I'd have no problem if urban mail took a week, while resources were used to make sure that rural service was more timely. But I also don't know how much is spent on rural delivery vs. urban mail. I have a friend who works for Canada Post, maybe I should ask. LOL
TBH, if it avoids privatization and saves money, I'd be happy getting mail even once a week. Nothing we get by mail is so urgent that a few extra days will destroy lives.
In cases where something is needed urgently, there's courier, express mail, etc. as premium options. Regular "snail mail" isn't meant to be fast.
The objections are kind of infuriating to listen to:
“They’re necessary, however, it doesn’t hurt to review what goes on with bike lanes and the money that is spent on them,” Hatcher says. “The reason why I say that is if you look downtown, for instance on Rainnie Drive, if you ever had to evacuate the city for a short term or an event downtown or what we do, it wouldn’t hurt to look at the traffic congestion.
Sigh. In an emergency evacuation or event, car traffic is what would be the most problematic.
“I don’t see that many people riding them. These thousand a day, I don’t know where they’re at. Not anywhere I see,” says De Angelis, who believes they pose a safety concern.
First, unless this person is watching all the bike lanes 24/7, of course she wouldn't "see them". And if connected cycling infrastructure isn't already there, then you won't see as many cyclists as you would.
“They make me nervous because people are wiggling back and forth, you don’t know whether to slow down, speed up or whatever.”
Exactly why cyclists need to be separated from “nervous” drivers. We can't safely share space if you're nervous, and we need room to negotiate around manhole grates, road debris, potholes, and parked cars.
“A lot of people ride bikes but there are more people driving and why didn’t they put them on the side streets instead of the main streets where there isn’t as much traffic?” says Adams. “There is enough traffic on the main roads already without putting more on the main roads.”
A) traffic comes from cars, not cyclists. You can fit 100 cyclists in the same space you can fit 10 cars, and you'll never have "traffic congestion" moving 100 or even 1000 cyclists.
B) Accessible, safe infrastructure needs to be places that lead to destinations, not away from them. If main streets are a direct link to a destination, then it should be for active transportation, public transportation, and pedestrians. Motorists should only use their car to drive long distances, then the last mile should be using any other method available.
C) The argument that there are more car drivers than cyclists is lame. You can induce demand for forms of transportation outside of car driving, simply by building the infrastructure. The fact that there may be more drivers than cyclists at any given time is more of a symptom of a car dependency and a lack of safe, connected active transportation infrastructure.
They are all over here, specifically at crossings that join MUPs (Multi Use Paths).
But they have made some areas more dangerous because of drivers who don't stop behind the line. A pedestrian walking slowly might not be hit, but a cyclist going bike speed is at far greater risk of "not being seeing".
This is why I strongly support banning on-street parking. Cars that randomly park on the side of the road, big, small, tall, some too far out, some blocking signs, some creating blind spots... they just create unpredictability and randomness for other road users.
Amazing how headlines will say LUIGI THE KILLER, but when it's about a white, Christian, domestic terrorist carrying out political assassinations, he's just a SUSPECTED SHOOTER.
... someone stopped in the roundabout to let a car in.
I wish more people realized how dangerous some nice acts can be.
I've been in plenty of situations where someone might wave me on in situations where it really isn't appropriate or safe, so I have to basically yell at them to continue.
The last thing I want is for a driver with good intentions to be rear ended, and me getting hit. Three people's day would be ruined, at the very least.
I turned around and gave him the “what the fuck” hands and gestured at the stop sign, and this mother fucker looked at me like I fucked up.
Not long ago, I was going through an intersection on a green... from one bike lane, continuing into the other on the other side of the intersection.
While I had a green, a driver making a left nearly ran into me, honked and did the same "what the fuck are you doing" to me.
It's pretty amazing that we don't hear of crashes every minute of the day, because some people quite literally have no idea what the hell they are doing.
Yes, maybe they didn’t know cross rides were a thing, were fatigued and forgot, etc.
This is why people get killed, unfortunately. We had a teenager, riding through a cross ride, and was killed by a driver who didn't stop behind the line late last year. I visited the spot, and even with a goddamn shrine set up under the stop sign, drivers were still not stopping. I was disappointed, and furious by this lack of care.
My ride yesterday was about 5 hours, across 7 municipalities, and over 130km.
I can say with confidence that there were at least a dozen close calls at intersections and cross rides, specifically because drivers aren't paying attention.
I had one lady "stop", and then crawl into the crossing, while looking only to her left (I was coming from her right). I had to stop and ring my bell before she even realized that I was there.
Many, MANY people making turns without checking for pedestrians and cyclists crossing.
And not stopping behind the line happened more times than I can count.
I've witnessed a few times people actually driving onto bike paths! Not just bike lanes, but fucking paths, like ones that go through parks and forests! Just clueless about what they're doing.
Our local police do squat about traffic violations, unfortunately, unless they are present when the infraction occurs. I've got a video of this entire thing, she was in the cross ride for at least 17 seconds. And I'm sure she was on her phone for more than just this encounter.
This kind of lack of awareness is why we have so many pedestrian and cyclist deaths in places designed to be "safe" for cyclists and pedestrians!
Is a cross ride like a crosswalk but for bikes or something?
Yes, you can ride through with your bike. Notice the two green lights above her, those are bike symbols, indicating that I have the right of way to cross. She needed to STOP behind the line, and also not be on her phone (illegal).
You don't even have to be old. Death or serious illness/injury can affect us at any age, and it would suck if your family lost access to all the self-hosted photos and videos, for example.
Then don't "exercise". At least not formal workouts.
One "life hack" for people who hate working out is simply to do more things manually.
Errands? Walk or bike.
Hungry? Prepare the meal from scratch.
Laundry? Try handwashing.
The idea is to move, and if possible, move enough to elevate your heartrate. Add resistance whenever possible.
Of course, this is the bare minimum you can do for yourself. Doing more will bring greater benefits, but anything is better than just sitting in a car, at a desk, in front of a TV.
And the more you do with consistency, the easier things get, and your body won't feel run down doing basic things.
And remember, if you're also self-hosting for family, someone will need to take over all that software and digital clutter when you're gone.
I've been trimming as much as I can on my NAS, including only keeping the most important self-hosted software and heavily purging old files and backups.
I'd have no problem if urban mail took a week, while resources were used to make sure that rural service was more timely. But I also don't know how much is spent on rural delivery vs. urban mail. I have a friend who works for Canada Post, maybe I should ask. LOL