Friday Funny: Satirizing the War on Cars

A new voice in the wilderness of YouTube: the War on Cars.

1 minute read

August 11, 2017, 5:00 AM PDT

By James Brasuell @CasualBrasuell


As Laura Bliss explains, the War on Cars YouTube channel follows in the lineage of fake anti-urbanist Bob Gunderson, who plies "his" trade on Twitter. The War on Cars offers dozens of videos satirizing the ongoing culture war for control of public right of way.

According to Bliss, half the videos on the War on Cars channel "[praise] the genius of super-sized, car-centric transportation planning. The other half are faux-outraged “exposés” of bike lanes and sidewalks, complete with a horror film’s screeching violin soundtrack."

Bliss managed to strike up an email correspondence with the still-anonymous man behind the War on Cars. The man behind the War on Cars "describes himself as a retired businessman and engineer who grew up on the beaches of Southern California. He’s been an avid bike commuter on and off since the late 1970s, and now splits his time between New York City and Munich, Germany, where dense and transit-friendly development patterns draw much of his mock indignation."

Bliss sprinkles in some videos, and the rest are available on the War on Cars channel. With three new videos posted in the last three days, it doesn't look like the War on Cars will be over any time soon.

Thursday, August 10, 2017 in CityLab

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I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching. Mary G., Urban Planner

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