I wish we would take car caused health impacts as serious as we did covid. We have a never ending stream of research and yet no one cares. We can’t even take action against modded motorbikes and cars which damage peoples health for zero functional gain.
I wish we'd turn into something positve the data learned when the world shut down for a few weeks in 2020 to see how clear the air got, how quiet the neighborhoods got, how still the ground got all from the massive amounts of cars not being used.
And there have been proposals to make electric cars produce engine noises for safety. It makes sense to consider this, but making loud warning noises seems like a huge problem. This also comes up with back up beepers and garage exit activity warning buzzers.
God that shit infuriates me. I used to live downtown in a city and only realized after moving into my apartment that I was close enough to hear a crosswalk beeper nearby. Now, I know that it needs to be there for blind accessibility, but I'll never understand why it needed to beep EVERY cycle (basically every minute it would beep for 30 seconds) instead of just when someone pushed the button. It's like, how did no one who set this thing up think about all the people living nearby who'd have to listen to this incessant beeping from 6am to 10pm???
Imagine a crossing, where you have 8 of them. Always clacking, slow or fast, and slightly drifting apart in tempo, to meet into synchronicity again after a few minutes. I'd go insane. The birds are going insane too! Since years I hear them at all times of the night, never sleeping. Interestingly near that crossing.
Edit: With at all times of the night I mean when I walk or ride along there, which can be anything from 22:00 to 05:00.
Anytime there is birdsong, now matter how late or early. Even when no cars are there, in the extra silence between 02:00 and 03:30.
I had a Nissan Leaf a few years ago and hated that it had to beep when in reverse. Leaving early in the morning felt extremely rude for my neighbors and given the context of use, the beeping had little to no value for safety.
Humans fear novelty more than actual danger itself. This is also why nuclear consistently fails to gain traction while fossil fuels continue the status quo of killing millions.
