Tab Combs

@DrTCombs
17 Followers
570 Following
102 Posts

#TransportPlanning & #MobilityJustice #research. Studying, teaching, learning, tooting about 🚶‍♀️🚲 🚌 & 🛣️, with occasional outbursts about #DavidsonBasketball. Lead tooter for @JTLU.

She/her. Opinions my own. Don't blame victims.

ResearchSustainable transport, mobility justice, safe systems
Shifting Streets COVID19 Mobility Databasepedbikeinfo.org/shiftingstreets
Twitter@DrTCombs
Tab CombsNov 28, 2022
Geoff GreenNov 28, 2022
I discuss the occasionally ignored part of the bike-ped facility discussion — it’s not enough to build facilities, you need to maintain them. “[W]hen it comes to maintaining that investment, the [Town of Chapel Hill] is falling short. And its residents are paying the price in increased auto dependency, higher risk of death, accelerated climate change, and, in some cases, emergency room bills.” https://triangleblogblog.com/2022/11/28/to-get-people-out-of-cars-we-need-to-maintain-not-just-build-sidewalks-bike-lanes-and-trails/
To get people out of cars, we need to maintain, not just build, sidewalks, bike lanes, and trails. - Triangle Blog Blog

In June 2019, while out running, I tripped while crossing an intersection. This didn’t happen only because I’m clumsy; the road I was crossing had been built around 2010 and never completed, so it was missing a final layer of asphalt. There’s a sharp cliff between the gutter pan and the street. It’s a tripping […]

Triangle Blog Blog
Show threadTab CombsNov 28, 2022

This is weighing heavily on my mind right now as my 18yo neighbor, whose car has clearly been involved in a crash recently, is heading out for a drive.

Get that shit towed to an inspection station.

Show threadTab CombsNov 28, 2022
I attempted to make this same point on the birdsite and the ensuing hate mail led me to lock down my tweets. 🙄
Tab CombsNov 28, 2022

Some #Parade organizers are requiring safety inspections for all vehicles pulling floats in parades in the aftermath of a fatal crash in a parade last week.

It's a good step, but we need to go farther: any time a motor vehicle is modified from factory specs, it needs to be re-inspected. This includes intentional mods (e.g., lift kits) & unintended ones (crashes).

The stakes are simply too high to have compromised vehicles on the road (edited).

https://www.wunc.org/news/2022-11-23/local-holiday-parades-adopt-new-safety-rules-after-raleigh-tragedy

Local holiday parades adopt new safety rules after Raleigh tragedy

The new protocols come after an 11-year-old girl died while walking in Raleigh's Christmas Parade on Nov. 19. She was hit by a truck that lost control of its brakes while towing a float. The rules include making sure that all vehicles in the parade are properly inspected.

WUNC
Show threadTab CombsNov 28, 2022
This is a situation I find myself running into more and more lately. #RoadSafety is a topic that spans so many fields -- that's the nature of complex systems! -- and so many journals tend to be very specific. This journal was in a field that is very important to road safety, but very different from my own. I'm not at all sure how to navigate requests like these.
Tab CombsNov 28, 2022
A first for me (WWJD?): I declined a #PeerReview request b/c I fundamentally & vehemently disagree with the authors' basic premise. I explained to the editor that b/c I firmly believe the premise is deeply flawed (i.e., dead wrong), I would not be able to provide a constructive review.
The paper was on a trans-disciplinary topic, submitted to a journal in a different field than my own. My field would have desk rejected it (I hope).
#AcademicTooter, is this the right move?
Tab CombsNov 28, 2022
Ian WalkerNov 28, 2022
New paper alert! One for the transport planners and engineers, in which we show new reasons to question floating car data estimates of traffic speed https://doi.org/10.1080/03081060.2022.2150858
The impact of probe sample bias on the accuracy of commercial floating car data speeds

Floating car data (FCD) reliability studies regularly report differences between FCD and benchmark speeds, called speed bias. Comparatively few studies consider factors causing speed bias. Various ...

Taylor & Francis
Tab CombsNov 24, 2022
FediTips has moved!Nov 24, 2022

Quick little tip: You don't need to use link shorteners on Mastodon.

All links on Mastodon count for 23 characters towards your limit, no matter how many characters they really are.

However, you need to include https:// at the beginning of links to make them clickable.

Tab CombsNov 22, 2022
One day not long ago my kid and I miscommunicated on how she was getting home from school and somehow she ended up under the temporary supervision of some other kid's babysitter and now there's an army of 3rd graders who make a point to stop me to tell me my child's whereabouts whenever they see me biking to pick her up.
#TheKidsAreAlright
#BikeToSchool
Tab CombsNov 22, 2022
J. of Transport & Land UseNov 22, 2022

Looking for reading on how #cycling conditions affect women and men differently?
Then check out this 2019 #JTLU #OpenAccess paper by @huyenkle, @yonderwesty, & colleagues:
"Advancing cycling among women: An exploratory study of North American cyclists"

The authors find lack of #BikeFacilities & cycling culture were among the biggest deterrents for women to cycle. They discuss opportunities for designing #HealthyCities for women.
https://jtlu.org/index.php/jtlu/article/view/1461

#ActiveTravel #GenderAndTransport

Advancing cycling among women: An exploratory study of North American cyclists | Journal of Transport and Land Use