Doug Gordon

Is it acceptable to harm another person? To steal someone’s private property? To bend health and safety rules just to save a few minutes or make more money? According to a new study, it might depend on whether or not a car is involved. Dr. Ian Walker, a professor of environmental psychology at Swansea University in Wales, joins us for a fascinating discussion about the unconscious biases we all share in favor of cars, how those assumptions shape our streets, and how they prevent the kind of change needed to make them safer. It’s a phenomenon he and his co-authors call “motonormativity.”

You can find the full transcript of this episode here.

This episode is sponsored by Cleverhood. Receive 15% off anything in the Cleverhood store using the special coupon code in this episode. Good for a limited time only! 

***Support The War on Cars on Patreon and receive exclusive access to ad-free versions of all our episodes, exclusive bonus content and free stickers!***

LINKS:

Read the full study: Motonormativity: How Social Norms Hide a Major Public Health Hazard.

Learn more about Dr. Ian Walker.

How closely do drivers pass cyclists? According to Dr. Walker’s research, it depends.

What if people behaved in grocery stores the way they do behind the wheel of a car? (PSA via Norway’s State Road Administration)

Buy The War on Cars merch in our store and books by podcast guests at our official Bookshop.org page.

This episode was edited by Ali Lemer and recorded by Josh Wilcox of the Brooklyn Podcasting Studio. Our theme music is by Nathaniel Goodyear. Our logo was designed by Dani Finkel of Crucial D Designs. 

TheWarOnCars.org

Parking is at the heart of every fight about how we build our cities and towns, with effects that go far beyond transportation. Minimum parking requirements  — laws that dictate how many parking spaces are required for various types of buildings and businesses — make housing more expensive, raise the price of goods and services and exacerbate sprawl, making congestion and the climate crisis much, much worse. Thankfully, a movement is afoot to end parking minimums, inspired by the work of Donald Shoup.

Shoup, the Distinguished Research Professor at UCLA’s Department of Urban Planning, is the author of the 2005 book The High Cost of Free Parking. It’s an invaluable resource for anyone who wants to understand the problems with parking. Professor Shoup — aka the Shoup Dogg — joins us for a spirited conversation about how to win what he calls “the war on parking subsidies.”

You can find the full transcript of this episode here.

This episode is sponsored by Cleverhood. Receive 15% off anything in the Cleverhood store using the special coupon code in this episode. Good for a limited time only! 

Support The War on Cars on Patreon and receive exclusive access to ad-free versions of all new episodes, Patreon-only bonus content and free stickers!

Buy The War on Cars merch in our store.

LINKS:

Learn all about Donald Shoup at ShoupDogg.com.

Read The High Cost of Free Parking.

Join The Parking Reform Network and end parking requirements where you live.

Donald Shoup gets animated on Adam Ruins Everything.

This episode was produced by Doug Gordon, edited by Ali Lemer, and recorded by Josh Wilcox of the Brooklyn Podcasting Studio. Our theme music is by Nathaniel Goodyear. Our logo was designed by Dani Finkel of Crucial D Designs. 

TheWarOnCars.org

In Part 1, Welcome to Muscle Car City, we met Denys da Menace, a young New York City guy who does “donuts” and “burnouts” in a souped-up Dodge Charger as part of the Brooklyn Hemi Boyz car club. Then in Part 2, We Are in the Movie, we rode along in what was supposed to be the biggest, loudest, craziest car meet of the summer. Now Sarah, Doug, and Aaron are going to break it down and talk about it. Why did muscle-car culture become so big during the first two years of the pandemic? How do car club members afford to keep their expensive hobby going? And why are we allowing automakers to put these products on public streets while encouraging young men to use them as dangerously as possible? In Part 3, we’re Deconstructing Muscle Car City.

You can find the full transcript of this episode here.

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This episode is sponsored by Cleverhood. Receive 15% off anything in the Cleverhood store using the special coupon code in this episode. Good for a limited time only! 

Support The War on Cars on Patreon and receive exclusive access to ad-free bonus content and we’ll send you stickers too.

LINKS:

‘Menacing’ Dodge Charger Hellcat Redeye goes 203 mph, will start at $80K (Detroit Free Press) 

Dodge’s idiotic Chief Donut Maker reality TV-style marketing campaign featuring professional wrestler, Bill Goldberg (Dodge)

Welcome to the Royal Posh Auto Spa, where Aaron interviewed muscle car owner, Carlos. 

2022 Hess Flatbed Truck with Hot Rods! (YouTube)

This episode was produced by Aaron Naparstek, edited by Ali Lemer, and recorded by Josh Wilcox of the Brooklyn Podcasting Studio. Our theme music is by Nathaniel Goodyear. Our logo was designed by Dani Finkel of Crucial D Designs. 

TheWarOnCars.org

***Happy holidays! This is a rerelease of our interview with Jessie Singer, the author of There Are No Accidents, which originally came out in February 2022 as Episode 80. It’s one of our favorite episodes from 2022. We’ll be back with new episodes in January.***

What do we mean when we say something is an “accident”? When a motorist kills a pedestrian or cyclist it is often described in the press and the criminal justice system as a “car accident” — even when there is a clear cause such as a driver who was drunk, distracted or speeding. According to a new book by journalist Jessie Singer, events that most people describe as accidents are anything but. Singer argues that who lives and dies by accident in America is not random but utterly predictable. Using the word, she says, protects the powerful and leads to “the prevention of prevention.”

You can find the full transcript of this episode here.

Support The War on Cars on Patreon and get exclusive access to ad-free bonus episodes and other beneifts.

Follow and review us on Apple Podcasts. It helps people find us!

Doug test drives the Rad Trike.

We headed over to our sponsor Rad Power Bikes’ new Brooklyn showroom last week to meet with founder and CEO Mike Radenbaugh and test drive his newly launched three-wheeler, the Rad Trike. The trike is very cool, beautifully designed, and tons of fun to ride. Manufacturing an e-trike is a big gamble for the young company. But Radenbaugh believes the Trike is his most accessible and transformational product yet, with huge potential to get lots more Americans out of their gas-guzzling SUVs and into lighter, cleaner, smarter, and more affordable electric vehicles. Can The War on Cars be won on tricycles?

You can find the full transcript of this special episode here.

LINKS:

“The RadTrike is the latest weapon in Rad Power Bikes’ ongoing war on cars.” (By Andrew J. Hawkins of The Verge)

The Teenage Tinkerer Behind an E-Bike Revolution (New York Times)

Rad Power Bikes: Mike Radenbaugh (How I Built This with Guy Raz)

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Support The War on Cars on Patreon and you’ll get exclusive access to ad-free bonus content and more. 

Pick up some official War on Cars merch at our store.

Follow and review us on Apple Podcasts. It helps people find us!

This episode was recorded by Aaron Naparstek and Doug Gordon. It was produced and edited by Ali Lemer. Our theme music is by Nathaniel Goodyear. Our logo was designed by Dani Finkel of Crucial D Designs.

TheWarOnCars.org

In the spring of 2021, War on Cars co-host Aaron Naparstek started noticing lots of big loud muscle cars rumbling around New York City emblazoned with Instagram accounts. He began following cars on social media, immersing himself in a world of burnouts, donuts, street races, and takeovers. What happens when car culture meets social media and a city’s street network becomes the infrastructure for thousands of clout-seeking muscle car enthusiasts’ social network? To find out, Aaron brought The War on Cars to New York City’s “biggest, craziest car meet” of the year. 

This is the second of a three-part series. You might want to listen to Part 1, “Welcome to Muscle Car City,” before you listen to this.

You can find the full transcript of this episode here.

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This episode is sponsored by Cleverhood. Receive 15% off anything in the Cleverhood store using the special coupon code in this episode. Good for a limited time only! 

Support The War on Cars on Patreon and receive exclusive access to ad-free bonus content.

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***This is a preview of a Patreon-exclusive, ad-free bonus episode. Become a Patreon supporter of The War on Cars for access to this and all of our bonus content. As thanks, we’ll send you stickers!***

Advice columnist and activist Dan Savage was our guest for episode 95, “Make Love Not Cars with Dan Savage.” We had some fun side conversations that didn’t make their way into the final edit so we’re presenting them here for our Patreon supporters. Hear Dan’s thoughts on driving in Los Angeles and how he feels about the rise of e-bikes. Subscribe for access!

TheWarOnCars.org

***This is a preview of a Patreon-exclusive, ad-free bonus episode. Become a Patreon supporter of The War on Cars for access to this and all of our exclusive ad-free bonus content. As thanks, we’ll send you stickers!***

Major League Soccer player Tesho Akindele, a star forward who most recently played for the Orlando City Soccer Club, is also an outspoken urbanist who has used his social media presence to promote walkability, bikeability, density and affordable housing to sports fans in Florida, across the country and around the world. In this ad-free bonus episode just for Patreon supporters, Tesho talks about his journey to the soccer field, his first exposure to War-on-Cars-adjacent issues and his favorite neighborhoods in Orlando and the US. He also offers some thoughts on why cars are such potent status symbols among his fellow pro athletes.

TheWarOnCars.org