Human Interest

People that commute by car spend an inordinate amount of time staring at taillights. There’s no way they’re getting around that traffic in front of them. But what about bike commuters? This group of Latvian cyclists recently created a powerful demonstration of the large footprint created by cars that carry just one occupant.

The four cyclists strapped on fragile frameworks shaped like cars, then hopped into the local traffic in Riga to show how much room they would occupy on their daily commute. The difference communicates loud and clear: if these cyclists were actually in cars, they would seriously add to congestion.

From Corvettes to Aston Martins, the rising prices commanded by classic cars — especially unrestored, mostly original examples — has created a goldmine for those who hunt for old vehicles rotting away unattended in some barn. Today, a French auction house revealed a discovery it called the King Tut of barn finds; a treasure trove of 60 European cars, including a rare Ferrari missing for decades, that had been slowly decaying in western France.

Understanding mistakes of the past can help guide U.S. transportation policy in the future.

Between the 1920s and 1960s, policies adapting cities to car travel in the United States served as a role model for much of Western Europe. But by the late 1960s, many European cities started refocusing their policies to curb car use by promoting walking, cycling, and public transportation. For the last two decades, in the face of car-dependence, suburban sprawl, and an increasingly unsustainable transportation system, U.S. planners have been looking to Western Europe.