I bookmark a lot of links, and often don't have time to post about them with all the bike stuff going on. Here's a bunch of links from the last couple of months about why cars (and car culture) suck in urban environments.

Canal accident kills woman, young son - I'm familiar with this area (it's just northwest of Newmarket), and apart from the tragedy of the incident, I'm wondering why people are calling for the canal to be moved, rather than the road. Surely it's easier to move a road than a canal?

Boy's death didn't have to happen, says traffic cop - A very tragic story about a guy who stopped to help out a stranded motorist on the Gardiner. An inattentive driver came along and hit his car, killing his 5 year-old son.

Flirting in Traffic - apparently car drivers are so socially backward that they use popular new programs where if they are attracted to another driver, they look for a sticker on their window, and then log into a website to find contact info.

Sales of Full-Size SUVs Take a Dive in February - Less people are buying SUVs. On a related note, I saw some car show on TV on the weekend (viewing options are limited when you don't have cable - it was either televangelists, infomercials, or a car show), where they had on some "experts" that admitted that there had been some shift in buying patterns recently with higher gas prices, but said they didn't expect a huge shift until prices hit $4 a gallon in the states. That's about a 35% increase from where they are now - so let's hope for $1.35 / litre prices here around Toronto, if it'll help spur transit and cycling growth!

Bah Hummer - Indie rockers reject big money from the king of gas guzzlers. Rock on.

One devil of a machine - about the first time a car was driven in Canada, in 1898.... "People nearly went crazy when I took my first drive in it ... Most of them were very much opposed to it, too. Many claimed that it was a `devil's machine,' and that all kinds of harm would be caused by it " How right they were!

CarsStink.org - 469 (and counting) Reasons We Must Eliminate Automobiles

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