Tag Archives: driving

Free and plentiful parking helped make shopping malls popular. Charging for mall parking is a different approach.

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In the early days of American shopping malls, one of their appeals was that they had big, free parking lots. Compared to parking situations in urban downtowns or main streets in smaller communities (fewer spaces, parking meters, more traffic), shopping malls made it easy to get in and out by car. Paying for parking would not be needed.

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Some malls have recently offered paid parking for parking spots closer to the mall. This story describes some of the reactions:

Signs instruct shoppers to scan a QR code or send a text message to a five-digit number to shell out $2.45 for the first hour and $2 for every hour after that. The cap is $10.45 a day…

In all, 23 malls out of over 95 GGP properties offer “preferred” parking across the country, according to spokesperson Lindsay Kahn…

Free mall parking is the latest complimentary perk on the verge of extinction. For some budget-conscious consumers, it’s the final straw, like a cover charge just to spend more money. Or as one Redditor put it: “Pay us so we can take your money.”

Jay Reed captured the collective exasperation in a popular video on his YouTube channel: “They’re Now Charging To Park At Malls And People Are LOSING IT.”…

Some annoyed shoppers say they will just spend their money elsewhere. Others have a simpler solution. “Amazon,” one Facebook commenter said. “Free parking.”

Given the state of brick and mortar retail, perhaps starting to charge for parking will not help. As stated above, why hassle with the possibility of paid parking when you can order online “for free”?

Americans expect parking to be free or cheap. Much of American life relies on driving and people expect to be able to park near where they want to go for no or little cost. Whether it should be free or cheap is a different question – should parking pay for its own maintenance and/or impact? can businesses make money off parking? – from whether Americans expect to have free parking.

I wonder if malls could pitch the paid parking as part of an ongoing shift of shopping malls from retail to entertainment broadly defined. People pay for parking at sporting events and concerts. If paid parking is part of a unique entertainment experience and not just maybe buying something, would people be more willing to pay?

Or, as some communities have done, another approach would be to reduce the number of parking spots malls are required to have. If they could instead develop more of the out-lot space, perhaps they could generate the money they want without having to resort to charging for parking.

Driving through places over and over again – and never stopping there

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There is a category of places that we know but we do not know. In the United States where driving is a daily part of life, people regularly pass through neighborhoods, communities, and places in which they rarely or never stop. It is just along the way. The driver is just driving through. What do we know about such places? A few thoughts, with the example of Gary, Indiana in mind as I have driven back and forth past Gary many times (and only stopped there a few times).

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  1. We are limited to what we can see from a moving vehicle. Yet, we can see some things while driving by, even at fast highway speeds. We tend to see what is along major roads, which can include road signs, billboards, big box stores, exits and intersections, some smaller commercial and residential properties. Some of the signs and properties try to get our attention, often to tell us about a brand, product, place, or attraction. This might tell us about the biggest things to see and do. Passing by Gary via highway, I can see a minor league baseball stadium, steel mills, and some bigger downtown buildings. I can see highway exits and the kinds of establishments that gather there. I see signs for an airport and a few other things to do.
  2. We hear or tell stories about these places. I have read about Gary, heard about Gary, talked about Gary. Some themes: created out of sand dunes as an industrial suburb, steel mills, the home of the Jacksons, decline and white flight, limited development and reinvestment, and new ideas for revitalization. As I drive by, how does what I see contribute to or refute those stories? How much am I fitting what I see to a narrative I already have?
  3. The few stops I have made are different than just driving by. Setting foot in a community, driving at slower speeds and maybe walking around, provides a different experience. So does talking to people or taking a tour. It helps to slow down, get to a pedestrian level, and have time to observe and interact. (See earlier posts about how to know a suburb or community – first steps, deeper steps.)

I could come up with a list of many other communities where the same is true: I have driven through it or passed by it and know relatively little about it. And if we tend to emphasize getting to our destination rather than seeing what is on the way on the journey, we could go through or by places hundreds or thousands of times. Highways do not facilitate getting to know places; this seems to be part of the argument about what happens to Radiator Springs in the Pixar film Cars. Trains may offer different views (and maybe some more stops) at similar speeds while airplanes allow people to just hop even faster over places without even seeing them.

There are ways this could be addressed. Could we get more information about places as we pass them? This is hard to do on road signs. How about voice explanations in maps or GPS systems? How about using the voices of local residents to describe their community and tell stories of what has happened?

The motorized vehicles that make American parades possible

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Numerous American communities held parades for July 4th. These parades are full of cars and motorized vehicles: they tow floats, they accompany walkers, and cars and vehicles (old and new) are on display.

Cars have dominated the American landscape for roughly a century. Before this, the United States had roads and animals and people could carry things along those roads. Parades happened prior to cars but it is hard to imagine parades today without motorized vehicles traveling the route. Yes, there are people involved that attendees may want to see but driving is essential to make the parade happen.

Take a recent parade I participated in. Most of the members of the group walked. We carried a banner in the front with the name of our organization and members of the group walked behind it. But we also had a truck with this that included large signs about the organizations, supplies, and a few people.

There were multiple vehicles in front of us in the parade. July 4th parades often feature local emergency vehicles; in our case, big fire trucks honked their way along. As shown above, there was a group with antique cars and trucks. Behind us, several sports cars inched forward, revving their engines while traveling at 3 mph. The vehicles themselves may symbolize American freedoms.

Or I recall the 2016 parade for the World Series winning Chicago Cubs. That event brought millions to Chicago. Could the players have walked through the city streets instead of taking a series of busses along the route? (Such busses are a common approach for championship parades.)

Marches and parades without vehicles can still happen. But in a country full of driving, cars and vehicles are part of and enable many processions.

Survey 3,000 Americans and develop a list of 100 “most passive aggressive roads”?

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Several roads in the Chicago area were named this week as being among the most passive aggressive roads in the United States:

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Naperville’s Ogden Avenue may be a daily driving staple for many Naperville residents, but it also comes with its challenges. A very unspoken challenge to be exact.

According to a survey from Sacramento-based company American River Wellness, it’s considered to be one of the most passive aggressive roads in the country, coming in at spot No. 88 out of 100, and among the top three in Illinois.

North Avenue in Chicago took the No. 10 spot on the national list followed by Green Bay Road in the North Shore suburbs at No. 11. Ventura Boulevard in Los Angeles ranked No. 1 in the survey, followed by U.S. 1/Federal Highway in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, at No. 2 and Central Avenue (Yonkers to White Plains Corridor) in Westchester County, New York, at No. 3.

How did this list come about?

The organization surveyed 3,011 drivers in May to identify the roads and routes most likely to cause passive-aggressive driving behavior, including tailgating, blocking merges, brake-checking and excessive honking.

Here is what American River Wellness said about their methodology:

Methodology: This study surveyed 3,011 U.S. drivers in May 2026 to identify the roads and routes most likely to cause passive-aggressive driving behavior, including tailgating, blocking merges, brake-checking, and excessive honking. Respondents were selected from a geographically representative online panel, balanced by age, gender, and region. To ensure data quality, responses underwent screening measures including bot detection, geo-verification, speeding checks, and manual review. Results were weighted to reflect national population benchmarks.

For a survey of Americans, having over 3,000 people is a good number (if a good sample is obtained). But there are lots of roads in the United States in lots of places. For example, there are over 300 metropolitan areas in the United States. More people live in the larger metropolitan areas – the most populous 11 have over 5,000,000 people in their metro area – so it could be easier to find people from these places. Some states have fewer metro areas and smaller ones.

I would want to know (1) how many people were surveyed from each geographic location (metro areas? states? other communities?) and then (2) how many roads were people asked about or asked to refer to?

Take North Avenue in Chicago which in at #10. By population of the Chicago metro area, residents account for roughly 2.5-3% of the US population as a whole. So if the survey was weighted by population, we might expect 90 respondents from the Chicago area. How many of them in the region can comment on North Avenue which traverses one part of the city? As a resident of the Chicago area, I have been on North Avenue in the city at least a few times. It would take a lot more work for me to link those experiences to the passive aggressive driving behaviors. I am much more familiar with Ogden Avenue in Naperville but would not have thought about passive aggressive driving there unless prompted. (See earlier posts about Ogden Avenue here and here. Imagine this then for smaller cities and communities. How many were surveyed? How many roads were they asked about or they experienced?

I wonder if there would be other ways to get at passive aggressive driving across all American roads. Satellite images of situations that lead to passive aggressive driving? Cell phone data of locations? Local policy decisions intended to limit traffic and congestion issues on certain roadways?

How do Americans think highways are funded?

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How would Americans prefer to pay for the highways and roads they use? The Chicago Tribune suggests raising tolls perpetually is not a good way to go:

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The Illinois Tollway board is in the process of implementing a 45-cent toll increase for I-Pass users, meaning a 70-cent toll today could become $1.15 in 2027.

And the toll hikes won’t stop there. Starting in 2029, the proposal to be considered by the Illinois Tollway board sets up CPI-indexed toll hikes every two years.

Wait a minute.

Transit fares aren’t being indexed to inflation. Why tolls? Even if this is allowed by the state, ongoing toll hikes should not be part of the tollway’s plan right now.

Tolls may not be a favored funding method in general but even worse in Illinois is the original promise that highway tolls would go away once the bonds that helped fund construction were paid off.

The editorial also mentions the gas tax which helps fund roads. But with high gas prices, having a higher gas tax in Illinois compared to other states is not popular.

How about funneling more road money to mass transit? This is a popular idea among some who argue mass transit can more efficiently move larger numbers of people and reduce the need to drive. But the American public tends to drive and not use mass transit.

Highways and roads do not just appear. The federal government provided a lot of money to fund the interstate system. Roads need to be built and maintained. The old Chicago joke regarding the two seasons of winter and construction requires money.

Should driving be free? Are tolls offensive because they make obvious that driving is costly? Drivers know their personal costs for driving – gas, insurance, maintenance – but may not think much about infrastructure costs. Drivers may not like tolls, particularly ones that increase in price, but they will likely pay for roads one way or another.

6 days until Every Somewhere Sacred: walking to know places

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Last night, I drove home from church over a stretch of road I have traveled hundreds of times in my life. The road passes by suburban low-rise office buildings and businesses, houses, and open fields. On this warm and humid night, I drove with the windows open, smelling the different contexts as air flowed through the car.

This common driving experience may be how Americans regularly experience places. At speeds from 25 mph to 75 mph, we use a network of roads and highways to get where we want to go. We see driving as offering independence and we advertise it as an enjoyable experience.

In Every Somewhere Sacred (out June 16), Ben Norquist and I discuss how Christians can exercise our imaginations to tell better stories about land and places. And I’m not sure driving does much to further our imaginations of how God has acted, is acting, and will act in and through places.

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That is why I would recommend walking as a great means to get to know a place. Using the bipedal locomotion humans have used throughout history, we can better see, hear, touch, and smell places. Walking limits our speed. It pushes us to consider our own physical bodies as we interact with other physical creations. it gives us space and a rhythm to consider what is happening around us. It gives us the same opportunities that many before us have had, including Adam and Eve walking through the Garden of Eden or the freed people of God walking out of Egypt or Jesus walking the shores of the Sea of Galilee or in Nazareth. Before people wanted to get in 10,000 steps a day or stuck in their ear buds while walking, they used their feet to move in and near their homes and communities.

I did not always like walking. As a kid, I would have preferred to be inside reading or watching sports compared to being outside. But not only is walking necessary at times (even in our car-dependent society), it can be enjoyable. For example, I walked to and from my high school numerous times. Often I had headphones on, listening to new music I discovered or to a Cubs game. The walk took about 20 minutes. As I walked the same route over and over, first around 7 in the morning and later around 3:30 in the afternoon, I started noticing things. How one big field next to the railroad tracks changed over the course of the year. I observed people and houses as I passed. I could see differences between neighborhoods built in different decades.

I try to walk regularly now. I have some set paths near my house as well as around my work. I enjoy walking in big cities, suburbs, and more rural or wild areas. I have walked alone, with people, in crowds, and with dogs. The simple, repeated action of walking has helped expand my imagination for what God is already doing in and through land and places.

What counts as a “simple answer” for a social issue?

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With numerous social issues or social problems under discussion by the media, there are no shortage of answers provided. But, if someone says they have a “simple answer,” is it really that simple? Take this example from the Chicago Tribune editorial board in regard to the high price of new cars in the United States:

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The simple answer is that U.S. automakers decided the best way to combat the rising costs of unionized labor, which has secured massive gains, and ballooning material expenses was to chase the higher profit margins that come from the bigger SUVs, now the vehicle of choice for a broad swath of Americans.

We’d also add that decades of protectionist policies in the U.S. auto industry and a lack of fresh competition have not exactly been to the advantage of American consumers.

Simple answers might be satisfying. Few people probably want to pay such high prices for new cars. If there is a simple answer, this seems to get us closer to finding a solution.

But, the answer provided above may not be so simple (even though that is the claim. The first paragraph has multiple pieces triggering each other. Higher labor costs and paying more materials led to a particular decision by automakers. Why that decision and not others? What other options did they consider? And this all took place over at least a few years.

The second paragraph then adds an additional factor at work: policy choices that led to limited competition among automakers. These also unfolded over time and in particular contexts.

Is this a simple answer? It doesn’t seem to be so to me. There are multiple moving pieces. This all took time to develop.

Say others then enter the conversation. There are plenty of people with vested interests in this question. Someone says, “No, really, I have just one thing that needs to be changed,” and someone else says, “It is actually a difficult and nuanced situation and we cannot make any progress unless we acknowledge that first.”

Tackling big social issues is often hard. I’m not sure offering simple solutions – at least, making that rhetorical move, even if the diagnosis or solution offered is not really simple – is helpful.

A speed limit of 17.2 mph to help drivers pay attention

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Creative speed limits might help catch the attention of drivers:

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In a post on social media, officials with the Outagamie County Recycling and Solid Waste said they decided on a posted speed limit of 17.3 mph because it makes drivers pause and look twice, breaking up that “autopilot” feeling that can be experienced when driving on familiar roads…

Such a precise speed limit is unusual, but the Wisconsin waste facility is not the first to try it out. Another example can be found in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where the posted speed limit at a shopping center is 8.2 mph. The decimal point has confounded Redditors for years.

Transportation planners may be turning to these more creative methods as they seek to slow drivers down. One recent study found that simply lowering the speed limit doesn’t usually work.

Changes in road design, like speed bumps, roundabouts, or curb bulb-outs, are usually more effective than changing signage.

It would be great to hear back in a few months about how the 17.3 mph sign has affected driving. How many noticed it while driving versus the number of people who heard about it online?

More broadly, provide a wide, straight road with few to no barriers and drivers will tend to want to go fast. It feels safe. They feel like they can go fast.

Design and signs might help them go a slower speed. In my area, the primary road remedies seem to involve intersections – making new intersections, turn arrows, diamond interchanges, roundabouts, etc. Plenty of people speed on a relatively wide and straight roads and speed bumps or hump are relatively unusual outside of HOAs.

Fewer children born in the US affects one of the major reasons given for living in the suburbs

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Multiple intertwined social forces created the American suburbs as we know them today. One factor involves raising children in the suburbs. The suburbs are perceived by many to be the best places to raise children due to their houses, yards, quieter environments compared to the city, good schools, and other amenities. And since Americans often want or expect their children to do better than themselves, the suburbs are the place in which they believe this happens.

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What happens if fewer children are born in the United States? This will not necessarily stop people from living in or wanting to live in the suburbs. But it could change their calculations about where to live or how to live in the suburbs. Some quick examples of how this might play out:

  1. Suburbs are built on the idea of growth: new subdivisions, new activity. If growth slows, communities have a different identity and have to draw on different revenue sources. With less growth, communities shift to maintenance or building in different ways (see #2).
  2. Suburbs have historically prioritized single-family homes as they provide space for nuclear families. But if fewer people need the space and yards of single-family homes (plus the issue of current prices), communities and developers will go for more townhouses and condos.
  3. There is a reduced need for schools. Education is often viewed in the United States as the tool for social advancement. Many suburbs take pride in their schools. Growing suburbs equaled more schools. But fewer kids in the community means fewer enrolled students.
  4. A suburban lifestyle built around kids’ activities and driving them around. The suburbs often require driving kids to school, sports, religious congregations, and more. The driving will not necessarily cease but the era of “Walmart moms” and “soccer moms” might diminish.

Many have complained that the streets of the suburbs are quieter than they used to be because kids are now inside or in organized activities. What if the suburban streets of the future (and schools and playgrounds and park districts and so on) are quiet because there are no kids living in suburbia?

Possible link between major music releases and driving deaths

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A recent working paper looked at the possible connection between music releases and traffic fatalities:

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A group of researchers affiliated with Harvard Medical School recently issued a working paper reporting an association between the release days of the most-streamed albums and an increase in US traffic fatalities. The authors say the pattern is consistent with smartphone-enabled driver distraction, including the use of in-vehicle phone-mirroring platforms.

“Modern smartphones present new threats to road safety beyond talking and texting, but the real-world effects are difficult to study,” the researchers said in their explanation for performing the study. Fatal traffic accidents and release days for popular streaming albums, the team said, were chosen as an “exogenous event” that “may offer an opportunity to quasi-experimentally study the impact of distraction using observational data.”…

The team used data from the US Fatality Analysis Reporting System, which catalogs all fatal crashes on public US roadways, and compared that to data from Spotify charts, looking specifically at the top 10 albums with the most first-day streams between 2017 and 2022 (Taylor Swift and Drake each appear three times in the top 10, for those curious)…

They adjusted for fixed effects like holidays, the day of the week and week of the year, repeated the analyses to select for infotainment systems and other automobile information, and accounted for driver characteristics including age, the number of people in the car, and involvement of alcohol. The team even conducted multiple “placebo album” falsification tests, running experiments on randomly-selected dates, to be sure they weren’t overlooking something else unknown.

This sounds like an example of a “natural experiment” where researchers can see what happens to driving deaths on Fridays with major music releases and Fridays without them.

Three quick thoughts in response:

  1. I remember when major music releases were on Tuesdays, not Fridays. And when the music was not yet digital, a consumer had to go to a location to buy a physical copy. I was never in any release lines but I definitely went to stores on release day to buy CDs. (Have never done this for records or cassettes.)
  2. How many people enjoy new music in a car versus via ear buds, headphones, and speakers in other settings? A moving vehicle can make it difficult to hear music. The road is noisy. A vehicle makes noise. The car has a certain sound system. In newer vehicles, the listener is streaming music. But driving is better with entertainment. And driving with friends and music can be fun. Driving fast with friends and loud music can feel fun.
  3. What might be a public health response to this? Regulations about screens in cars – making them easier to operate, smaller, less distracting, etc.? Music release days back on Tuesdays or another weekday to avoid the possible connections to weekends? Public safety messages? Promoting the use of driverless vehicles?