - it feels good, helps me think, and makes for nice legs.
• Biking - when I need to get somewhere local fast, the bike is fun.
• Saying "Good Day" to people - we rarely mouth "Good Day" to people we interact with on the road.
• Seeing things - architectural details, flowers, children playing, the river - all best enjoyed when not a blur.
• Reading - on the bus or train I can learn stuff and let someone else stress about getting me where I want to go.
• Looking at my Wife - when I drive she prefers I watch the road, on the train I can gaze at her all I want.
• Footpaths - where cars are less dominant, little paths for bikes and peds spring up and they are usually more interesting than a 28 foot wide strip of bituminous.

What I like about having a car:

• Carrying groceries during rainstorms - it's nice to have the flour dry when you get home.
• Visiting distant castles - there are places where it is just not efficient to take transit, either for the transit agency or for the infrequency of trips that then makes a short visit an all day trip.
• Home Teaching - when you want to visit multiple people in one afternoon (like for our home teaching program at church), the car is useful.
• Home Improvement - except a car doesn't really cut it, this is why a fella needs a pickup too.

Anyway, I felt no great loss at not driving for nearly nine months. My manliness did not diminish as far as I could tell and I felt a great freedom to just come and go. On the other hand, it was nice having a car for our week long vacation and it was kind of exhilarating zipping along on the narrow roads. Truth be told, I couldn't drive 55. I would have even bought a car if I could have found a nice old Škoda like this at a good price.


With that said, I need to buy a minivan - this Friday morning - because we'll be back in the land where, in the words of Antonio Toniolo (a grad student from Argentina) citing Dr. Gary Parker, "si no tenés auto, no sos nada" (if you don't have a car, you are nothing). We're looking for a 2005-2006 model year. Nothing fancy. Preferably not white. If anyone knows anyone selling such a fine work of engineering, please let us know.

-Peter

Roundabouts and a few other Worthington Related Things

I haven't taken the time yet to write about transportation very much, but a trip to the Carp Capital of the World, Třeboň, to go biking last week got me thinking about another world capital I used to visit a lot - Worthington, Minnesota, the Turkey Capital of the World (though this designation is disputed by Cuero, Texas).  

Roundabouts
They started building roundabouts about 10 years ago in this area.  There are now quite a few throughout the country.  All four of the big roads leaving town have roundabouts at the edge of the city.  As best I can tell, with new construction, they put in roundabouts.

The design is similar to what we do in the US (no doubt they copied England also).  There is a splitter island, yield on entry, circular road, truck apron (on single lane roundabouts anyway), center island.  The truck aprons have typically been cobblestone.

Their roundabout signing is pretty simple and consistent through the ones I have seen.  Here is the approach to a small roundabout in Česke Budejovice -

From Transportation

This is the first sign at approaches to roundabouts.  I like this sign.  It tells you there is a roundabout and which exit to take to reach your destination.  Note the Tesco and Baumax exits go into parking lots.

From Transportation

This photo shows the ped Xing sign and the, farther along, the circular roundabout sign set below the yield sign.  Then, in the circle itself, chevrons.  That's it.  The small roundabouts do not have destination signs at each exit, I didn't notice if big ones do.

From Transportation

If you were wondering from the previous photo what the car was doing in the center island - it's an add.  There are lots of adds in public right of way including hanging from bridges.

On Hwy. E49 on the east edge of Ceske Budejovice there is a big multi-lane roundabout.

From Transportation

To the northeast runs a four-lane divided highway.  Plans are to extend the four-lane into town on the unfinished southwest leg.  This baby has two lanes all the way through with a third between each entrance-exit pair.  The diameter of the inscribed circle is 475 feet.  There is another big one on the four-lane headed north from town that has a diameter of 350 feet - so it is not a fluke.  So we drove through it very comfortably in a mini-van at 50 km/h (30 mph).  The fellow driving said he sometimes takes it at 80+ km/h (over 50 mph).

This concept has been frowned upon in the US.  Sure, the maximum safety benefits are gained when you slow traffic to below 20 mph.  That way, there is rarely a crash and, if there is, no one usually gets hurt.  My opinion, though, is that there are those locations (most notably on four lane highways at entrances to cities) where some form of traffic control is needed.  Signals are too dangerous.  Interchanges are too expensive or take too much space.  Small roundabouts inhibit mobility too much.  A big roundabout may be a good solution.  My friend said that this one is not noted as having lots of crashes.  When I can speak enough Czech I'll see what they have for crash data.

So, how does this all relate to Worthington.  Well, at the entrance to Třeboň, there is a roundabout and this is what is inside it...

Note the carp and the five-petaled rose which is the symbol of the Rožmberk's - the powerful family that ruled the area for several hundred years and had the fish ponds dug.

I ask you, if the Carp Capital of the World can have carp, why not have a turkey in the forthcoming Oxford Street roundabout in the Turkey Capital of the World.  Imagine the shocked and awed expressions of the Cueroites when they bring Ruby Begonia up for the race with Paycheck in the Great Gobbler Gallop.  I expect there would be no more discussion of to whom belongs the title - Turkey Capital of the World.

By the way, in the Třeboň area there is this  km long ditch from one point on the river Lužnice to another point downstream.  The ditch, known as the Golden Canal, provides water to a bunch of carp production ponds.  The guy that designed it is even featured on a statue.  Frankly, it ain't much to look at.  Anyway, for all the trouble the off-take ditch in Worthington was/is, I propose that it be dubbed the Golden Off-take Ditch. 

Finally, after a nice bike ride (we got lost - those are the best) we returned to Česke Budejovice.  We traveled on the narrow two lane roads with no shoulders, two foot deep V-ditches with 2:1 (yes steeper than 1:1) slopes, and trees on the back slope.  We came to the four lane highway with narrow median utilizing a sort of plate beam center guardrail.  We went through the big roundabout.  We drove on a four-lane city street.  And we came to the biggest bottleneck in town - a railroad underpass.  This again reminded me of Worthington.  It is a bit more problematic than the Union Pacific one track line over Hwy. 60 though.  Here the road goes under the tracks right by the train station - there are five tracks on the bridge and dozens of trains a day.

Peter

European Mobility Week

This is the final day of European Mobility Week - a continent wide effort to educate people regarding their transportation options and the impact of their choices.  I know it sounds like those liberal Europeans are trying to take away our cars again.  Putting aside, for a moment, my own beliefs on the global warming hoax ("global" warming is impossible because the earth is flat), I want to share a little about pedestrian accommodation in Česke Budejovice.

There is a lot of walking done in this city.  It's a dense urban area.  It makes sense to walk.  The city was designed for walking because it came before cars.  Fortunately, the small shops spread all over town continue to be viable which keeps walking viable.

In town here, there are sidewalks most everywhere.  They are usually make of paving bricks, cobblestones, asphalt with some large cut stones and concrete here and there.  They are in pretty good repair (I think they have cobblestone work down to a science here so they get their pavers to stay in place).  In most places there are curb cuts.  In newer construction they even have truncated dome paving bricks...

From Transportation

I have seen people out in wheelchairs and there are a lot of old people out walking.  They seem to get around.  I need to follow someone though and see if they have troubles.

They paint crosswalks at intersections on busy streets and many have ped crossing signs.  I have seen a couple locations where there is a very short median as a ped refuge.  There are also bumpouts at a lot of intersections.

At signalized intersections they always have ped indications.  Most are push button (many with buttons that light up when pushed) and audible (slow click = don't walk, fast click = walk).  If I recall they have a red or amber hand for don't walk and a green walker for walking.  The ped indication at almost all locations only shows green for a short while, but everyone seems to understand that the green is only needed to start the crossing.

I came across an interesting ped crossing just today.  It is a couple blocks west of the elementary school near us and at a very busy street.  I was biking and saw this intense white flashing coming from the pavement at a ped crossing.  They have a ped detection system (either microwave or video) and the in-pavement LED lights that flash when the peds can cross.  Drivers then get flashing yellow lights.  The intersection was not otherwise signalized.  It was a foggy day and these were working great.  Seems like a very good idea.

Another neat ped accommodation are the trails along the river.  At almost all bridges, the trail continues under the bridge.  This is incredible for safety and mobility for the bikers.

From Transportation

Drivers yield for peds really well here.  Even on the busy streets, where there are crosswalks, I have had no trouble taking my kids across. 

So, lots of people are out walking on days like this.  Some to get places; others just to enjoy the remains of summer.  People stay fit.  They stay mobile.  The women have great gams.  And the environmentalists can chill out.

Peter