Fuck Cars

Nothing says "freedom" like a tool that costs tens of thousands to buy and thousands every year to maintain and use.

Our freedom to travel was stolen from us and sold back to us

“Small price to pay for the freedom to travel”

Well, they pay a small price for their freedom to travel. It's everybody else that has to suffer the externalities of their choices.

Let's tax antisocial behavior, so that these externalities are internalized. Carbon tax, vehicle weight per passenger tax, vehicle volume per passenger tax, etc.

Small price to pay for the freedom to travel

my man you go to work and back again what travel

Best we can do is another lane on the highway. That should fix the problem!

it would have to be on rails. Sure, buses have fewer wheels per passenger but they are also heavier so go through their tyres much faster. Its probably still a net benefit but it doesnt eliminate the problem.

Plastic straws are still very harmful for many sea animals and are apart from that entirely unnecessary (unlike tires).

What are the odds that a PR group, well aware of the damage of tyres, spun the focus to target small consumable plastics?

Don't look at cars, look at the image of turtles and straws, seagulls and can rings, and porpoises mistaking bags for jellyfish.

Furthermore, death to cars.

bikes even

It's almost like people are incapable of comprehending that all types of pollution are important, not just one or the other. Exhaust emissions are bad. Tyre pollution is also bad. Reducing one is a good step. Reducing both would be even better.

This why so many have always said that EVs are not the solution for climate change, they are and always will be a solution for the auto industry.

This (microplastics from wheels) is a well known fact in science for quite some time though.

The thing that picks people up could even have metal wheels as it follows a fixed route, and run on metal roads

The wear is drastically different, at least.

Probably easier to develop an alternative too when it doesn't need to support two tons.

The amount of wear on the tires of a bicycle which let's just assume the heaviest person riding the heaviest e-bike would be a few hundred pounds wearing on the tires? Compared to several tons for an auto pressing down on 4 tires it's a LOT less.

If a solution reduces a problem by 99% I'd say that's a damn good solution. Instead here we are, clapping and rejoicing when the car companies say the new model is 5% more fuel efficient or 3% lighter over the ongoing model.

As per the quote below, a car loses about 0.08g of tread per km.

Compared to a car, a bike tyre is about the same diameter, 10% of the width (~20mm), 28% usable tread depth (~2mm), has 50% less wheels, and can travel 10% the distance (~10000km).

This suggests a (very approximate) tread loss of 0.08 * 10% * 28% * 50% / 10% = ~ 0.01g per km for bicycles.

For replacing longer car journeys less typically travelled by bicycle, rail transport is the best solution and removes the issue of tyre wear.

Quoting [deleted] in r/theydidthemath:

Using the same assumptions as above (215/60R16 tires, 7mm of tread loss over 100,000 km), I estimate the loss of tread by volume from each tire as follows:

Cylinder with a diameter of 664 mm and a height of 215 mm has a volume of 74,412 cm3. Cylinder with a diameter of 664-(2x7)=650 mm and a height of 215 mm has a volume of 71,307 cm3. The volume difference between a new and worn out tire is 3105 cm3.

Typical land to sea ratio of tires is 60-70% land, depending on the type of tire. If we go with an about average value of close to 65% tread, we get the lost rubber volume of about 2000 cm3 or 2,000,000 mm3 over a single tires lifespan.

Each revolution of a tire loses about 0,04 mm3 of tread, which, according to Wolfram Alpha, is a bit less than the volume of a medium grain of sand.

If we look at the entire car with 4 tires over a kilometer of road, we get 80 mm3 or about 0,08 grams of tread lost per car per kilometer.