As a big car-hater myself, I can agree with most of what you’re saying here (the “but it snows” argument is baseless though, see Denmark).
I think that if you’ve chosen to live in sparsely populated areas, then being car-dependent is your choice and you should be able to have that… but you don’t get to drive your car into the city.
Cars ruin cities. They’re loud, dangerous, dirty, and they kill millions. If you’re happy to live like that, then that’s on you, but you (I’m using the “motorist demographic” here rather then the personal “you”) can’t insist on having wide, multi-lane, high speed roads and plenty of free parking where most of the world’s population actually lives. You park at the periphery and take transit or a bike into town.
Lol looking at a few different sources online, Denmark average snow fall is around 20-30inch (50-76cm) per year.
In the US average between states range from 0 to 645 (1640cm). 34 states are above 40in(101cm) and 23 states are over 100in(254cm).
en.wikipedia.org/…/List_of_snowiest_places_in_the…
Good luck biking through a foot (30cm) of snow when it gets dumped overnight and keeps going for another foot during the day.
You’d have a hard time driving through that snow as well, so there are snow plows and such that make the road drive able. Most places that accomdate winter cycling have dedicated snow equipment for the dedicated cycle lanes.
I live near artic circle and snow is really a problem im rural areas. If the roads have not been cleared its very straining to cycle. Wet snow is even worse and in late autum and late spring there can be ice hidden under the snow and even spicked tires wont help with that. Ebikes help with that, but most ebikes arent designed to subzero temperatures and low to middle price bikes emty the batteries much faster. Especially if the battery is fixed to the frame and you need to leave it outside during work or when going to shop.
On the other hand i lived in “winter cycling capital” of the world and you cant compare the well maintenanced bike lanes to rural roads.
(Also i laugh at the notion that Denmark knows anything about winter)
I don’t know if you’ve ever tried to bike up a snow covered road at a 30 degree incline but I certainly don’t want to try it. Last winter me and half my neighborhood couldn’t drive up the only entrance road for several days after a heavy afternoon snow.
If parking and transit from the periphery of a city into the core actually existed and were usable then I’d like that but that’s not the world we live in now. One of my biggest gripes when traveling to a new city is trying to find parking for any of the big tourist locations. More often than not there is very limited street parking and no parking garages for several miles, nor any obvious transit locations. I often ended up just not going to the place I wanted to see because I can’t find a good way to get there.
I don’t mind walking a couple blocks to go somewhere. I do mind having to walk 30 minutes to see the one shop or restaurant I was interested in.
If you don’t already live in the heart of a big city they absolutely suck to get around in. Even more so lately with the advent of apps for parking or transit that you have to sign up for beforehand and that don’t have cash or card readers for non locals. I absolutely LOATHE creating accounts for more garbage apps and services I need to use a single time.
Taalnazi@lemmy.world 11 hours ago
Can only agree. Cars don’t belong in the city. They’re loud, polluting, take up unnecessary space, kill walkers and bicyclists, and so on.