This is the biggest barrier to more people riding bikes in cities

[@gingermany6223]

My suburb has had 60 children injured by cars while walk/biking to school in the last 10 years, in one area near 3 schools it averaged >1 per year. I presented the data to city council with the argument that we would not accept this many children being injured in any other context. My presentation ended with "People drive at the speed they are comfortable with and no amount of signage and policing will change that. A solution to changing vehicle speeds is changing the design of the streets and the roads. Police can't be everywhere to enforce safe driving, but proper infrastructure is always there to encourage and enforce safe driving, especially near our schools." Fast forward one year and we have installed multiple improved crosswalk, ped friendly signals, road diets near schools and other improvement. Road accidents are a blind spot for most people. Even when you talk about how safe a city is, most people think of crime (assaults and murders) but the reality is there are way more traffic deaths and injuries in almost every city than crime related ones.

[@ScramJett]

Sounds like you have a receptive and forward thinking city council. Unfortunately, that is not all, or even most, city councils. Case in point, I've made similar arguments to our city council and our traffic engineer but they just keep pointing to the bureaucratic process for just a speed bump, that they created themselves, as reasons why they can't change anything.

[@rogerstarkey5390]

@@ScramJett This should not be optional for local councils. It should be mandated by National Government.

[@zigarten]

"People drive at the speed..." Nailed it. It's like picking up after their dog, you can put 100 signs every 100 feet, they'll still let their dog defecate wherever the want.

[@andrewtallin5329]

That phrase ‘using my car as a winter coat’ really caught me. There’s a lot of truth in this. People also use cars as umbrellas, parasols and air conditioned hallways between buildings.

[@AMPProf]

That's Crazy.. Be like Put on a coat inside save money Blast the heater while driving but so true

[@drill_fiend1097]

I wish velomobiles were a bit more popular, literally bikes/trikes with cabin.

[@newmobile1455]

one barral of oil = one tank of gas for regular cars SUV's and trucks

[@Fireneedsair]

More like a warm, wind proof moving home

[@newmobile1455]

@@Fireneedsair true I bicycle commute everyday all I need is a water proof 3 season jacket and pants and gloves Im nice and warm even in 20 degree weather

[@emmettpickerel]

Just last night, attending a post-holiday party that's a short walk through the snow from my house, our hosts were truly concerned about our safety getting home because we weren't driving. The struggle to win people's minds away from "a car is necessary to go nextdoor" is real.

[@Shifter_Cycling]

I've had this exact experience as well. The irony is that driving home is probably exponentially more dangerous.

[@emmettpickerel]

Most definitely! And the stroll home through snow was lovely in a way we wouldn't have got to enjoy if driving. Not only that, but the roads between us are complicated in weird ways that would have made driving home take as long or longer than walking.

[@christafranken9170]

I'm from a small village in the Netherlands. I have fond memories from the few (relatively) cold winters when we walked to church, because the snow made it hard to cycle and it was a nice walk. We did then cycle to school the next day. Using the car was never even considered. Also, this was for mayybe 10 cm of snow

[@rocioiribe5841]

i've had this conversation so many times with people, their inability to comprehend that i can choose something besides a car is wild.

[@emmettpickerel]

@@christafranken9170 We have around 20cm of snow at the moment (still going). And yeah, even if I owned a car I would be walking and not driving for a trip of a mile or so to go have drinks at a party!

[@polishtheday]

I’m not a cyclist. I never even learned to ride a bike. But, thanks to parents who, once I reached the age of eight, expected me to get to school and a lot of other places by walking, I never became car-dependent. When I moved to a larger city in my twenties, it never occurred to me to get a car because walking was an ingrained habit. I did have a car for a couple of years when I lived in the countryside without any public transit, but that was it for many years. I never really learned to like driving. Then I took up hiking and got a dog too big to carry on public transit and ended up buying a car. That’s when I first noticed how many around me had car brain. They questioned why I still took the bus to work. They couldn’t understand how much better my morning was with the ten minute walk to the bus stop, followed by a twenty minute bus ride where I could listen to music, or a podcast, or just relax while someone else did the driving. Near the end of the trip, I’d check my email and start planning my day from that. Compared to the thirty minute drive through stop and start traffic, my commute was soothing. They also wondered why I did my grocery shopping on the way home, or did it on foot even on weekends. They couldn’t understand why I thought getting into the car to go six blocks to the grocery store was an absurd idea. Since there was a downtown Costco just steps from a rapid transit station, even some of by trips there were made without a car. These same people won’t go to some restaurants because you can’t find nearby parking. They talk about losing weight, complain about the price of gas and how traffic is getting so much worse without seeing the solution.

[@OkAtheistExplainVim]

convincing friends to walk to the pub, is truly the most wild thing, they would rather drive drunk, than walk 20 minutes

[@raphaelcaceres9129]

Laziness and habit

[@od5699]

I and a mate from Scotland were in Las Vegas in 1980 and we met a bloke from New Jersey who came along with us. While trying the various venus he kept saying ' we'll catch a cab'. What? To walk 150 yards to the next destination. At the end of the night he told us that he had never walked so much in his life. We were also told, while visiting the other parts of the U.S. that we should always take a cab home in case we were set upon. Apart from a scary walk on First Street, LA, we wallked most of the time from the hotels and back. In Wales, we did a lot of walking but it's getting a little bit the same here now although not from fear but from laziness.

[@celiashen5490]

I met a man who made a conscious decision to stay drunk. He sold his car because he wanted to keep his alcoholic bs to himself. Smartest thing I've heard from a drunk.

[@sgtpastry]

My city spent $1.8 billion upgrading a single highway and $130 million more on a single overpass over a set of freight train tracks to improve commuting by two minutes. Those are fine things to spend money on, but $100 million on creating a full bike network that connects the entire city is too much spending and will bankrupt the city!

[@AMPProf]

i love the real fact: THATS ANY CITY

[@fdgm]

Tell me you're from Edmonton without telling me you're from Edmonton

[@CasGRos]

i tryd to get the local goverment to ad a seperated bick lain to a moter waiy. It got rejekted beches it whold have ben to expensiv, thy insted shows to add two more lains fore cars

[@waterengineer932]

I think this is exactly the point. Spending as much money as possible is the goal, even if the lowest bidder wins. Spending lots of money = raison d'etre for bureaucrats, jobs for political and economic stability, ribbon-cutting for so-called leaders, etc.

[@stevestruthers6180]

Governments are addicted to gasoline taxes, as well as auto industry jobs that generate votes and more taxes. I live in Ontario, Canada, where the provincial and federal governments levy gasoline taxes. At the provincial level, some of that tax money is given to municipalities to help fund infrastructure projects and maintenance. You know, projects like... wait for it... building more and bigger roads! And don't forget that a lot of the money used for infrastructure work creates jobs that politicians can point to to show us what a good job they're doing for us... and creates more tax revenue! This is why many cities will talk a good line about public transit, but never really go all the way like they do in Europe. My city is building a bus rapid transit (BRT) system, but it will never be what it should have been (a light rail transit system) or ever live up to the shining promise that the politicians made when they rolled out the plan.

[@Dullydude]

cultural change is slow, but progressing. the real frustration is elected officials who think that their job is to represent their constituents' ignorance rather than to be a leader on these issues and inform the public about good ideas.

[@Shifter_Cycling]

Yes, I think this is what you're seeing in Ontario, and it's frustrating. But I think a lot of politicians are catering to widely held opinions. I think we have to work on those opinions as well as the politicians.

[@RabbitStu-M7UTS]

Problem is if they don’t appease the sometimes/often dumb masses in a democratic system they get voted out/don’t get voted in.

[@SkipGole]

Yes, this is so true. In Maryland, USA the liberal governor has NOT come out against the expansion of the multi-lane highway nearby, the beltway. People continue to think that it’s the least expensive, best way to improve transportation-only through cars. They cannot imagine anything different-Car Brain. In fact, the whole political system is unaware how wrong they are. I’m a member of Citizens Against Beltway Expansion, but I definitely feel like Sisyphus pushing that boulder up the hill.

[@AMPProf]

WHEN BATMAN BICYCLES Then we will know

[@AMPProf]

is it Videogames went 123 boom

[@MrBaskins2010]

"why would you want to move back to NYC? where would you park your car?" i get asked this question on a weekly basis

[@andrewtallin5329]

I moved from New York to Texas three decades ago. I thought it would be so cool to be able to drive my car to work every day. But within three weeks of dealing with high speed bumper-to-bumper traffic on the freeways, I told people I missed the smell of urine from the subway stairway entrances. Riding on the train was so much less stressful than constantly staying alert to prevent being killed in an accident.

[@AMPProf]

Ya but WHERE

[@ahmedatia727]

​@@andrewtallin5329Nowadays you have to be just as alert on the subway. There is no winning in NYC, I may just move south myself.

[@25Teebz]

I don't like riding my bike on major streets in NYC. Too many reckless drivers.

[@AnotherDuck]

@@andrewtallin5329 Now imagine cities where the metro (and other public transit) is well-kept.

[@lakrids-pibe]

I remember when smoking was banned in public places and I remember thinking that people would never accept it. But it went pretty smoothly. And then I came home from bars and realised I didn't have a sore throat from passive smoking. I only had half the hangovers I used to, because now it was only caused by the alcohol I drank. It got me thinking, what else is considered normal when it shouldn't be? What else do we think is a condition we have to learn to live with? What else could be improved if only we had the imagination to recognize that it is a problem and should be fixed?

[@AMPProf]

What About self Checkout

[@etiennelevesque6015]

Air quality. There has been a ton of research in the last few years showing that many diseases (including COVID and the flu) are mostly transmitted through aerosols rather than droplets like previously believed. Air filtration or sanitization in schools, workplaces and indoor public spaces would massively cut back of the transmission of those diseases. Lots of people are getting sick regularly and it's largely avoidable.

[@NomiChirps]

Noise pollution, I hope. "Cities aren't loud, cars are loud" and all that. The constant unrelenting background of traffic noise causes an incredible amount of stress and, in aggregate, poorer health...

[@franksierow5792]

Hangovers: another normalised thing. Maybe even taken as a sign that you have had a good time. This also makes me think of skin peeling as a sign that one has had a good holiday. And diarrhea as well.

[@G4WYZ]

And your clothing ponged.

[@test40323]

the definition of insanity is doing the same things over and over and expecting a different result. why should a country of people calling hockey their national sport and champions in winter olympics be afraid of winter biking? great talk on changing mindset!

[@Shifter_Cycling]

Thanks for the amazing show of support! I find the disconnection between Canadians' perceptions of themselves as winter people and our mass avoidance of winter to be so strange. Winter isn't always easy, but we can certainly do a better job making it a more positive part of our lives.

[@tarstarkusz]

Biking in the heart of winter absolutely sucks.

[@romanmentor9238]

It sucks when too much salt and other chemistry is sprayed instead of just removing the snow

[@tarstarkusz]

@@romanmentor9238 It is near impossible to remove ice mechanically from a road. That is why they use salt.

[@cmmartti]

​@@tarstarkusz They didn't object to the use of salt. They objected to the use of too much salt.

[@chickensmack]

I met a guy who had just gotten out of jail for his 7th arrest for DUI. He had 5 convictions and while waiting on his court date for his 6th, he got picked up for his 7th. I asked him how steep was his fine for driving without a license. His response stunned me. He still had his license. (????) Apparently, his lawyers argued that he could not go to work without driving. The judges all seemed to agree with that sentiment. We live in the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex. We may not have the most efficient public transit, but minus a few suburbs, it is fairly thorough, in its coverage.

[@place2charge_official]

I very much enjoy your perspective and your persistence in the bike movement. Greetings from Germany!

[@Shifter_Cycling]

Thank you! I hope things keep getting better in Germany too. I suspect German car-brain is just as real as Canadian car-brain.

[@juditawiemi8710]

@@Shifter_Cycling just had it in the news yesterday about how many hours people spent in their cars in traffic jam last year. And the radio person didn't say a single word about how there would be less traffic jam if people would switch to other forms of transport. It was especially bad in my hometown last year in fall and beginning of winter. A major highway was blocked for repairs. Instead of switching to other forms of transport, people stuck in their cars for endless hours in total. And by that also blocking tram in the traffic jam. How owuld it have been would half of the people jamming in the car would have been sitting in the tram?

[@gidkideon]

I live a quarter mile to three miles from most stores (groceries, hardware, home goods, booze etc.), and I'm always surprised how many able bodied people who live on my street drive to these stores for just a six pack of beer or a similarity sized item. I mean sometimes it's only four short blocks away! This is rain OR shine and regardless of if it's flat the whole way there or up and down hills. We all have car brain for sure.

[@keithmcmanus2406]

There are two levels of car brain: The "I need a car to drive 1.5 miles" (shorter to walk!) and the I need to drive my car like a complete sociopath to get there two seconds quicker. The latter is what makes driving unsafe and what I fight against most. Alternatives to driving are great, but we need more to return to lawful and safe operation when we do have to drive.

[@agnescleary2312]

Agreed. And we need to make walking safer. My small suburban town has very few sidewalks and the main roads through town toward the commercial district have no pedestrian crossings and very poor lighting, making walking, especially at night, unsafe. Add to that extremely narrow to non-existent road shoulders, and you can be taking your life in your hands to walk to the grocery store after dark.

[@waterengineer932]

Exactly this, though what you call "sociopath" I'd suggest is just a special combination of infrastructure (long, wide roads), fast & powerful cars--far more powerful than humans need--that are well-advertised, and reinforced cultural signals that aggressive driving is a sign of strength, or at least fun. Many parts of the world don't have those behaviors, bad drivers notwithstanding. Thus to your point: the fight is not against cars/driving per se (though there are many great reasons to reduce car dependency), but against the cumulative enabling conditions that result in normalized aggressive or bad car-non car interactions.

[@jessta314]

I ride everywhere and I'm always surprised at how slow driving can be. Sometimes my partner will convince we that we should drive somewhere because we're running late, but then we just end up later than we'd have been cycling.

[@FeelItRising]

True where I live too. When running late friends and wife always want to take taxi. It is almost never faster than public transport.

[@jonners7061]

Yep. I live in London, and cycling is by far the most efficient way of getting around in most cases. The biggest things that hold you up as a cyclist are in fact cars because they take up so much space on the road, and the infrastructure in place to manage cars.

[@Wellesix]

People often forget to factor in the time searching for parking, paying for parking, then walking from the parking spot to the destination. I've been sat in the pub watching my friends circling the block more than a few times... :/

[@smc_onetwo]

Hey man, just want to say thanks. Since watching your videos, I decided to commute to work on a bike for the first time since the start of the new year. It really isn't as bad as I thought it was. And the exercise feels really good considering I sit down for > 8 hours a day.

[@celiashen5490]

That's the best news I've heard all day! Kudos, kudos.

[@sachamm]

I like to remove up to 30 minutes of my ebike commutes when comparing different modes. This is time that I would have to spend exercising anyway, so it's essentially "free" commute time. So any trips adding up to less than 30 minutes in a given day is literally like teleporting around when I compare it to using a car. A car might get me there faster but then I would have to spend more time doing some sort of exercise just to be healthy (and let's get real: I just wouldn't do the exercise and then I'd feel worse, gain weight, die earlier...). (h/t NotJustBikes)

[@jameslongstaff2762]

I often meet friends at a Chinatown in my city that's right next to a movie theater. They're surprised to hear I took the train there -- but the train station is only a 15 minute walk away

[@VictorQuesada-bl1xk]

The bit at 4:40 is probably the best comparison. Some of the prior examples were a little less equivalent, but matching driving with working is pretty darn good. Both are necessary activities in a car infrastructure centered environment, but we hold jobs up to a higher safety standard than the process of getting to that job. And as an aside, Landscaping is one of the most dangerous jobs in America (far more than a police officer or firefighter, for example) primarily because the risk of serious harm while moving the equipment from jobsite to jobsite is very high when you are driving a regular pickup truck in traffic.

[@Co1010z]

I'm just blown away that 40% of people think that it's OK for people to risk getting seriously injured while working.

[@raphaelcaceres9129]

​@@Co1010zdepends on what work. Between an office job and a farmer there are differences..

[@tvuser9529]

In terms of being a massive blindspot in socitety, smoking vs. cars is a great analogy. Motonormativity is a new word for me, but the effects of car brain are very real. Cars of course do have a practical purpose especially in rural areas, whereas smoking is 100% unnecessary. But the harms that driving causes are arguably even worse than those of smoking. Both pollute the air we breathe, but smoking generally doesn't lead to violent deaths or bad city design.

[@raphaelcaceres9129]

Yes. Cars shape our world basically, it reaches far beyond what smoking can do. In my country, half of trips in rural areas are less than 5km long. And if people have to drive long distances to work or get groceries, it's precisely because the small rural shops and amenities were destroyed by the big box shops which are designed to be accessible mostly for cars.

[@TheThinkInstitute]

Looking forward to watching this one. I'm currently 78% of the way through your winter cycling book. Great stuff.

[@Shifter_Cycling]

Thank you! I hope you get something out of the book and the video.

[@garyseckel295]

"Cycling," in every form, IS the single MOST important, useful and needed asset in today's Global World!

[@chris8535]

You mean walking

[@Shifter_Cycling]

Walking, cycling and transit 😉

[@AMPProf]

Sure sure but Batman drives a car sooo..

[@garyseckel295]

@@chris8535 6+-times longer to walk. Go Chris go! LOL!!!

[@chris8535]

@ and to bike compared to car. What argument are you making. Ad reductive absurdum everyone should work from home

[@youriyimmek7767]

super interesting, reminds me of the recent cigarette ban in Milan, they prevent ppl from smoking in the streets but keep cars running through the city center.

[@Panda42-ul5if]

Videos like yours make me appreciate my adoptive city even more. I'm Irish, but have lived in N.E. China, a city called Shenyang, for 14 years. I first visited in 2002, 23 years ago, when bicycles and scooters (the motorized type, not the standing type) were the main forms of transportation, and private cars were exclusively for the wealthy or elite. The population back then was around 7 million. By the time I moved here permanently, 2011, people's disposable income had increased to the point that about 50% of families had at least one car. Nevertheless, the city govt. continued to invest in public transport, including a subway system which has expanded from two lines (N/S and E/W) to eight lines covering most of the city and suburbs. The bicycle lanes are excellent, especially in the suburbs where they are almost always physically separated from both traffic and pedestrians. The easy access to shared bicycles and mopeds mean that last-mile commuting from subway station to destination can be done on two wheels for just a small fee payable by phone, making commuting anywhere in the city relatively quick and effortless. However, most of my friends and colleagues cling to their cars, as China has a very consumerist and materialistic culture, and choosing not to have a car when you could easily afford one is inconceivable to most people here. Today, the population is around 10 million, traffic is worse than ever, but I'll continue to ride through green, leafy parks and along picturesque riverbanks, and leave the motonormatives to their bland, acoustically-walled filter roads filled with stop-start traffic.

[@Raymond-Farts]

You are awesome in your relentless study and bringing this conversation to us. I feel that a lot of changes are never going to happen in the city of Pittsburgh where I live because of the topographic landscape which has me thinking about moving to a city that is more bike adapted and improving the infrastructure so I hopefully can live out the rest of my days car free. I see New York just implemented a congestion toll and fear this is going to become the norm everywhere. Cars are already to expensive for a lot of older folks in retirement which makes living extremely hard for us. Anyway, thank you for your works. I'm glad that there are people like you.

[@geoffreyhoney122]

Such an amazingly frank, direct, honest tackling of this subject Tom! Well done! So aptly exposing motonormativiy/car-brain. Like searbelts, and drunk driving we CAN get there eventually. Thanks for this inspirational video!

[@Twotom1]

Outstanding analysis, and I love your sense of diplomacy. Carry on!

[@JoshKablack]

I'm exhausted by medical offices and events prominently displaying highway detours and parking options, but never mentioning which bus routes get closest nor where I can find a covered bike rack. At the extreme end, the Unicersity Dental school I used to work at spent roughly 20 man hours per week of productivity just validating patient patking at the nearby private lot. But once a patient showed up having forgotten his bike lock and all they could do was tell dude to use the bike rack in front. The staff literally couldn't understand why that wasn't adequate without a lock, let alone take a few minutes to find a janitors closet or security office to store the bike for an hour or two.

[@MrTwostring]

When I was a student in the late 80s, my college German class watched a practical joke show in German where the "joke" question was whether smoking should be excluded from sidewalks. It was seen as "funny" when you could get people to rant (in German) about butts on the sidewalk and having to breathe cigarette fumes. I kind of agreed [that it was funny], even though I was a non-smoker. Now you can't smoke within 100 yards of building entrances. You've come a long way baby! Great video. I'll be posting some of your graphics and a link to this video to my Facebook for my friends to read -- or probably to ignore or to respond with motonormitivity.

[@celiashen5490]

Ha! Take my like for the old cigarette ad tagline.

[@MrTwostring]

@@celiashen5490 I'm glad somebody got it. 🙂

[@timoakley277]

I still remember in a previous job where a work colleague drove 800 yards to work.

[@CortezBumf]

Thing i always say that resonates with car brains: “You loved college so much because your community was walkable and your friends were close by without a car.”

[@bowensstephen]

Keep fighting the good fight brother

[@xarey]

Hi Tom and member elsewhere . 'Very good topic. "Carbrain" is developed and sustained by the petroleum industry and its counterparts around the world. I hope for a progressive changing from this "motonormativity" to a more self sustained mobility.

[@brianwheeldon4643]

This is such a good episode from Shifter. Thanks for all your work Tom

[@BeardedBaldy]

One big difference between smoking and cars is we didn't build this country around smoking, we *did* build our country around the use of cars. Wouldn't be surprised if the only way we really move away from cars is after the cost of maintaining the infrastructure becomes too much

[@timmimhairi1312]

unfortunately very true

[@graverobber6565]

If only we had kept it built around the use of trains

[@slantedorbit]

A sad coincidence: the end of WW2, the rise of the US as a world power and the technological advancement of the automobile.

[@JimVanderveen]

This is not true, except for cities & suburbs built in the 20th century. Prior to WWII, cities were built around transit, e.g. streetcars, trolleys & trains.

[@FeelItRising]

We didn't build cities for cars, we bulldozed them for cars.

[@timburns8635]

Great video. Lots of important issues covered here. Please keep doing what you do.

[@guerricchupin3134]

I can definitely relate to that. I was born and raised in the French countryside where it is (still) really hard to do anything when you don't have a car. I used to do everything in a car even after I'd moved to a big city. It's only when I moved to the UK and had to leave my car behind that I started behaving differently, using bikes and public transport. Now I'm 8 years "car sober", back in France (in a big city, granted) and don't feel the need to buy a car again at all :-)

[@zelllakey4163]

I went car free about 5 months ago. I hated driving for years but now that I get to actually detox from car brain I feel like I’m an angsty teenager back in my punk phase just ranting about motorists (derogatory) being the harbinger of death and destruction. Even my partner drives. It’s nice to not feel alone in my frustrations for once.

[@gravelbikemark]

Absolutely fantastic video! I have a car, but I drive as little as I can (mainly taking my boy to his sports). I probably ride about 500 miles per month and drive 80 (less if I can help it). Reasons: 1. It saves me money. 2. It helps the environment. 3. It keeps me healthy. 4. It helps me connect with the world around me. Five years ago, I drove my car everywhere. So, what changed for me? Three things really: 1. I started doing short commutes on a road bike and hated dealing with cars, so I bought a gravel bike. This meant I could go off-road, and now I barely touch the road while doing a 30-ish mile round trip. 2. Despite what the media tells us, infrastructure has improved. It's not perfect (and never will be), but it’s gotten better. 3. Cycling has become normal to me. Whereas driving my car used to be normal, now riding my bike is what feels normal. Anyway, thanks for a great video! I’ve saved this to show to others.

[@tomleslie6165]

Excellent video, well done!

[@achen131]

One of your best videos yet

[@ebrothen]

While working at a building in the middle of a downtown the out-of-state executives floated the idea of moving the headquarters to the suburbs. When an employee asked if people could bike there, they responded "there are lovely bike trails nearby." When another employee asked "what is your plan for replacing all the employees who quit?" the meeting ended and the idea was scrapped. I count that as a win for anti-moto-normativity. When you locate your business in a place with bike and bus access, you get employees who like that kind of location. And they don't want to pay for a car commute just because some people from another state are car obsessed.

[@MidRiseDenseMixedUseWalkable]

Commenting for the algorithm, thanks for your work!

[@alainpic1]

I recently moved to The Netherlands and I regularly see cyclist smoking a cigarette while cycling showing this mode of transport is not really see as a sport activity but just a commodity. I know this is not the topic of this video but I think it's a fun fact. In the city where I live (Leiden) the council has enforced since January to stop business vehicle to access the centre if not electric so this is often what cities are doing to reduce pollution in cities and populated areas but this is of course not really helping to reduce the number of cars. Having said that I am just amazed to see what the country can do to encourage cycling and I feel really privileged to live in a country like this.

[@Tokoroegao]

There were HUGE discussions when the German rail service started to ban smoking on their trains in 2007. Today it is completely normal.

[@kennj321]

I live in a high density suburb in new jersey. there is great opportunity to bike here, I'd like to bike to my grocery and hardware stores, they are not far away and I'd like to use my vehicle a lot less for short trips. but almost all the stores are on commerical blocks that have very limited ways in and out and I wouldn't want to bike anywhere close to them because of the traffic. here's the thing, many of these commerical blocks back up to quiet suburban blocks but the commercial blocks are fenced and locked in so there is no back access from those quiet streets. I suspect those neighborhood have lobbied hard to make sure there was no through traffic, including pedestrian and bike to keep those streets quiet and safe from 'strangers'.

[@RadioSaladStudios]

I attended our city commission meeting the other day and stood before the commission asking for more and better cycling infrastructure. I cited areas that people have to ride, and I myself ride to work is over congested with cars and have no cycling lanes whatsoever. Four commissioners, after the meeting, shook my hand and thanked me for my actions and they agree with me. The City Manager is working to get my info the the Non Motorized Traffic Commission. I'm looking forward to see some changes locally. I love my car on the days I have to drive kids around. Otherwise, I look forward to riding when it's just myself.

[@MidRiseDenseMixedUseWalkable]

People say that there’s too much of this step one content on KZbin. But really not enough people are aware of it yet. We are at a crucial time when congestion pricing is in the mainstream media. So opposers need to see this content

[@juditawiemi8710]

Fortunately in Germany the traffic laws were mended so that fluent traffic is not the highest factor for traffic design anymore but safety and sustainability. So there is change on a larger level. Still there is so much car brain left in everyone of us that politicians on the local level are afraid to go by the new rules and change our city's design for the better. Your smoking example motivates me! You just need to win over a crucial number of people and the rest will follow (or must follow 😉).

[@paulaspinall919]

Thanks for clearing up my confusion Tom. Your video brilliantly clarifies the issues. Motonormativity. Car brain. Smoking everywhere. Inspired. Thank you.

[@celiashen5490]

It's like a rolling motorized footlocker/turtle shell. Some people are quite in love with their hard-shelled comfort zone. I wish they'd have some wiggle room in their thinking to allow others to have and use alternative transportation.

[@paulmcewen7384]

I started riding my bike to work. In Edmonton, In January. The funny thing is, it's actually been pretty awesome. I bought a 90s mountain bike and put studded tires on it. When it gets insanely cold like -30C etc I can take the train. Guys at work, especially men who live in suburbs and self identify as "rural" don't get it, they think I'm a crazy person.

[@hendrikplumer6814]

Thank you for enlightening us. I have observed this phenomenon as well, now I have a word for it and I can explain it to people who are affected by this condition.

[@GymLeaderEllie]

I'm 32 years old, which is just old enough to remember walking into a restaurant, requesting a table, and being asked, "Smoking or Non-smoking?"

[@AMPProf]

Ah yess Hoodlums are real

[@vhs10907]

Thanks!

[@Shifter_Cycling]

Thank you for the support! It's really encouraging to me. I appreciate it!

[@ttopero]

A big pet peeve I have is watching neighbors start their car & let it warm up for 15-30 minutes before running out to it when it freezing with barely anything covering their arms or legs. That’s 0mpg with heavy localized pollution!

[@void_presence]

I'm American and I don't drive (in fact, driving a car gives me anxiety), aside from being a passenger in a friend's car every once in a while, my only means of transportation is my bicycle(s). One of the things I really don't like about living in the US is how car-centric society is. I'd love to move to a (European) country that has a more bike-centric culture to it (for more reasons than just bicycling of course, but that's beyond the scope of this).

[@raphaelcaceres9129]

Don't move to France then. We are the United states of europe sadly. Bikes are not welcome except in a few big cities.

[@ronhoek69]

If you give people safe and plenty of bike infrastructure, they will come.

[@Shifter_Cycling]

I agree! We build for cars so we get cars. If we build for bikes, I think we'll get bikes. I don't know why this gets so convoluted sometimes.

[@HisameArtwork]

today January we had 15C, when we normally had -10C in the 70's. I could have taken my cats to the vet with my bike, but it's so muddy on the back roads and too dangerous on the village highway that we used our car. I'm so annoyed by this.

[@SkipGole]

Yes, my local government built bike lanes on a local stroad after three deaths by car to pedestrians and cyclists. I pass by a memorial ghost bike there on my commute. Many more people use this road than before because of these lanes-it’s safer and physically shows how biking can be a part of transportation.

[@JeredtheShy]

Somebody was talking about something else (it was US school shootings) and they said, "Actually solving problems kills industries, so all we can have is false solutions that create yet another industry," and I haven't stopped thinking about that. Moving away from cars would kill a multibillion-dollar industry and replace it with one where vehicles cost $3000 per person, not $60,000, and worse, the vehicles might be publicly owned, an idea that throws wealthy conservatives into red-faced tantrums. So how did we rip cigarettes away from those people, as a profit center that they were enjoying?

[@DuncanWilcock]

Really well done. 👏👏👏 Thank you! Will share & reuse widely.

[@Bathtubbikes]

Great video!

[@myself61607]

This video is so good. It concentrates so much and makes the case clearly. Thank you.

[@K1989L]

Thank you! This was a great video! Everyone needs to see this!

[@WarrenMesser]

In 2024 I drove my little Tacoma 614 miles, I rode my two bikes 1918 miles. I also walked 65 miles. I'm also 80. Can remember 20 years ago when I would get bored and go drive all over the place for no good reason. Gas is still too cheap now to make people change.

[@FredFox-m9v]

I rode 25 years to work commuting 34 miles per day and raced push bikes but car brain never came into it. People generally prefer cars because it is less effort, safer and more comfortable than riding. I ride bikes to stay fit and healthy and the risk of getting injured, which I have been ( broken hip, broken elbow, two broken collar bones and several broken ribs ), was a risk I was prepared to take because I like cycling and cycle sport and staying otherwise fit and healthy but I can see why other people are not prepared to take that risk. I would say cycle racing is one of the most dangerous sports out there. People rode bikes because horses were less efficient and more expensive to own. People favour cars because they stay warm, dry and relatively more safe and it takes no effort.

[@Flym4n111]

People favour cars because they risk being run over if they cycle. 70% of adults who don’t currently cycle in my country say they’d start cycling if the roads were safer.

[@averagemanonabike]

Great work!

[@briannyob7799]

It seems to me that some people believe that if the proposed solution to a problem doesn’t solve that problem in every conceivable instance, we shouldn't implement it. I often hear that because some people can't practically take transit or cycle somewhere, we shouldn't spend money on those things. I then explain that if people who don't have to drive, don't drive, it will make it easier for those who have to drive.

[@BlueGrovyle]

I think this one is more of an uphill battle for multiple reasons, one being that cars-especially trucks-have become a significant financial investment that people go into debt for. "Threaten" taking the car they worked so hard for away, and they're going to get defensive, if not angry. My childhood was heavily restricted by car dependency, as is the case for most people from the US under the age of, say, 50 or so, and I've never owned a car, so it was very natural for me to become radicalized against cars, but until it's normal to have discussions about car dependency and the _alternatives_ to it, it'll be hard to make progress, I think. It sucks because dense, walkable places with small and large living arrangements are the solution to the housing crisis too, but then Americans are also taught to associate housing with wealth.

[@Bagledog5000]

I’ve quit both smoking and driving for years now, and I haven’t missed either one of them really. Cycling as a mode of transportation was my greatest rediscovery, and I certainly hope to continue riding till the end of my days.

[@michaelbradbrook9575]

Great video Tom. I saw the GCN video last year and I was familiar with the term, but this was concise and clearly laid out.

[@paulnam4488]

As a life long bike commuter i think i have carbrain still. Thanks for all of the videos. Im going to tackle this attitude this year and wipe out my personal carbrain dogma.

[@keefers84]

Absolutely phenomenal message for the new year. 👏 👏 👏

[@twowheelsgoodbrum1077]

Great explanation of motonormativity. Using video to get the idea, and its implications over worked really well. If we champion change, we need to know how deeply the attitudes to stay the same are embedded in our thinking.

[@Irsu85]

I am not against car infrastructure but I do think that you should consider the planned use case before spending a ton of money on any kinda infrastructure, including car infrastructure. If your use case is to move trucks and busses, maybe a car lane isn't the best use case, maybe you should do a bus and truck only lane. If your goal is to move as many people as possible, maybe do a train line with a bunch of SLTs running on it with a bike path next to it

[@claytonzator]

Well said. I'm going to join your new year resolution to just focus on the incremental positive changes and less on the doom and gloom of where we are now. The comparison to smoking is extremely apt. I can't imagine living in a time of unescapable secondhand smoke and am so grateful for all the hard work that people before me have put in to making sure I can live in a smoke free environment.

[@josephfredbill]

Excellent points

[@christopherwiebke3578]

Thanks for putting thoughts I've had for a long time, into words

[@crabbitgeezer]

BRILLIANT!

[@Varaxis]

Virtually every car collision video on social media has highly upvoted comments defending bad drivers, especially when it's car vs non-car (train, semi, bus, bike/moto, pedestrian, animal/wildlife, non-moving object), as if they don't have the responsibility to avoid causing carnage as long as they have some "right of way". Alternatively, there's always someone proudly commenting that they stay safe by being defensive, but then contradict that by saying they assume everyone else is a bad driver, and that they aggressively escape their vicinity as needed. If some cyclist has right of way and gets mowed down, their carbrain logic is that cyclists should have common sense and get the hell off the road (self-preservation), and that a cyclist trying to exercise their right of way is a cyclist that is eventually dead. Being disconnected from everything around them is the big problem, IMO. Cars are designed to be a safe & comfy shelter, like someone's bedroom. Hard to communicate with someone through their door or window. Not hard to imagine all the issues that arise from failure to communicate things like your intent, when the only things you can reliably use are a horn, turn signal, and lights, especially if the other person has none of that (just body language). Far easier to see the problem from the outside--how do you get such people outside to share such a perspective? Revoke driving privileges? Kinda related: watching Adam Curtis doc on hypernormalization.

[@celiashen5490]

Ikr? Personal isolation shouldn't infringe on others' safety.

[@cycleistic1365]

Carbrain sounds so much better than 'motonormativity', but which ever concept forwards the cause of stopping the car centric madness of societies is a good one.

[@StLouis-yu9iz]

Great video, totally agree

[@merliny]

Food for thought. Thank you.

[@AMPProf]

cycling for strength

[@FullLengthInterstates]

It is objectively economically true in most western nations, that if you're already paying the base price/ fixed costs of car ownership, the marginal cost of driving each additional mile is not that high since roads and fuel are subsidized. American cities struggle with both crime safety and traffic safety and weather safety. Getting in the drivers seat mitigates all of the above issues and is the rational decision. I grew up in one of the safest cities on earth with basically zero crime, where you could travel across the city without ever crossing a street, where if I just wanted something from the neighborhood store I wouldn't need to step into the rain or sun. Americans have a very high risk tolerance so the car brain is somewhat irrational, but real cities around the world have proven that these concerns are worth addressing.

[@edwardallan197]

Excellent sir.....❤

[@BillBooz]

Tom, brilliant comparison! Figuring out how I can use it as it really makes the point that it’s not impossible to affect change. Glad to see and hear that large cities are upping their game with cycling and pedestrian infrastructure. My Virginia (USA) has a population of about 89,000 and is just starting a multi-modal transportation study. We have a nice rail trail but we need more separated lanes for cycling to reach businesses, school, and the like. Going to take a while but I’m heartened to see they’re at least making a start as cities our size and smaller don’t usually even consider it.

[@sammymarrco2]

as someone with asthma its insane to me how common smoking was, its disgusting.

[@timisaacson5509]

Good video. Car brain is hurting and killing people.

[@phmiii]

I Love riding my bicycle! But "bike lanes" in my area are a joke! First of all, the "bike lane" is usually placed where cars are supposed to drive or park. The "bike lanes" start and end with no regards to getting anywhere: they just exist. The "bike lanes" are almost always filled with trash from the roadway. And when I finally get to a designated "bike path", people ride their motorcycles and minibikes on it. I do not like riding my bike next to the curb, through the trash with cars doing 50+ MPH next to me! But please keep up the wonderful work!

[@franksierow5792]

Fairly recently near where I live (in Bury, Greater Manchester, UK) there was a major bit of road-resurfacing. This included re-painting the road markings. The existing bicycle lanes were put back where they they had been, but ONLY the dashed white lines marking the edges of these lanes, but NOT the green colouring that the lanes previously had. There is one place where the bike lane is in between a single lane to its left, for traffic turning left, and two lanes to its right, for motor traffic going straight ahead. Motor traffic turning left has to cross this bike lane. I think very few people even realise that it is supposed to be a bike lane. I wrote to the local council about this, including photos and video. They replied that the coloured paint would come under the cycling budget, and it probably would get done if money became available under that budget. I think that was about a year ago, and there is no sign of it happening. Ironically, I was just looking on Street View, and there is a food delivery cyclist using this bike lane, (though not at that time at its most dangerous section) and they have one hand on the handlebars, and the other is holding a mobile phone that they are looking at.

[@marshallviliesis]

I feel sorry for the many who rot away in their cars and are trapped in congestion. All I can do is show them true freedom as I pedal by on my way to my next destination.

[@jasonarthurs3885]

Ditto!

Very good examples. Thank you for your efforts that makes us understand how bicycles will positively change our world.

[@m.r.6264]

That first statement from the airline exec sounds a lot like commentators regarding the newly implemented congestion pricing in Manhattan

[@AMPProf]

Okidoki

[@peterbedford2610]

Bike infrastructure in the US is non existent in so many places. With cell phones and huge cars, road riding has become much more dangerous. But, we are a tiny minority of road users. I'm not holding much hope that change is coming anytime soon.

[@raphaelcaceres9129]

I live in France and we are basically in the same situation. I have to ride an (illegal) 45km/h bike to feel safe moving around. I think it'll continue until...

[@lawfulneptune14]

Really amazing video explaining how deep car brain goes. I wish I could show everyone this 😭 great work

[@khaliljamarr]

According to the WHO 1.19 million people worldwide die as a result of road traffic accidents. Around 41,000 total deaths from crashes in the US in 2023, That averages out to 112 people everyday. Imagine if a jet liner carrying 112 passengers crashed every single day.... And this is just deaths not even taking into account the number of people injured. I personally was involved in a crash while riding my bike a little less than a year ago that lead to me breaking my arm and requiring surgery and extensive rehab. I hope things change in the near future.

[@evan]

I visited an old high school friend in south jersey for an ice cream. After we’d finished I said we could just walk back to hers. She thought I was joking. I remarked it was literally 20 minutes on foot and she said but it’s so hot?? Like that was a negative! Truth be told, the sidewalk there had no shade or much interesting and was next to a road people drive on to speed and avoid a stoplight so… I understood why she wouldn’t have wanted to walk

[@mikewatson1105]

Fantastic medium term perspective! I observe cultural changes to motonormativity in my home town, Canberra, by watching the commentary on bike riding on the local news webpage (riot-act) .Over the past ten years there has been a huge change from comments like ‘bikes shouldn’t be allowed on roads’ to ‘bikes should have the capability to be a viable alternative to cars’ . The feedback is my social barometer on community bike tolerance, and it continues to improve at a glacial rate. And yes, Canberra is pretty good got an Australian city, and we’ll continue trying to encourage improvements! This article has great analogies which will be relateable to the older population 😊

[@Drahcir14]

If you're American, get ready to have your mind blown: I live in a big city in Europe and I don't know a single person who owns a car.

[@Morningcycles]

So informative and true…thank you for the insight

[@1esk192]

This channel is on fire🔥 Sadly I had to join the ranks of car owners. Even with decent public transport, its such an incredible hassle when you want to take your bike on a train. They're rarely on time and depending on the destination it takes double the time. I dont use it in day to day life and wish there wasn't a need for it.

[@IK47-d2l]

Brilliant intro!