Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Seth LaJeunesse @sethlaj.bsky.social · 18h

Something about the ability to comfortably travel at inhuman speeds strips us of our humanity.

Tom Flood @tomflood.bsky.social · 1d

An adult driver angry at a child they hit with their car.

Our car culture summed up in one video.

Robson Fletcher @robsonfletcher.com · 1d

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.

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Seth LaJeunesse @sethlaj.bsky.social · 18h

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?

Vehicle parked in a flex post delineated bike lane in Chapel Hill, NC. View is facing east.

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Seth LaJeunesse @sethlaj.bsky.social · 1d

Indeed. This is an agreeable essentializing of hope. “You’re the hope!”

Seth LaJeunesse @sethlaj.bsky.social · 3d

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

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Seth LaJeunesse @sethlaj.bsky.social · 3d

“…true common sense isn’t particularly common these days…” 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

Seth LaJeunesse @sethlaj.bsky.social · 5d

Increasingly perceiving a need to transition our everyday language away from “having hope” and toward “practicing hope.”

Thoughts?

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Seth LaJeunesse @sethlaj.bsky.social · 6d

Objective fact: people > cars.

A fact Catalans have known for some time.

Nothing worth agonizing over. On the contrary, it’s 100% worth celebrating. 🎉

Brent Toderian @brenttoderian.bsky.social · 7d

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.”

Connected network of streets for people instead of cars in the Gràcia community in Barcelona

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Reposted by Seth LaJeunesse

Jonathon Stalls @jonathonstalls.bsky.social · 8d

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.

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Reposted by Seth LaJeunesse

MeidasTouch @meidastouch.com · 10d

Can't we just get healthcare

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Seth LaJeunesse @sethlaj.bsky.social · 12d

Safety individualism is killing us.

Instead, @npr.org:

From: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

David Ederer’s (2023) Safe Systems Pyramid, with Socioeconomic factors at the base, moving up to Built Environment, then up to Latent safety measures, then up to Active measures, and at the top to Education. A upward arrow to the left shows increase levels of individual effort up the pyramid, and a downward arrow on the right shows increasing levels of Population impact as one travels down the steps of the pyramid.

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Seth LaJeunesse @sethlaj.bsky.social · 12d

😠

Tab Combs @drtcombs.bsky.social · 13d

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 @npr.org · 13d

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.

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Seth LaJeunesse @sethlaj.bsky.social · 14d

“ WRAL News is working to learn the cause of the crash.” 👀

Aerial view of the intersection of New Hope Road and Skycrest Drive in Raleigh, NC where the injury-manifesting crash occurred. At this skewed intersection, New Hope Rd has 6 lanes and Skycrest Dr has 4 lanes. Severe crashes are significantly more likely to occur at the intersections of higher speed multi lane roads than they are at lower speed roads with fewer lanes.

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Seth LaJeunesse @sethlaj.bsky.social · 15d

Social exchanges are the building blocks of community.

On a walk this morning I said good morning to three acquaintances. I suspect we are felt more rooted in place, a part of something grander than ourselves.

Cars suppress these exchanges and offer us little by way of building community.

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Seth LaJeunesse @sethlaj.bsky.social · 16d

When you manage land and road infrastructure like this, #WorldCarFreeDay becomes a sort of joke.

Map of the Triangle Region of NC, including Raleigh, Cary, Durham, and Chapel Hill.

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Seth LaJeunesse @sethlaj.bsky.social · 17d

To get us to joyful biking, walking, and rolling, we must address the foundation of this effervescence: safety and security.

Until we all enjoy objectively and subjectively safe places to bike, walk, roll within and through, we will be postponing joy.

Let’s no longer postpone joy. 🚲 🚶🏻 🦽

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Seth LaJeunesse @sethlaj.bsky.social · 20d

Prediction: the next BIG road safety innovation will emerge from TDM (mode shift efforts).

We’ve spent 100+ years rendering driving a bit less dangerous to car occupants, all the while neglecting all who ambulate outside of cars.

Fewer cars and less driving is how we will get to zero.

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Seth LaJeunesse @sethlaj.bsky.social · 21d

Mode shift is a potent public and environmental health intervention.

Brent Toderian @brenttoderian.bsky.social · 21d

Every year, billions of vehicles worldwide shed an estimated 6 million tonnes of tire fragments. These tiny flakes of plastic, generated by normal driving, account for 28% of microplastics entering the environment globally.

Heavy vehicles eg SUVs/EVs especially.

Via @us.theconversation.com

Car tyres shed a quarter of all microplastics in the environment – urgent action is needed

Tiny flakes of plastic, generated by the wear and tear of normal driving, eventually accumulate in the soil, in rivers and lakes, and even in our food.

theconversation.com

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Seth LaJeunesse @sethlaj.bsky.social · 23d

Mr. Ferguson Jr. was waiting for the bus when a driver of a jeep ran over him and fled from the scene.

Hit-and-runs kill thousands in our communities each year in the U.S.

When is a good time to seriously regulate vehicles?

abc11.com/post/61-year...

crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov/Api/Public/P...

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Seth LaJeunesse @sethlaj.bsky.social · 24d

Here’s an apologetic take on AI/LLMs, which may or may not temper your (imho valid) fears: open.substack.com/pub/andymasl...

All the ways I want the AI debate to be better

Ground truths, useful rules, ideas I'd like taken seriously, and a rant

open.substack.com

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Seth LaJeunesse @sethlaj.bsky.social · 24d

What if instead we allied for a “dis-entangling of modes”, much like the Dutch strike to accomplish?

Imagine dedicated bike and ped networks which interacted with car networks in only a few controlled segments.

Instead of the glib “multimodal”, we should speak to “modal priority in place.”

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Seth LaJeunesse @sethlaj.bsky.social · 24d

I wonder if we should be more specific than #multimodal.”

Sometimes the term “multimodal” can be perceived as “all modes equally.”

Yet in practice, it’s nearly impossible to realize true travel mode parity, as cars utterly dominate the spaces they occupy.

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Seth LaJeunesse @sethlaj.bsky.social · 24d

This both an objective truth and something most reasonable people directly experience in car-light and -free environments.

Seth LaJeunesse @sethlaj.bsky.social · 26d

And no matter the qual or quant orientation, there’s nearly always a healthy dose of motivated reasoning.

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Seth LaJeunesse @sethlaj.bsky.social · Sep 8

Props to @kenmcld.bsky.social for informing #BikeWalkNC Summit participants about this necessary proposed legislation

A proposed law entitled the Sarah Debbink Langenkamp Active Transportation Safety Act, which would allow certain bicycle and pedestrian safety projects to receive 100% federal funding by matching Highway Safety Improvement Program and Transportation Alternatives Program funds. Photo shows Langenkamp and her family with two bikes.

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Seth LaJeunesse @sethlaj.bsky.social · Sep 6

One of these things undermines all the others:
-enhancing marshlands
-enhancing wildlife habitats
-reducing flooding
-improving traffic flow along an adjacent highway via widening.

Which could it possible be? 🤔

MTC Bay Area @mtcbata.bsky.social · Sep 5

Today’s passage of AB 697 marks a major advance for long-running efforts to start work on a suite of projects to enhance North Bay marshlands and wildlife habitats, reduce flooding, improve traffic flow along Highway 37, and introduce transit service between Vallejo and Novato.

Legislature passes bill paving way for Highway 37 improvements

Today’s passage by the California State Senate of Assembly Bill 697 — sponsored by the Solano Transportation Authority, authored by Assemblymember Lori Wilson of Solano County and passed by the Assemb...

mtc.one

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