Aw-shucks. GM Blunders onto Campus

Not everything the auto lobby does today is greenwash. There is plenty of that about of course, but in addition the honeyed words that are constantly articulated to calm our raging democratic spirits and to bring us to believe that we are all in the same side in this one big happy sustainable family, there are occasions in which the industry and its more hapless proponents fall back into a blatant posture of pure meanness of spirit. As an example let us take a look at a recent vicious campaign of General Motors to sell their cars to young people, at any cost to their future well-being.

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"Should car advertising be more heavily regulated, etc., etc." More on, this time from Canada

Yesterday's feature article under this title generated a number of immediate comments and responses from readers in Australia, Canada and Germany, including the following announced "Canadian Code of Advertising Standards re Motor Vehicle Advertising", a "stakeholder approach" to dealing with these thorny issues. We produce it here in its essentials together with URLs for further information. But does it actually do the job?

Richard Campbell from Vancouver Canada wrote in this morning as follows: "There are similar standards in Canada that just came into effect. http://www.adstandards.com/en/MediaAndEvents/newInterpretationGuideline.aspx. The Guideline was developed to help ensure that motor vehicle advertisements are created to comply with the spirit of Canadian road safety laws.

It includes eight broad principles, in the form of questions, which will provide guidance to motor vehicle manufacturers and their advertising agencies in the production of advertising that is creative and effective, while respecting road safety concerns and conforming to the Code. The Guideline encompasses such issues as speeding, aggressive and unsafe behaviour, and depictions of races or competitions. Here is the complaint procedure: http://www.adstandards.com/en/ConsumerComplaints/theConsumerComplaintsProcess.aspx"

Canadian Code of Advertising Standards re Motor Vehicle Advertising

Advertising Standards Canada (ASC) maintains the Canadian Code of Advertising Standards (Code), the principal instrument of advertising self-regulation in Canada. The Code sets the standards for acceptable advertising and forms the basis for receipt and review of consumers’ complaints about Canadian advertising. The Code is augmented by Interpretation Guidelines that are designed to enhance industry and public understanding of the interpretation and application of the clauses of the Code.

On September 24, 2009, ASC published and implemented Interpretation Guideline #4 – Alleged Infractions of Clauses #10 or #14: Motor Vehicle Advertising. The Guideline was developed to help ensure that motor vehicle advertisements are created to comply with the spirit of Canadian road safety laws. It includes eight broad principles, in the form of questions, which will provide guidance to motor vehicle manufacturers and their advertising agencies in the production of advertising that is creative and effective, while respecting road safety concerns and conforming to the Code. The Guideline encompasses such issues as speeding, aggressive and unsafe behaviour, and depictions of races or competitions.

Developed by a working group, the motor vehicle advertising guideline initiative was led by the Société de l’assurance automobile du Québec (SAAQ), in conjunction with ASC, the Canadian Council of Motor Transport Administrators, the Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers’ Association, the Association of International Automobile Manufacturers of Canada, the Association of Canadian Advertisers and the Association des agences de publicité du Québec.

The working group was convened following the adoption of legislative provisions obligating the SAAQ to “in collaboration with automobile manufacturers, advertising agencies and highway safety stakeholders …establish guidelines aimed at prohibiting any advertisement that portrays a road vehicle and conveys a careless attitude with respect to road safety by presenting situations that encourage reckless, dangerous or prohibited practices or behaviour.” The auto advertising issue was of interest to other Canadian jurisdictions, several of whom joined the working group (Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, British Columbia, Yukon and Transport Canada.) The working group’s adoption of the Guideline was supported by all Canadian jurisdictions.

The positive cooperation from the other stakeholders meant that the guidelines could be built on the existing self-regulatory structure, thereby avoiding the need to adopt more binding measures. (Our emphasis.)

* Click here for the new Guideline: http://www.adstandards.com/en/MediaAndEvents/newInterpretationGuideline.aspx

Interpretation Guideline #4 – Alleged Infractions of Clauses 10 or 14: Motor Vehicle Advertising1

(Editor's note: These are the "eight questions" referred to above.)

4.1 When evaluating complaints about advertising involving depictions of motorized vehicles that allegedly contravene Clause 10 (Safety), Council will take into account the following questions:

a. Does the depiction of the performance, power or acceleration of the vehicle convey the impression that it is acceptable to exceed speed limits?

b. Does the depiction of a vehicle’s handling ability involve potentially unsafe actions such as cutting in and out of traffic, excessively aggressive driving, or car chases in a residential setting?

c. Does the depiction appear realistic or does it appear to be unreal, as in a fantasy-like scenario that is unlikely to be copied or emulated in real life?

d. Would it be reasonable to interpret the depicted situation as condoning or encouraging unsafe driving practices?

4.2 When evaluating complaints involving depictions in automobile advertising that allegedly contravene Clause 10 (Safety) or Clause 14 (Unacceptable Depictions and Portrayals), Council also will take into account the following questions developed and endorsed by the Association of International Automobile Manufacturers of Canada and the Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers Association:

a. Is the vehicle operated in violation of applicable laws or beyond reasonable speed under the circumstances taking into account the portrayed road, weather, traffic and surrounding conditions (e.g. children in the area,) or over usual speed limits in Canada?

b. Does the depiction of the performance, power or acceleration and braking of the vehicle, taking into consideration the advertisement as a whole including visual (both images and text) and audio messages convey the impression that it is acceptable to exceed speed limits or to otherwise operate a vehicle unsafely or illegally?

c. Does the depiction of racing and rallies, and of other competition environments, taking into consideration the advertisement as a whole including visual (both images and text) and audio messages, convey the impression that production vehicles could be driven like racing or competition vehicles on a public roadway?

d. Is the advertisement encouraging or endorsing vehicle use that is aggressive, violent or injurious toward other road users, or that denigrates or disparages cautious behaviour when using a vehicle?

# # #

Editor's commentary:

This proposal strikes these eyes as a possible step in the right direction; however we fear that calls for "reasonable behavior" will be about as well accepted by the main actors involved in this sector as it would be in the more aggressive edge of the financial community.

Let's not kid ourselves. Self-regulation? Getting agreement from the "main stakeholders"? Whoa. You or I can say anything but the only thing that counts is what we do.

We do not see that anything of worth can be achieved in this domain unless there are real teeth to it. Where are the teeth? Where is the responsibility? Where is the good governance needed as a framework for working democracy, healthy entrepreneurship and society?

I don't think that we can responsibly run away from this one.

Eric Britton,
Editor, World Streets

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Question: Should car advertizing be more heavily regulated? Or taxed? Or mandate compensatory advertizing? Or or . . . ?

Our sustainable colleagues over at Nuova Mobilità, our Italian-language sister publication, have shown more consistent aggressiveness concerning debating the issues of car advertising then we (which points out the advantages of diversity) -- but from time to time we too consider that it is useful to give this some thought and dialogue. N/M picked up the following quite contentious article on the subject today from the Guardian, which we are also pleased to share with you for your information and comment. (Ours appear at the end of this article).

Want to promote cycling? Cut back car adverts now

- Tom Bogdanowicz, guardian.co.uk. London. Wednesday, 17 February 2010.

The UK spends £500m a year on car ads and fetishises auto-ownership – no wonder cycling is stuck in the slow lane

Step out of your home and what do you see? There is a subliminal and overt message on the streets and in the media to buy cars and use them. You'll find it on TV, on your computer, in the newspapers you read. It makes the promotion of any other form or transport, such as cycling, an uphill struggle regardless of how convenient, healthy and sustainable it may be.

The advertising spend on the promotion of motor vehicles in the UK exceeds £500m a year. And, by and large, it works: car ownership has grown steadily since the 1940s and, after the current economic crisis abates, it will likely continue to do so.

In sharp contrast, the promotion of cycling and walking is almost non-existent. When Transport for London ran a TV ad promoting cycling it was a unique occasion. The number of cyclists on UK roads has dropped sharply since the 1940s, and London stands out as a rare example of a city where cycling has doubled in six years.

While the government encourages us to walk, ride bikes and use public transport, it knows that car advertising is persuading us to do the exact opposite. Instead of sharing one car, households buy two or three so that everyone can express their own personality through their vehicle. If you believe the advertising, your car will make you more attractive, more popular and more successful. How many car ads show the reality of being stuck in traffic or the frustration of searching for a parking space?

Cycling gets the occasional media boost when team GB sweeps the Olympic medals or cycling in London soars, as more people realise it's faster around town than driving. But very few companies pay big money for bike ads, so newspapers don't have cycling sections – with notable exceptions, such as this blog - and there is no cycling equivalent of Top Gear.

The outcome of all that PR for cars is more sales as well as more congestion, more pollution and a greater demand for scarce parking spaces. There would have been no need for the congestion charge in London if not for the success of the auto industry's publicity machine and the popularity of motoring programmes.

Reversing the trend of ever-increasing car ownership and use is not as difficult as it seems. If governments were to limit car advertising, as they did with alcohol and tobacco when the health impacts were recognised, people would take decisions about their mode of transport based on common sense rather than the promise of open highways, high speeds and glamorous locations. Common sense might well encourage cycling or walking for more journeys.

The survival of cycling as a transport mode and its growth in London is a tribute to its convenience and simplicity. Surveys show that one-in-five of us would like to cycle. If the barriers to cycling were removed – such as perceived danger and a lack of cycling infrastructure – cycle journeys in the UK might increase tenfold to the levels seen in Holland or Denmark. The benefits are obvious: more cycling and walking would help prevent health problems as well as climate change.

Holland is lucky to have invested in cycling before car-oriented planning created a road system that discourages cycle use. The UK, unfortunately, has seen several decades of car-centred planning. But, as London shows, the UK can still join the virtuous circle. Local traffic management schemes can be redesigned to allow cyclists through them and urban gyratories can be removed.

If reduced auto promotion stemmed the growth in car ownership as well, we could see more people cycling and drivers might discover that the roads were less busy and parking spaces easier to come by. In fact, there is little choice; Britain's urban population continues to grow – unless we enable people to cycle and walk more, and stop persuading them to use cars, we face gridlock.

# # #

About the author:
• Tom Bogdanowicz is campaigns and development officer for the London Cycle Campaign

* Source: guardian.co.uk. http://tinyurl.com/yb7ssh9

* Reader comments here: http://tinyurl.com/yznghcu


From the editor: A Personal Reflection:

It is not exactly that recourse to the law is the last refuge of a scoundrel, but it - that is the crude hammer of the law - is certainly the last refuge of citizens and political leaders who are not able to come up with a better and softer path to get the job done. Which is to say that we approach matters like this with a heavy heart, but then are ready to hear the arguments from both sides, all while not forgetting what sustainability and social justice are all about.

The bottom line: As an essentially naïve person, I always tend to confound or confuse (or wish hopefully about) advertising as having primarily an information function. Of course when any of us has a point we wish to make, there is also a human tendency to try to make that point in a way which renders it agreeable for the public you are trying to get on your side. At one point of course this can become a matter of more even than simple cajoling , namely attempting behavior modification, and this brings us in front of an ethical choice, or maybe better a dilemma.

I, and I am almost certain you also, have reached the conclusion that advertising in public places and the media can be extremely useful in matters in which society is having a problem or two: smoking too much, speeding too fast, drug dependency, various forms of unfair discrimination, the long list goes on. No reasonable person can deplore the intelligent and in a surprising number of cases pretty effective advertising/information campaigns that have been run over the last several decades in order to modify behavior of large numbers of people and create really a better and safer society for all. Moreover I, and once again I bet you too, want to see more of this done wisely and effectively.

Now back to our topic, namely the at least highly dubious habits of the automobile industry advertising practices. And here I have to put my cards on the table and state that I am not an anti-car guy. I have had quite a range of cars over the years which by and large I greatly appreciated and I think have used wisely. On the other hand, we are all increasingly aware that as things stand today there are many situations in which "own-cars" are not always necessarily the best way to get around every day (particularly in cities of course). Anyway, we shall soon enough have a billion of them raring to go all over the planet, so it is our job as citizen-guardians of the concept of sustainable transportation to provide perspective and, if we can manage it, wise counsel as to what exactly is going to be their proper place in society. After all, that is what governance is all about.

For starters, anyone would have to be blind or soft in the head not to see the pernicious qualities of much of the car advertising that we presently have in our various print and electronic media. Much of this goes well beyond giving us simple information about their products, and with the help of very sophisticated media specialists and experts in behavioral psychology often combine to create pattern and attitudes which are far from being in the public interest.

The fixation with speed, the subtle ways of manipulating and implying speed as a personal (to some) if not a social value -- and hey! everybody knows that speed kills -- gives us a great place to start. Some of the rest is more puzzling and is going to be more difficult, so until we can sort this out, speed gives us a good training ground to get going and figure out how to handle the rest.

My position on this today then is that I feel there is every reason for the vigorous public debate in as many fora and places as can be reached. Tom Bogdanowicz's points are worthy of reflection, and it is good to see him looking at all of this from the perspective of cyclists. And if you click here - http://tinyurl.com/yznghcu - you will be taken to the extremely lively commentary that his article has excited, and which also might find it useful to spend the time with.

I wish I could tell you that I have a way to wrap this up so that you can put it all behind you and move on to other things. But I cannot and so as resourceful citizens we have to keep thinking about it, talking about it, and pretty soon doing something about it.

Eric Britton
Editor, World Streets

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It's time you too rolled up your sleeves and got involved.

World Streets, it says right at the top of the page, is a collaborative, sharing effort. After a first year of proving its worth edition after edition, five days a week, bringing hundreds of carefully selected news items, expert views, questions, comments, inspirations, and leads to the desks of more than one hundred thousand visitors from more than seventy countries on all continents (that was our "business plan") , World Streets is now reaching out to get active sponsorship and support for 2010. We need your help to continue. So it's time for you to dig in and lend a hand. (And this is not only about money - keep reading.)

* * * But first, before plowing ahead, if you have not yet got to this, click here - to read the letters of support coming in from one hundred world experts of sustainable transportation from all continents. Surely they should know.

Contents:
1. Subscription
2. Advertizing on World Streets
3. Personal gifts, donations
4. How to make your contribution
5. Partners and Sponsors
6. Become an Ambassador
7. Other forms of support (content, technical)
8 Ten reasons why you should pitch in

1. Subscription (No problem, no fees)

World Streets is a public interest publication which is freely available to all who are looking to understand, support, and contribute to the sustainability agenda anywhere in the world. We believe strongly that there should be no barriers, and especially not commercial ones, to the free circulation of news, tools and counsel when it comes to important issues of sustainable development and social justice.

If your interest and circumstances permit, we invite you to make a gift in the amount you find appropriate. We cannot continue publication in 2010 without your support.
____________________________________________________________

2. Advertizing on World Streets (No problem, no ads.)

We do not believe that advertising fits the spirit of this endeavor.
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3. Personal contributions, gifts (Here's where you come in.)

World Streets is going to need significant financial support if it is to continue through 2010. Despite the many volunteers pitching in with ideas, articles and encouragement, our programs are still costly to run and require an annual budget on the order of EUR 100,000 to get the job done. (There is a lot going on here, the iceberg under the tip, which is needed to get the journal out each day and which of course you never see, including management and oversight of all that goes into maintaining the New Mobility Agenda focus programs and sites – see www.program.newmobility.org to get an idea on that.)

This level of funding normally can come only from foundations, public agencies, or well-to-do individuals. But there is scope for smaller, more strategic donations as well, and here is maybe where you will have some ideas. Your counsel and initiative will be helpful in several ways.

• By making a contribution - large or small - you are sending us a strong signal that what we are doing has value.

• Your contributions will help us to fund the diversity of our existing programs at the quality level and frequency you are used to.

• An active contributor base helps us equally to turn to the foundations, agencies, and individuals that can make more sizable contributions to help us make-up a budget shortfall.

But there is possibly an even more important reason for you to make your voice heard in this way. World Streets and the New Mobility Agenda are voices of the sustainable cities movement that have an international role and high visibility, including in your country and city. As you are aware, while thousands of representatives of many cities and many of the leading NGOs were present Copenhagen for COP15, they were kept on the sidelines. But if there is any lesson of OCP15 it is that they must have a far stronger voice and more active role in shaping these policies and decisions -- and we see it as one of our most important tasks in the year ahead is to work to achieve this.

Some of you have asked how much to give. The possible range, a range that is useful for us, is in fact enormous. If you are a student or struggling to make ends meet in a poor city or country, even one dollar would be loaded with significance. Please don't be embarrassed or shy. It is a wonderful way to join in. Your contribution, large or small, carries a very big message.

To be more concrete, let me make a suggestion, three in fact:

* World Streets Subscribers contribute $50.00 or more for 2010.
* Supporters (to give it a name) – in the area of $500.00
* And Partners/Sponsors, say on the order of $5,000.00.

Looking at it from the working end, our daily production and support costs run on the order of $500.00. Which quickly adds up to a couple of thousand dollars a week, four times that for the month, and for the year . . . well you already have that figured. Those are modules that some of you at least may wish to give a thought to, if your resources permit.

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4. How to make your contribution:

All contributions to World Streets are tax-deductable. Please get in touch with us for full details.

Direct bank transfers:

Billing details for a wire transfer:

Account Holder: Association EcoPlan International
Account no. 00010465401
Crédit Industriel et Commercial de Paris
Succursale BR (Montparnasse)
202 Blvd. Raspail / 75014 Paris, France
SWIFT: CMCIFRPP
IBAN : FR76 3006 6106 2100 0104 6540 105

Paypal or credit card:

Payment by Paypal is simple and fast: (1) Go to www.paypal.com . (2) Enter your account (or set one up). (3) Click "send money". (4) Address: association@ecoplan.org. (5) Amount. (6) Click "Personal". (7) Click "Gift".

To make payment by credit card, please click the Support icon immediately below and follow the directions.

Finally, if you prefer to send a check direct our mailing address is:

Association EcoPlan International
8/10, rue Joseph Bara
F75006 Paris, France

You can make your check payable to Association EcoPlan International. Again get in touch with us for details concerning tax-exemption.

And don't forget this. Your contribution is quite literally what is making this work. Thank you.

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4. Partnerships and sponsoring

Institutional partnerships

• Cities are our natural partners.
They are the ones closest to the issues and who make the decisions that count. Via the daily journal we supply them with a carefully selected, easy to digest, steady flow of information, insight, clues and feedback from world experts that would cost them many times more than the annual subscription to develop on their own. It also gives them a chance to make their voice heard on a worldwide forum.

Our goal is to cover a substantial portion of operating costs through these dynamic partnerships, targeting to get the support of one hundred world cities of all sizes at affordable rates. Subscribing cities are invited to bring in one city from the developing countries as part of their subscription.

• Public agencies and associations: At the state, national or regional level, these institutions can provide valuable services to the community by helping make Streets available in their service area and to their members. There is important potential for co-organizing seminars, workshops and events in support of sustainable transport projects and groups taking the lead in their area.

• Transport operators are natural partners too, and chief among them the larger and more dynamic public transport providers, other service providers and the more active associated management groups.

• Universities World Streets may offer a good fit and tool for advanced university programs among those leading the way in the sector. Various forms of collaboration and mutual support are possible. Get in touch so that we can discuss.

• Private sector: This is more delicate, but is appropriate for companies and organizations who are firmly committed to the sustainable transport agenda. Suppliers of goods and services in such areas as insurance, non-motorized transport, carsharing, liftsharing, strategic parking, logistics, buses, delivery services, locational systems, integrated multi-modal ticket/access systems, transport logistics, spatial planning, and specialized consultancy, management and research groups are appropriate.

* Foundation support
As we develop longer-term partnerships for support, one-off gifts and donations will go a long way to help us fund our early operational and start-up costs in this crucial first phase. We are particularly hopeful for the support of foundations, groups with such budgets, and well-to-do individuals who share our sense of mission. If you are among them, please contact us for more information. If you know someone we should contact for discussions, please let us know.

Donors
An important form of support is starting to come in from individuals and families of means who share our concerns, and who are ready to reach into their pockets to give proof that the struggle for sustainable cities must engage us all. Add your voice.

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5. Become a World Streets Ambassador/Partner

World Streets, and right behind it the programs and resources of the New Mobility Agenda, functions pretty well as a peer network of international expert colleagues who share information and experience, including in many cases writing or sharing with us all articles and reports that constitute the hard core of the daily publication.

But we also need help, your help, in reaching out to and starting dialogues with cities, programs, agencies, groups, NGOS, companies and foundations that could partner with us on projects and events. There are many ways this could play out, but the first step is for you to have sufficient interest that you are willing to talk about it. If so, all you have to do is click here to send an email to eric.britton@newmobility.org or Skype to newmobility.org. A phone call to +331 7550 3788 will also do nicely.

Partners for new language/country editions
We want you to read about the leading edge of sustainable transport news and developments in your best and easiest language. And we are already working on it.

* Check out the very successful Italian version, Nuova Mobilità at http://nuovamobilita.blogspot.com/
* We are presently testing a German version, Neue Mobilität at http://neuemobilitat.blogspot.com/
* Discussions are also underway for cooperative projects in Chinese, French, Spanish and Portuguese.

Project partners (for joint projects, editions)

At this point perhaps it will be a most efficient of your time if we leave this a simple list without going into any more details explanations here, leaving that for the next stage of communication in case you wish to get in touch to discuss how you might help out. You know how to get in touch. I hope we shall be hearing from you.

Fundraising
We certainly need a hand here since we have proved most clearly that this is not an area of competence. So if you share our values and concerns, consider helping us . .
.

* Through the web
* Direct representations
* Viral fundraising

Eyes on the Street:
But there is more to this than money. What about pitching in and join our World Eyes on the Street Observatory?. No obligation, no time required (and no pay), but we do want you to at least be looking and thinking about it. More on Eyes at http://newmobilityagenda.blogspot.com/2009/03/world-streets-correspondents.html.

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6. Other forms of support:

If you have spent some time with World Streets you will probably have noticed that it is a thoroughly collaborative operation, with friends and partners from many different places around the world contributing in many different ways. So far so good. But we also need other forms of help of a more specific kind, if we are to make World Streets into a truly effective instrument in support of the sustainable transport agenda worldwide

At this point let me just list the main areas in which help is going to be most useful, and invite you to work your way down this list, and if you see an area in which you have the skills and the desire to pitch in, please do get in touch so that we can discuss how this might work.

In summary our technical challenge is to create a far more seamless framework that will allow our readers to find and access not only the full content of all past World Streets postings, but also to move easily between the journal and the various New Mobility Partnerships sites, which presently are cantoned off in another part of the web. Likewise we need far great seamlessness and easier navigation between our various rich discussion groups, and our growing supply of media. This is quite a challenge but we have enough experience on the operations end that with the right technical partners we are sure we can make some major improvements.

Before you dig in however let me point out that while this is a great and exciting series of challenges, the only reward for doing them will be your satisfaction. It is a great and challenging job, but there is no pay and no obligations really, other than to pitch in where your skills and time permit. But we can promise that you will be in great company.

Now on to the areas in which your help is needed:

Content
* Reporters/Authors
* Reviewers
* Editors
* Translators
* Eyes on the Street Sentinels
* Speakers Bureau, organization of

Media:
* Illustrators
* Photographers
* Videographers
* Streetscape models
* Scenario writers
* Podcasting
* Editors
* Producers

Tech support (Web):
* Webmasters and blog experts
* Map maintenance
* Eyes on the Street program maintenance
* Blog liaison

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7. Ten reasons why you should pitch in and help us guarantee 2010:

1. Because if you are a parent or active citizen it is the right thing to do. (And it is simple and cheap.)

2. It demonstrates that you give credence to critical vital climate/transportation link and the need for acting no -- and not waiting about for some kind of long term deus ex machina that may or may not solve your and the planet's problems.

3. It is, or at least it can be, extremely time efficient for you and your team. The publication component of this four-part package can be channeled to your staff and associates in a way that consumes no more than a few minutes of their time. However it is also put before them in a form in which they can easily consult and expand their search for projects, concepts and tools they would like to know more about.

4. It does not bore -- to the contrary, it challenges and energizes the minds of its readers. It will make your smartest people smarter yet.

5. It gives you an efficient way to track some of the things going on at the leading edge not only in your own country or regional grouping. Its genuine worldwide, North/South, East/West (and South/North) focus, reporting from source, brings to your attention projects, ideas and clues that otherwise you are just about certain to miss.

6. By stepping forward you provide proof that you are part of the growing movement that is in the process of turning sustainable transportation from a marginal activity with a basically rhetorical feel-good spin, into the defining mainstream of 21st century transportation policy and practice at the leading edge.

7. By your initiative you are making World Streets available to others in your city or region and, in the process, creating an extended sense of common purpose which is largely still missing in most places.

8. By doing your bit, you are helping make these ideas and materials available to cities, researchers, activists, and others all over the world, including many others who otherwise cannot even afford this one per cent.

9. As a colleague and supporter, you and your team are in a position to work with the editorial staff from time to time to let the world know about your leading projects and accomplishments.

10. And finally, if you do not step forward to do this, who will?

For the rest, thank you in advance for your contributions, counsel and support. Believe me, we will not be able to do this without you!

Eric Britton
Editor, World Streets

PS. Have a look at who visited World Streets today. They have to be coming here for a reason.



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Honk! Ms. Veronica Moss loves cars more than people too. (And she is not afraid to say so.)

In the interest of fairness, now that you have heard from a high source about how best to deal with all those common people getting in your way in India's crowded streets, you now have a chance to spend a few minutes with Ms. Veronica Moss, who has some points to make about the dangers of ceding valuable public space to ordinary people in the middle of New York City.

Just in today from our friends at StreetFilms in New York. In their words:

Veronica Moss Visits Times Square

by Clarence Eckerson, Jr. on November 16, 2009 |

She's back! The woman you love to hate (and hate not to love) Veronica Moss, a Washington, D.C. lobbyist for the Automobile User Trade Organization (A.U.T.O.) In this "chapter", she's getting her first gander ever at the new pedestrian-friendly Times Square and she invited Streetfilms along to record her virgin journey.

Naturally since she advocates for cars for a living with her every breath, her viewpoints are bound to rankle some of those in the livable streets camp. Here are a few splendiferous musings as she reminisced about the "old" Times Square - where visitors "had to fight" for every last inch of space:

• "Pedestrians are cystic acne on the teenage forehead of this city."

• "I used to feel this wonderful sense of being totally overwhelmed and being displaced when I walked through Times Square. And that's how it should feel."

Of course, that's nothing new for Ms. Moss, who first appeared on StreetFilms a few months ago in an "exclusive" interview -- http://www.streetfilms.org/meet-veronica-moss-auto-lobbyist -- to let us know how she feels about cyclists and pedestrians.

# # #

Veronica will do well as a member of the hurried moneyed class in India as well as in NYC. Somebody send her a ticket.

The editor

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Honk! Quite incredible they would fall for this. (More on anti-social advertising in old mobility)

It is a rare day when anyone gets the matters which concern us all here quite as wrong as our friends from Bosch have it here. (One of a series of particularly egregious advertising abuses on the part of certain old mobility purveyors who just do not seem to be able to resist the temptation.)

From: Rutul Joshi, CEPT University, Ahmedabad
Sent: Sunday, 15 November, 2009 10:09
Subject: Bosch Horn commercial

A few days ago some enthusiasts in Ahmedabad initiated the 'no honking day' in the city. While some people are trying hard to make such initiatives a success, the TV commercials preach something else all together.



This TV commercial 'promotes' honking as a powerful way to ease 'congestion'! From start to the end - this commercial has all the possible wrong elements.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnzJFp6tfKU

A majority of the roads in metro cities in India have noise pollution levels above 80 decibels. Shouldn't such commercials be banned?

Rutul Joshi,
Lecturer, Faculty of Planning and Public Policy,
CEPT University, Ahmedabad - 380 009.
Contact: +91-79-26302470-134(ext.) Mob: +91-99240 76451
www.spcept.ac.in

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In truth we take little pleasure to point the finger at someone like Bosch who are, who should definitely be, part of the solution to sustainable transport with their world level technology skills and industrial base.

But there are times when only your best friends will tell you. So, ahem! Dear Bosch. Don't you really think . . . ?

The editor

PS. And I am pretty sure that there is someone back at Bosch headquarters in Stuttgart who is not at all happy about this.

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