Deck 7: Transportation: Beyond Air Pollution

Question 1

The "fundamental law of road congestion" refers to the empirical fact that:

A) New road capacity can easily relieve road congestion.
B) Road congestion is steadily decreasing in the US.
C) New road capacity is met with a proportional increase in driving.
D) Road building will eventually be able to stop as Americans stop driving.

Answer 1

C

Question 2

As discussed in Society and the Environment in the context of transportation:

A) Multi-model refers to the ability to choose among several modes for a trip while inter-model refers to the ability to make connections between modes.
B) Multi-model refers to the ability to make connections between modes while inter-model refers to the ability to choose among several modes for a trip.
C) Multi-model refers to any form of transportation by foot while inter-model refers to transportation by other means.
D) Multi-model refers to any form of transportation that uses renewables while inter-model refers to transportation that uses fossil fuels.

Answer 2

A

Question 3

Daylighting refers to:

A) Homes that only use solar power.
B) A social movement whose aim is to do away with roofs.
C) Uncovering streams and rivers that were previously paved over and making them a central component of downtown design.
D) A group in the Netherlands that are seeding clouds to make them go away to improve the efficiency of solar panels.

Answer 3

C

Question 4

How do we (the government, society, taxpayers, etc.) incentivize (or encourage) driving the car?

A) By providing free (and widely available) parking.
B) By allocating monies collected from the gasoline tax to only car-related infrastructure.
C) By building cities that are spread out.
D) All of the above.

Question 5

How do we (the government, society, taxpayers, etc.) dis-incentivize (or discourage) alternative, non-car modes of transportation?

A) By not providing safe and/or separate lanes for bikes in most cities (instead bikes have to compete with cars for the same space).
B) By giving free bikes away.
C) By making public transportation free.
D) All of the above.

Question 6

What country is currently connecting multiple large cities to make one massive city with almost 50 million people?

A) India.
B) China.
C) Mexico.
D) Brazil.

Question 7

Peak car is:

A) The hypothesis that car use in rural area will triple in the next ten years.
B) The hypothesis that car use in China will decline by 50 percent in the next ten years.
C) The hypothesis that cars contribute less to climate change than industry.
D) The hypothesis that motor vehicle distance traveled per capita has peaked in some high income nations.

Question 8

Which of the following is NOT a characteristic of vulnerable road users?

A) Varies by high income and low income countries.
B) May include wild life.
C) Low income countries 70% of road fatalities are either pedestrians, cyclists and/or users of motorized two-wheel vehicles.
D) Low income countries: 65% of reported road fatalities involve vehicle occupants.

Question 9

Which of the following is a definition of habitat fragmentation?

A) Over-logging in forested areas.
B) Discontinuities (fragmentation) in an organisms environment and/ or range.
C) The cultivation of highly specialized crops and species in a contained region.
D) All of the above.

Question 10

Which of the following is a definition of street connectivity?

A) Older cities based on grid pattern - there are more intersections per square mile.
B) Restricted road paths to reach major streets.
C) Street hierarchies.
D) All of the above.

Question 11

HOV (high occupancy vehicle) lanes are very successful in getting people to carpool that would NOT have carpooled had the lanes not been available.

Question 12

Street hierarchy seeks to eliminate connections by funneling traffic onto large and larger roads.

Question 13

True or false: Individuals from the generation known as the "Millennials" (born between 1981 to 2000) are less excited about automobile ownership than generations past.

Question 14

City planners are trying to address the major traffic problem of street connectivity.

Question 15

Many newer cities are designed to "funnel" traffic "up" the hierarchy. This is where street traffic feeds to main arteries and up to intercity highways.

Question 16

Island populations are an important conservation measure in highly congested areas.

Question 17

The World Health Organization defines Disability adjusted life years as "the sum of years of potential life lost due to premature mortality and the years of productive life lost due to disability".

Question 18

Pay as you drive insurance is a way to increase the number of automobile/ road users.

Question 19

Persons living in neighborhoods before 1950 are far less likely to be engaged in the civic and political life of their community.

Question 20

Another term for social capital is civic engagement.

Question 21

Describe the difference between Commuter vs. automobile cities.

Question 22

Describe BIXI

Question 23

What are Mixed use communities?

Question 24

According to Carolan, our current car transportation system carries a massive ecological and carbon footprint that holds major implications for human health and the environment. Discuss and explain this perspective by referencing the chapter.

Question 25

Which Fast Fact did you find most compelling (or surprising) from the chapter on transportation? Why?

Question 26

Which Fast Fact would you use to talk to and educate others about our current transportation crisis? Why and what would you say?

Question 27

What are the effects of our car-oriented transportation system on habitat and biodiversity? Reference the chapter in your discussion and explanation.

Question 28

What are the effects of our automobile transportation system on human health and communities? Reference the chapter in your discussion and explanation.

Question 29

The chapter discusses dense, livable, intermodal cities as a possible solution to our current transportation-environmental problems. Discuss and explain this perspective by referencing the chapter.

Question 30

What is meant by the "fundamental law of traffic congestion?" How might this principle refocus our efforts at reorganizing our transportation system along different principles? Draw heavily from the chapter in your discussion and explanation.

Question 31

How has the automobile altered how we plan and organize communities?

Question 32

In what ways does society incentivize trips with the automobile and disincentivize alternative forms of transportation?

Question 33

Some people want to continue this love affair with the automobile, as evidenced by the fact of just how many people chose to drive -"shame on environmentalists for wanting to go against what people clearly want." How would you rebut this argument?

Question 34

What barriers keep you from choosing to leave your car at home and opting for alternative modes of transportation?

Question 35

Why might younger people today be less enamored with driving and car ownership than generations past?