For some Roundabouts.

In 1999, Pierre Vivant installed his traffic light tree in a roundabout in London town. How ironic to see this little ditty poking fun at the overwhelming use of traffic lights all over the world.

Vivant’s creativity brings me to my point: why don’t we see less traffic lights and more real trees? Traffic circles (aka Roundabouts) are a great way to green up in the city. They look pretty, they’re more sustainable and easier to maintain than pavement, and they are also pedestrian-friendly. Not to mention that they save electricity and slow traffic without constant stop-and-go. Sound ideal? Yeah, pretty much. Now there’s just one problem: American’s don’t like this because we didn’t create them and we don’t know how to use them because we don’t use them at all. We need to be more aggressive about planting roundabouts than installing lights everywhere.

Think if you had one of these babies at the corner nearest you. Cute, right?

I think what Ralph Emerson was getting at here is “Turn off your damn car”. Seriously people! Especially when gas is super expensive, how in the world does one justify an idle engine? If it’s more than 10 seconds (which is less than the length of a traffic light revolution in a lot of places), then you are burning gas with no good reason.

The Feds have made a nice little website about fuel economy and tips for saving some gas. It seriously couldn’t be any clearer: “Idling gets 0 miles per gallon. Cars with larger engines typically waste more gas at idle than do cars with smaller engines.” Thank you very much. While I wish the government would give us a few more shoves in the environmental direction, at least they’re putting out the information for the average citizen. A few local areas have un-enforceable “feel good” laws regulating the length of time one can sit idling, but there’s no consistency, and importantly, little public knowledge.

UPDATE: The EPA has made a website about the bane of anti-idling: the school pickup line. Ugh it gives me shudders to think of all those moms, dads, and babysitters sitting in a huge idle line. Anyway, this campaign is meant to tackle that problem area in particular. Loves it!

Ever notice how truckers never turn off their trucks? Well, they tend to leave the gas guzzlers on overnight while sleeping in their temperature-controlled cabins. While the basic need for heating and cooling in order to provide truck drivers with a safe amount of sleep, this angry ditty about the potential for American laws about idling leaves me a little hot and bothered. How in the world is running a truck all night the only option? It seems to me that checking into a motel for the night would be worth the saved gas money to turn off the big rigs.

China, Canada, and Switzerland are hip about this – when are we going to stop sitting still about this in America?