**Table of Contents Contents 1ac – Mass Transit
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ViolenceAnd this lack of transportation in not a mere inconvenience – to individuals like those with disabilities is causes real everyday violence that locks them in their homes Golledge et al 1996 (Reginald G. Golledge, PhD in geography and works at University of California, C. Michael Costanzo, and James R. Marston, also professors at University of California. “The Mass Transit Needs of a Non-Driving Disabled Population”. This work was performed as part of the California PATH Program of the University of California, in cooperation with the State of California Business, Transportation, and Housing Agency, Department of Transportation; and the United States Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration.) The 1992 World Almanac recently revealed that approximately sixty-seven percent of the United States population are drivers. There is no doubt that the ability to drive and the freedom that it gives with respect to economic and social interactions are seen as a tremendously important parts of the American way of life. Non-driving disabled people are not able to enjoy this facet of everyday existence. They must face a range of problems starting with the frustrations of trying to arrange transportation, to battling the beliefs that they are imposing on people's time, to resigning themselves to missed appointments or interactions when arranged transportation does not arrive in time or at all, to being unaware if they are standing at a bus stop as to whether a bus has already departed or is still on its way, to facing a host of problems concerned with being able to get to sites of recreation, shopping, work, or social interaction, in a convenient and nondependent or non-threatening way. Certainly, having a driver's license gives one the sense that one is in control of the decision process concerning where one can go, when one can go, and how one can get there. It is, in fact, an extraordinarily integral part of time budgeting in all daily and longer term episodic patterns in the USA. While congenitally blind non-drivers can never be truly aware of the potential freedoms that they could have if they were drivers, those adventitiously blinded (i.e., blinded in life after having had vision for some time), are deeply and disturbingly aware of the sudden contraction of their activity spaces and the entire range of their social interactions. The question that arises is, how do they compensate for this loss? For some, family, relatives, friends, or work-mates fill the gap to a reasonable and acceptable extent. Others seek to minimize a felt dependence on others (i.e., in the form of constantly asking for help). Some turn to mass transportation alternatives to solve their travel problems, but this number is far short of what it could be. Others simply turn off and stay at home for they do not feel strong enough or confident enough to become dependent on others or to learn how to use mass transportation systems not designed for them. Thus, it is patently obvious that undertaking research on people's feelings and attitudes towards the problem of movement, and uncovering the frustrations and dependencies that are part and parcel of everyday life for the disabled non-driver, should provide us with clear insights into what is missing from the current state of the art in terms of provision of transportation services for this population. It is necessary to know if these frustrations and dependencies can be reduced by a more effective use of existing mass transportation systems, or whether only new modes of movement can deal with this problem. Solving this question becomes paramount in the attempt to try to define how it is possible to preserve autonomy and dignity in non-driving disabled populations and to help them avoid social isolation. Over four hundred cities nationwide provide mass transportation or specialized transportation that is supposed to be accessible to disabled people. Not all deal with questions of physical or other impairments in a similar way (i.e., user habits learned for one system do not necessarily transfer to systems in other environments. The way that each population has to deal with existing mass transportation systems has a significant impact on the way they are able to operate and live their life on a daily basis. A study by Kirschner, McBrue, Nelson, and Graves (1992) found that forty-nine percent of their legally blind subject populations who traveled independently to work used mass transportation; only six percent of a comparable sighted population used mass transportation. None of the legally blind subjects walked to work on a regular basis compared to six percent of the sighted subjects who walked to work. Gaining control over one's transportation needs is one way of removing a felt transportation disability. Driving epitomizes independence. For disabled non-driving people, something has to replace or to substitute for this feeling of dependence and one must estimate the extent to which it might be possible for a mass transportation device to perform this substitution. We do, therefore, anticipate obtaining information from blind and vision-impaired people as to the nature of mass transit and para-transit facilities that could act as primary modes of travel. We propose to determine the degree to which existing offerings can compensate for the non-driver disadvantages felt by this population. And we expect to do ensuing investigation of the form in which information can be transmitted to potential users so as to help increase their use of mass transportation systems. ViolenceCars are steel death traps begging to turn you to roadkill – an increase in public transit is key to save tens of thousands of lives Yglesias 2009 (June 23, Matthew, “ Car Fatalities in America ” http://thinkprogress.org/yglesias/2009/06/23/193430/car-fatalities-in-america/) One story you’re not going to see leading tomorrow’s newspaper is “97 dead in fatal car accidents.” And yet in 2007, this country saw 37,284 people die in car wrecks. That averages out to 97 per day—much more than the seven people whose death in yesterday’s Metro crash has acquired so much coverage today. Obviously in part that’s because driving is much more popular than transit. Still, according to the Census Bureau 87.7 percent of people get to work either by driving alone or in car pools, while 4.7 percent take transit. That’s about 18 times more driving than transit usage. By contrast, 14 times more people die in car wrecks on an average day than died on the rare day that anyone died in a train crash. On a typical day, of course, the United States has zero train-related fatalities. Long story short, investments in mass transit would have substantial public health benefits. And, indeed, since car wrecks disproportionately affect teenagers and young adults the impact in QALYs of even moderate reductions in automobile usage would be enormous. The good news about this, however, is that the death rate per 100 million VMT has been declining in recent years: Vehicle pollution also kills a lot of people – transit solves Litman 2003 – Victoria Transport Policy Institute (September/October, Todd, “Integrating Public Health Objectives in Transportation Decision-Making” http://www.vtpi.org/AJHP-litman.pdf ) Vehicle Pollution Vehicle pollution is a second category of transport-related health impacts. Motor vehicles produce a variety of air pollutants, including carbon monoxide, particulates, toxins, and ozone precursors, which contribute to a variety of diseases, including cancer, respiratory diseases, and heart failure. The total health impacts of motor vehicle pollution are difficult to calculate since there are so many different pollutants causing a variety of diseases, and most pollutants have other sources besides motor vehicles. The number of premature deaths from motor vehicle pollution appears to be similar in magnitude to the number of deaths resulting from traffic crashes, 6,7 although the exact amount is difficult to determine (see Table 11.7-3B in McCubbin and Delucchi 7 ). As stated earlier, such deaths tend to involve older people compared with those killed in traffic crashes, and therefore cause smaller reductions in Y PLL. It is common to hear claims that vehicle emissions have declined 90% or more as the result of vehicle emission control technologies such as electronic ignition and catalysts, but this is an exaggeration. Such declines only apply to certain tailpipe emissions measured by standard tests. Tests do not reflect real driving conditions (they underestimate out-of-tune engines and hard accelerations), and vehicles produce additional harmful emissions not measured in these tests, such as toxics and particulates from road dust, tires, and break linings. 8 Increased vehicle mileage has offset much of the reduction in per-mile emissions. Automobile emissions continue to be a major pollution source, and reductions in vehicle traffic can provide measurable respiratory health benefits. 9 Directory: file -> view view -> Western Europe after wwii view -> Author study: paul fleischman view -> Qpa1 7ela study Guide view -> Arctic Oil/Gas Neg view -> November 1970 Approximately 150,000-500,000 deaths Bhola Cyclone Bangladesh view -> Grade Level: 6 Unit of Study: Caribbean glce view -> Citation: Duffield, Katy view -> Table of Contents Lesson # view -> Chinese Wind Energy Disad Download 325.66 Kb. Share with your friends:
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