SEA: the solutions?

EXCERPTS FROM CRISIS AND DISASTER SURVIVAL
SEA written in 1989 Gabriel Ferrone.

In this section:

- TRANSPORTATION AND KINETICS
- INTEGRATING THE CITY INTO ITS ENVIRONMENT
- PRINCIPLES OF URBAN KINETICS
- PROPOSED SOLUTIONS
- 1989
- SOME INNOVATIVE IDEAS

Transport and kinetic

Let's come back to traffic and transport kinetics, they involve more than a regulation but a whole communication project on a global scale because the slightest calculation shows that the practice of developed countries transposed on a global scale has a catastrophic effect:
imagine how 3 or 4 billion vehicles each requiring over to 15 150 square meters of roads and requiring to 5 10 square meters of parking!
Our education and publicity mean that the car responds to playful needs - yet it is not a toy -, to impulses linked to sexuality, the need for domination, matchism, etc. In short, several of the seven deadly sins. Its role "to transport us" is often an ancillary reason for the purchase.
This leads to the observation that the car cannot be, as it is, a democratic object: it is materially inaccessible to at least three billion individuals; it is murderous for others; in addition, social inequalities are reinforced by the conditions of safety, comfort and guarantees in the event of an accident that are totally different from one car to another, from one insurance to another.
It is not realistic to envisage its elimination, but it is obvious that it needs to be rethought in a vast project that takes into account the needs and obstacles to circulation and communication, that is to say which isolates principles and necessities of urban movements.

Embed the city to its environment

The city only exists through its local, national and international environment. It concentrates administration, commerce and distribution, part of industrial production, it manages information and is at the crossroads of communications and transport.
It is fed and feeds:
- An air network on high-capacity, high-capacity planes for intercontinental journeys, or of medium capacity for more modest journeys;
- Maritime and river networks for bulky or heavy products;
- High-speed air-rail complementarity for long journeys;
- numerous public transport more or less synchronized for medium and short journeys;
- individual means of transport: air, sea, land;

These transports are essential to the city and its environment requiring continual exchanges, rapid and diversified.
Such transport is improved, but despite all efforts, they become increasingly deadly; Indeed, the exponential growth that all networks are congested, often saturated and for that reason, badly maintained so dangerous.
Most accidents are from:
Traffic saturation; poor maintenance of the road network; Poor signage; Unforeseen obstacles; Poor maintenance of the vehicle; From an unforeseen breakdown; the irresponsibility of the driver; Alcoholism and drugs.
As far as urban transport is concerned, the automobile becomes more and more embarrassing for each of us, cumbersome and unhealthy for the community. Asphyxiation and the pollution it causes affect all kingdoms, since even the mineral is attacked by rain and acid mists.
Among the palliatives, the application of the principles of “urban kinetics” developed by G. BEAU is therefore a necessity.

urban kinetic principle

- 1 People and goods must be able to move freely day and night.
- 2 Vehicles must be able to stop for the time necessary to load and unload people and the goods they are transporting.
- 3 Vehicles that are not in service must be able to park without hindering the population and traffic.
- 4 Priority and unimpeded traffic must be ensured for the vehicles of security agents (ambulance, police, fire brigade, etc.).
- 5 Unhindered circulation must be ensured for collective use vehicles.
- 6 Transport systems must be complementary and synchronized.
- 7 Transport systems must be harmless to their users.
- 8 The regulations must be deferential for the user.

We see that currently this represents pious wishes because the sad reality shows us that many obstacles have to be removed.
Corporatism has prevented the development of useful inventions: the electric car; the Aerotrain; the air train; collective micro-parking lots; The parking lot with prepayment; high speed underground circulation (relative); the construction of deterrent parking lots near train stations, cart stations and taxis at the gates of towns; the recovery of airspace above and below SNCF and metropolitan tracks to make landscaped parks for parking and walking so that all USERS can live together.
On the other hand, the mode of concession of covered and open-air car parks by the municipalities and the mode of sanction applied to offenders mean that the municipalities have a certain interest in driving motorists to fault in order to hold them to ransom.
This is unconstitutional, violates human rights, but nobody dares to say it because too many benefits are drawn from it that are easily camouflaged by political parties.
Road signage is impressive, it is estimated that more than 15 million the number of vertical signs and road markings is also abundant: Sens prohibited, with the triangle pointing down, no parking, alone account 20% of the total.
Wild international competition forces everyone to produce cars that are faster and faster, more and more powerful, but more and more deadly for those they hit.
Decluttering access roads would be facilitated by two unpopular measures: the organization of working hours and the spreading of vacations. It is obvious that despite incentives from the public authorities, the majority of French people refuse to do so.
If the French are a poorly disciplined people, these same measures have great difficulty in being implemented among its European neighbors, America is allowed to win by speed and its excesses, the Chinese only dream of Mercedes and Peugeot. Japan drives Cadillacs and Ferraris, even if it reserves its terrible motorcycles for export so as not to stupidly kill its youth like others do.
So we see that if a nation really wants to tackle the problem of its transport and communication and prepare a coherent plan, it will come up against the powerful lobbies of oil companies, car manufacturers, road builders and others at the international level. of car parks, and at the national level both to the employers 'unions and the workers' unions of the corporations involved. Worse, the long-term beneficiary users of this plan will probably be hostile to it because they will refuse to part with their cars, dangerous, poorly maintained, too fast or too slow, too polluting, which will then have to be prohibited and broken.
As far as urban kinetics are concerned, we dealt with it around 1960 and this required updating, as far as information was concerned it was dealt with in an "essay for a possible future of the press and audiovisual information. », In 1972 which is still very current. These two tests brought nothing to the inventors who were looted according to the good habits of French society.
But the characteristic of inventors is to neglect the obstacles of the present to consider only an ideal future, also as if we were living in this ideal world where ideas are received with attention and deference by those who do not have them. let's consider some solutions that are obvious to this team of avant-garde ecologists but which will still surprise.
Long experience has taught us that good ideas are always recovered even if the One forgets, silences or assassinates its inventors.
Mr. Gérard BEAU was almost interned and he would have stayed there without our support, but this made it possible to steal his ideas and ours which are widely used. With him, we had reported 35 classic solutions and we had proposed even more, it is no coincidence that today many large cities, including the city of Paris, use three-quarters of them. Here is what we can say on this subject in 1989 but almost everything was already said in 1960 and even before. Leonardo de VINCI, still him, was already planning to separate the traffic of pedestrians and that of vehicles in the streets and to make the hearts of Venice, Florence or Genoa into places without vehicles.
In the measures that we recall, it is obvious that Beau, Ferone de la Selva and their friends did not invent everything, more than important efforts are made by the national and municipal services and that our observations, which are desired objectives, must underline it which does not exclude that the projects presented at present must be severely criticized because they increase the pressure on the motorists without addressing the basic problems.
Here is the list, updated in 1989, the proposed solutions:

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proposed solutions

Ps: the asterisk indicates the points still neglected, * in progress, ** little better to do, *** all to do

THE ROAD NETWORK:
1 - improvement of general signage **
2 - night-time lighting of signage and daytime lighting of underground passages at suitable levels to avoid glare and the "black hole" **
3 - demarcation of traffic lanes *
4 - signage of main routes **
5 - modulation and synchronization of traffic lights **
6 - removal of infrastructure barriers ***
7 - standardization of lane width in the countryside **
8 - elimination of three-lane roads in favor of four lanes **
9 - construction of crossings that do not cut off traffic, by overlapping lanes **
10- realization of superimposed parallel tracks seismic on congested roads
11- enlargement bridges **
12- doubling of the exit and entry ramps for underground passages.

13 - construction of high-traffic axes underground in towns, with parking lots, at important points: stations, administrative and commercial areas. **
14- successive positioning of exits and entries in this order so as not to cut the two circulations. **

PUBLIC TRANSPORT
1 - improvement of indications concerning public transport *
2 - drawing up of district plans, on a large scale, in public transport stations *
3 - optimization of public transport timetables **
4 - decrease in expectations at stations and connections **
5 - commissioning of buses of different sizes adapted to local variations and traffic times **
6 - implementation of double decker buses ***
7 - modernization and improvement of metropolitan lines *
8 - construction of new lines *
9 - extension of current lines *
10- interconnection of SNCF and RER stations **
11- synchronization and optimization between SNCF, METROS, cars, buses, taxis and car parks for the public **
12 - installation of conveyor belts and elevators, study of accessibility for the disabled.

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THE PRIVATE TRANSPORT
1- Development taxis and rental cars without driver for individuals and goods **
2- Development carts, driverless, self-service, pre payment ***
3- Creation of “clubs” to operate these carts, around deterrent stations and car parks ***
4 - development of "parks - wells" with fifteen to thirty places in order to resolve the parking of vehicles for inhabitants of the agglomeration ***
5 - Development of collective, secure and humanized underground parks **
6 - Reservation and arrangement of sufficient areas, preferably in the basement for loading and unloading of goods **
7 - development of numerous cycle and pedestrian lanes which may possibly be at a level different from the lanes reserved for automobile traffic ***
8 - Creation of gardens - terraces on parking lots of suitable height in the city center, connected to underground and surface networks in order to provide for heavy goods vehicles, equipped with unloading means on small vehicles capable of ensuring rapid local redistribution of the load **
9 - development of modular rail / road containers **
10 - development of bus stations with light vehicles and HGV car parks to encourage the use of public transport: **
11- Sale of gasoline giving the right to “collective” kilometers **
12 - downward revision of SNCF fares in order to encourage carriers to coordinate with rail over long distances ***
13 - development of the train - car with multiplication of access stations, with no obligation to purchase a passenger ticket for placing on the wagon ***
14 - organization of working hours for companies, shops, administrations, schools **

THE SPECIAL VEHICLES
1- development towns of vehicles not exceeding a footprint of 3 square meters on the ground, easily guarantor, low emissions, not on highways; **
2- development of fast vehicles but very studied on the security plan for touring; **
3 - development of cars that do not use fossil fuels: electric battery and solar, hydrogen fuel cell, hydrogen, inertial motor, compressed gas: **
4 - development of humidity control and the so-called water engine; ***
5 - improvement of piloting assistance electronics; *
6 - internal speed limitation of vehicles; ***
7 - external speed limitation by electronic control; ***
8 - electronic traffic and weather information; *

THE DRIVERS
1- vehicle purchases linked to two conditions: Availability of parking; possession of the appropriate license for the vehicle ***
2- Compulsory teaching of the highway code in primary school; **
3- driving license beginner as a compulsory subject to 16 years in all school options ***
4 - implementation of a “progressive” permit according to the driver's sense of responsibility and abilities **
5 - VL license at three levels: beginner, city, main road ***
7 - Professional license at three levels: Delivery on light vehicles and van; Delivery on P L. without tractor front axle; Delivery on HGV with trailer. **
6 - agricultural machinery permit compulsory even in the fields ***
7 - special permits for construction equipment operators **
8- special permits for gear oversized and dangerous transport;
9- compulsory medical examination every 5 years or certificate of the doctor on sight, reflexes, self-control; ***
10- electronic tester by driving simulation in graduate rates for the progressions of the license; ***
11- Breathalyzer test compulsory in the event of an accident; *
12- medical information coded on the driving license for emergency interventions in the event of an accident; (The green social security card does this) *
13- Rewards for good drivers: **
14- Revision of the penal code in matters of offenses **

1989

History and men's decisions sometimes collide. In this year commemorating the French Revolution, it is curious to note the gap between this anniversary of the revolution and the abolition of privileges and the authoritarian decisions taken by city councilors.
DOMINATI Jacques, Paris councilor in charge of traffic problems in the city, has just proposed a pretty incredible plan to make this city their free movement:
- He wants to eliminate 100 surface parking spaces. To do this, it wishes to repress, even more vigorously, the illegal parking of 000 users and eliminate 60 surface spaces;
- With regard to the repression, impounding of vehicles, the increase in fines, the greater severity of traffic violations are clearly displayed on the walls of Paris. The police have: crane trucks which will each have to remove 700 vehicles per year; It will have undetectable radars against speeding violations and a single, computerized military-style command which will monitor the entire Ile de France and each district of Paris; its motorcyclists are equipped with transceivers melted in the helmets which improve their connections and allow them to intervene more quickly.
Among the major imbecilities that the administration of the city of Paris provided to its citizens we remember the famous skates of Denver.
If a car was in the way, it was immobilized on the spot by this tool; one will judge of the intelligence of the process since one replaced a discomfort of a few minutes by a long embarrassment. Some jokers tinkerers had, by retaliation, made a pleasure to fill their coffers with these medieval machines, to the great fury of the authorities.
Another joy: the impoundment, this gave rise to a whole series of racketeering, unjustified kidnappings, vehicle thefts, theft of equipment in the pounds, the simple list of which would fill this book. In some towns, such as Toulon, the reactions were violent and the administration recovered its crane trucks from the port.
Paris does not yet seem to have to be a model for managing its traffic despite its electronics and some ideas more pleasant eg digging under the city a few lines of disgorging.
Knowing that legal parking in Paris has 720 spaces including 000 on public roads, these projects are not balanced by the creation of compensatory legal parking spaces. They can only meet the hostility of users.
We note that this authoritarian approach does not appeal to innovative intelligence, common sense, the participation of associations and the public and will therefore encounter the worst sociological obstacles.
This society should stop praising its "development" to change its plan for the future that it does not see in its inevitable catastrophic perspective if nothing changes.

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Some innovative ideas

1- Silos well-***

In the courtyards of buildings having at least 14 meters in length and 9 meters in width, G. Beau proposed to build shafts 41 meters deep capable of accepting 20 or 30 light cars. Beau's idea was to have an elevator that automatically transports vehicles from one level to another, automatically stows them away and comes back to pick them up on demand. Cars parked in this way clear the equivalent surfaces on public roads.

2- Aerial pedestrian and bicycle lanes ***

For many cities, their structures would allow the establishment of tracks placed above congested lanes where pedestrians and cyclists would circulate on a new rewarding commercial level, the underlying sidewalk receiving deliveries and more parking lots. This interests a million users at least for Paris.

3- Overhead AERIAL ***

RATP and SNCF have always opposed, rightly or wrongly, the air monorail. This invention is however used elsewhere. It has advantages because it does not clutter the public road and can be combined with the previous proposal. However, the technology does not seem ripe at the moment despite recent trials in Germany. It is a motorized cabin, suspended on its axis by two suspension trains on a raised beam rail. Its cost is lower than the metro but it can have aesthetic drawbacks.

The cities 4- tiered **

Subway in a relatively deep basement, main traffic axes and handling levels above on the ground floor or 1st basement, pedestrian paths and shops at park level - gardens on the ground floor or in heightening. Apartments with large terraces set back above, each with its own micro - summer - winter garden.

5- The solar electric cars ***

The electric car is progressing, a new concept has appeared: its link with the Sun. In many cities the car parks could receive solar panels and charge batteries quietly; on the other hand, at night, during off-peak hours, Electricité de France has kilowatts which, whatever their origins, are worth recovering. The electric car with low capacity, small footprint, low battery charge, fast charge or instant standard charge, with braking energy recovery. It is currently being studied everywhere but it would need the necessary capital to accelerate its maturity.
Ecology Energy Survival presented in a first exposure Marjolaine there over thirty years!

6 - User clubs **

A fleet of electric carts used by club members, or by subscribers, would allow more freedom of movement. Rental cars or cars sold in "timeshare" are already available but their costs are not dissuasive from the purchase. There are also avenues to explore.

7 - The hunt for ideas ***

The French are rich in ideas, but French society does not know how to manage the capital of inventors it possesses. In an article we wrote for the Journal of Inventors we raised this issue.

There is a common error which confuses “The Inventor”, the one who finds but who is as much an artist as an engineer with the “Researcher” whose mission is to explain the invention and to find laws and theoretical applications or of the “Engineer” who makes an invention a marketable product and of the “Teacher” who must know the history of the invention, its theory, its applications and teach it to his students.

Solving problems as complicated as those of traffic and communication in a large city without exploiting all the inventive and creative capacity that it contains shows the intellectual poverty of those who imagine they can, alone or almost, give it all solutions. It is more necessary than ever to obtain a consensus between the different actors through a painstaking process of collective reflection.

This is the contribution of Gabriel Ferrone Rendez - you Ecology organized by Serge LEPELTIER, Minister of Ecology and Sustainable Development with Vincent Bollore. "ELECTRIC CAR MYTH OR REALITY" the 09 11 2004.

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