Seth LaJeunesse
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sethlaj.bsky.social
Seth LaJeunesse
@sethlaj.bsky.social
🚲 🚶🏻 are the best. 🚗 are not. autonomous people. systems science. social sciences. let’s change the culture.
It's #ElectionDay! Let's revisit insights from @ianwalker.bsky.social and Marco Te Brömmelstroet

"it is possible public support for changes to road systems becomes ‘hidden’ because people tend incorrectly to assume that their (majority) desire for change represents an unpopular minority view. 1/2
November 4, 2025 at 1:45 PM
The end of daylight saving is 2nd only to New Years for the density of totally reasonable promises we make to ourselves
I'm sure the extra hour of sleep tonight is what it is going to take to get my shit together. I can't wait to wake up and start my new routine where I eat healthy, work out regularly, and keep up with all my emails.
November 1, 2025 at 7:58 PM
“These harms are Cacophony (noise), Carbon emissions, Casualties from collisions, Community severance, Concern and social isolation, Congestion, Contamination (of air and ground), Conurbation design, and Couch potatoes.” 🙏
October 31, 2025 at 10:08 AM
Reposted by Seth LaJeunesse
Highly recommend @thewaroncars.bsky.social's book Life After Cars.
“If someone was walking along the streets spraying poisonous fumes into people’s faces, they’d be arrested and probably locked up. But if you spray those fumes into people’s faces using a car, it’s somehow legal.”

-Tyre Extinguishers rep in @thewaroncars.bsky.social ‘Life After Cars’ book.
October 27, 2025 at 6:47 PM
Reposted by Seth LaJeunesse
A decade in - the #VisionZero movement is changing how we think, talk, and build for safety.

Check out our Top 10 Signs of Progress and what they mean for the next decade of #VisionZero:
visionzeronetwork.org/top-10-signs...
October 16, 2025 at 3:32 PM
Not only is it somehow legal, it’s subsidized, deregulated, even celebrated!
“If someone was walking along the streets spraying poisonous fumes into people’s faces, they’d be arrested and probably locked up. But if you spray those fumes into people’s faces using a car, it’s somehow legal.”

-Tyre Extinguishers rep in @thewaroncars.bsky.social ‘Life After Cars’ book.
October 26, 2025 at 6:08 PM
“If someone was walking along the streets spraying poisonous fumes into people’s faces, they’d be arrested and probably locked up. But if you spray those fumes into people’s faces using a car, it’s somehow legal.”

-Tyre Extinguishers rep in @thewaroncars.bsky.social ‘Life After Cars’ book.
October 26, 2025 at 4:54 PM
Reposted by Seth LaJeunesse
Great interview on @chrislhayes.bsky.social podcast with the authors of this book: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/w...
‘Life After Cars’ with Sarah Goodyear and Doug Gordon
Podcast Episode · Why Is This Happening? The Chris Hayes Podcast · 10/21/2025 · 1h 5m
podcasts.apple.com
October 25, 2025 at 12:56 AM
Cars are often “structural killers”—they kill directly (via crashes + pollution) and indirectly (via facilitating drive by shootings or drug ODs in the wake of car crash injury).

Yet cars are frequently compared to “direct killers” like guns and opioids.

100% unfair.
October 24, 2025 at 9:33 PM
It’s arrived! (with a car-free driveway since ‘17 providing the backdrop).
October 24, 2025 at 4:57 PM
The fact that local public schools are funded via property taxes, which determines each school’s resources, which determines ed outcomes, which determines economic outcomes, gives credence to notion that one’s zip code determines one’s fate.

And somehow we’re okay with this?
October 24, 2025 at 12:20 PM
Hardly hear a whisper about this travesty
Here's something that's not talked about enough

The air pollution from burning fossil fuels kills an estimated 10 million people a year

1 in 6 deaths is caused by fossil fuels

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
October 21, 2025 at 1:58 PM
How would you feel if your loved one died in traffic and your local news decided to immediately follow up the tragedy with a traffic report?
I-40 reopens in Durham after deadly crash leaves drivers stuck in westbound lanes for hours
A deadly crash near Durham continues to block the westbound lanes of Interstate 40 on Sunday morning, leaving some drivers stuck in traffic for several hours.
www.wral.com
October 19, 2025 at 3:33 PM
No Kings Carrboro / Chapel Hill NC
October 18, 2025 at 7:49 PM
Reposted by Seth LaJeunesse
"My two favorite things: libraries + bicycles. They both move people forward without wasting anything."
—Peter Golkin

I take a look at transit, bicycles, and books in this HIGH SPEED dispatch.

(In keeping with the public spirit, paywall removed!)

www.highspeed.blog/the-little-s...
October 17, 2025 at 6:31 PM
Something about the ability to comfortably travel at inhuman speeds strips us of our humanity.
An adult driver angry at a child they hit with their car.

Our car culture summed up in one video.
Police in Airdrie, Alberta (just north of Calgary) say this driver hit a 17-year-old girl in a marked crosswalk, got out of the vehicle, and appeared to get upset at the teenager before driving away.

They released this video and are now trying to identify the driver.
October 8, 2025 at 11:51 AM
Safe, comfortable sharing of public space relies upon a solid social contract.

Yet when the owner of a popular local business consistently violates the contract, safe and comfortable travel for people unprotected by roll cages becomes precarious.

How might we shore up this social contract?
October 8, 2025 at 11:31 AM
We seriously need to discuss this more:

Report: A Third of Americans Can’t Rely On Cars — And 16 Million Have No Access At All - usa.streetsblog.org/2025/10/02/r...
Report: A Third of Americans Can't Rely On Cars — And 16 Million Have No Access At All — Streetsblog USA
So why do we plan our cities like everyone can and does get behind the wheel every day?
usa.streetsblog.org
October 5, 2025 at 9:13 PM
Increasingly perceiving a need to transition our everyday language away from “having hope” and toward “practicing hope.”

Thoughts?
October 3, 2025 at 9:09 PM
Objective fact: people > cars.

A fact Catalans have known for some time.

Nothing worth agonizing over. On the contrary, it’s 100% worth celebrating. 🎉
I often think about how so many cities are absolutely AGONIZING over the idea of turning a single street, or even a block, into a people-place and pedestrian stroll, while thriving communities like Gràcia in Barcelona are filled with so many streets & squares with no cars, or at most “tamed” cars.”
October 2, 2025 at 10:42 AM
Reposted by Seth LaJeunesse
Each event will focus on the VAST benefits of moving more the way we’re made - with others, with the world around us, with ourselves. They will also focus heavily on pedestrian 👩🏿‍🦽👩🏽‍🦼🧑🏾‍🦯🚶‍♀️🚏🚴🏾 and mobility justice advocacy.
September 30, 2025 at 7:49 PM
Reposted by Seth LaJeunesse
Can't we just get healthcare
September 28, 2025 at 10:42 PM
Safety individualism is killing us.

Instead, @npr.org:

From: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
September 26, 2025 at 10:36 AM
😠
Dear NPR. No. Just no. This is not how you help.

One of the several thousand actual road safety experts here. We are easy to find. Maybe give one of us a call next time, ok?
npr.org NPR @npr.org · Sep 25
In 2024, 7,100 pedestrians were killed on the road, and in recent years, more than 1,000 cyclists have been hit and killed annually. Safety experts explain how bikers and walkers can stay safe.
September 26, 2025 at 10:17 AM
“ WRAL News is working to learn the cause of the crash.” 👀
September 24, 2025 at 6:01 PM