Posted on 09/14/2005 10:29:21 AM PDT by Willie Green
People will be debating the causes of the New Orleans tragedy for years to come. But one thing is already abundantly clear: For individual New Orleanians, automobility made the difference between safety and disaster.
"The white people got out," an article in The New York Times declared shortly after Hurricane Katrina hit. But that isn't quite true. White families with cars got out, as did black families with cars. Families without cars, white and black, for the most part did not.
Over the past century, the number of deaths due to natural disasters such as hurricanes, tornadoes, floods and fires has steadily declined from as many as 12,000 in a 1900 hurricane to a few dozen per year up until this year. This decline is largely due to the increased mobility provided by the automobile.
People with cars can leave before a storm hits. When earthquakes or other unpredictable events take place, people with cars can move away from areas that lack food, safe water or other essentials.
What made New Orleans vulnerable was that a third of its households do not own an automobile....
(Excerpt) Read more at seattletimes.nwsource.com ...
I heard about one guy who walked 80 miles to Baton Rouge, bet he had some blisters.
This is such baloney. If you look at the pictures of the flooded school buses there are pictures of parking garages that are filled with cars! Look at pictures of the streets - filled with cars. The Walmart had a traffic jam in its parking lot when it was being looted.
People knew for days what was coming. Why not take a Grayhound bus? They're cheap. Why not walk? It would be hard on the lard-a55es but they could make it.
Bottom line: they didn't want to leave.
well, those people thought it would be unfair for them to flee with their car when there are people who can't flee because they don't have cars. So, make things equal and feel good about themsleves, they decided not to drive the car.
It's twisted logic but it works for them.
Oh, for God's sake. Everything is about trains with you. I guess you're going to suggest that all of NO could have been evacuated by high-speed train...
The cars likely have empty gas tanks.. yah, that's it! Checks come on the 1st of the month.. they had no money for gas. Bush's fault!
This morning someone was discussing all the polution in the flood waters from the thousands of cars that are still underwater. These belonged to people who didn't leave because they believed they'd be lucky again this time. They weren't. And of course, add to that some 2,000 school buses and municipal buses in the area that were unused and this argument falls even flatter.
There were a lot of middle class (and some wealthy) blacks in New Orleans. Why didn't they swing by the poorer neighborhoods and pick up a few people without cars to evacuate with them?
Racism?
Exactly. Or hitch-hiked out. Or ride a bicycle or moped out. Surely a lot of evacuating blacks with cars would have picked up another black hitchiking ... or a black family ... or at least the kids.
But walking would have done it too.
Perhaps for the same reason that rich whites didn't run by the trailer parks and pick up poor white families.
You forgot the full tank of gas too.
In all seriousness, Maglev would be great for Seattle, as long as the earth doesn't move.
Even more bottom, they did not believe they would have a flood.
The true obvious conclusion in this article should say, "Mobility counts for people who want their own decision to control their future."
"You forgot the full tank of gas too."
And heck, what about a set of those wheels that keep on spinning even when you're stopped?
Should have taken the Coltrain out of those Muddy Waters.
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