Hamburg: Klimaaktivisten lassen erneut Luft aus Reifen von 33 Autos
www.ndr.de
Klimaaktivisten und -aktivistinnen haben in Hamburg wieder die Luft aus den Reifen von mehreren geparkten Autos gelassen. Die Polizei bestätigte 33 Fälle in Nienstedten, die von Anwohnerinnen und Anwohnern am frühen Morgen bemerkt worden sind.

From the article: *Large SUVs were particularly affected. According to the police, notes were attached to the cars indicating that they were harmful to the climate. The tyres were not punctured, but merely deflated. The cars were parked in the area between the S-Bahn line and Elbchaussee around Kanzleistraße. *

Personally, I like this protest way more than glueing themselves to the streets, causing traffic jams where cars burn gasoline for hours and ambulances / firefighters / police gets stuck, putting innocent life in danger.

The article is in German. Warning: this link leads to google translate.

  • @CarloGesualdo@beehaw.org
    15•1 year ago

    The situation you are describing where a car owner returns to their vehicle, fails to see their four flat tires, fails to notice the note on their windscreen explaining that their tires have been deflated in protest, fails to notice their car’s tire pressure warnings, and drives any way, and drive enough to ruin their tires AND wheels seems unlikely enough to qualify as catastrophizing. The far more likely outcome is that the owner returns to their car and then spends some time, perhaps an hour or two, figuring out how to reinflate their tires.

    I’m sure the individuals taking part in these protests also support politicians who desire stricter regulations about the types of vehicles they are targetting. Participating in peaceful protest and participating in a political process are not mutually exclusive.

    I wish this form of protest would catch on elsewhere as well. Every day I’m struck by the number of huge gas-guzzling pick up trucks parked around the city, and seemingly every bed completely empty. Letting out the air to their tires would certainly be slower and more work than the old method of puncturing their tires, but has the dual benefit of not necessitating replacement (which has a carbon cost of its own) and not enabling the vehicle owner to file an insurance claim.

    • @upstream@beehaw.org
      6•1 year ago

      You are still assuming a lot of things:

      1. That deflated tires don’t get damaged either. Look up how tires are built.

      2. That everyone gets a sticker under the window and all four tires deflated.

      3. Apparently it has to be “catastrophical” to be bad.

      4. The only thing you are taking away from society is someone’s time.

      IMO as long as you are messing with someone else’s property you are not “protesting”, you are a vandal.

      However good you might find their intentions it’s not much better than blowing up mailboxes or slashing tires.

      And whether or not you want to see it I strongly believe that point four is the most important part.

      What happens to the people who couldn’t be treated at the hospital in time because their surgeon was left stranded with flat tires?

      Sure, he could have just called a cab/Uber, but what happens when everyone in the neighborhood does?

      Someone else could step in? Sure, but again it suddenly might be more than one that’s affected.

      I’m not trying to argue that everyone has a job that society will miss if they are stuck at home for a few hours, but do you think that the people running around deflating tires do any kind of legwork to figure out if they should?

      There was a “protest” like this in Oslo, Norway, recently, targeted at fossil gas guzzlers. However the “protesters” failed to discern between electric SUV’s and fossil SUV’s even though most of the electric ones carry special license plates.

      At the end of it I guess it all boils down to what kind of ethics you apply. While I can agree with the viewpoint I wholeheartedly disagree with the method and form.

      At what point do you find it is ok to do bad things to random strangers in some weird hope to do something good?

      It’s not a “trolley problem”, you’re not killing one person and saving five, you are simply putting unnecessary hardship into people’s lives because you don’t like what they drive.

      Do you honestly expect someone to go “oh no, not again, well I better go buy a different car”?

      • @zhunk@beehaw.org
        9•1 year ago

        On the EV point specifically- big EVs are bad, too. They’re still spraying tire particulate, and their high weight is more dangerous for pedestrians, small cars, bikes, kids, etc.

        • @upstream@beehaw.org
          1•1 year ago

          Never said they weren’t.

          But when you put a flyer under someone’s windshield wiper saying you are purposely letting air out of their tires for driving a big gas guzzler, heating up the planet, and polluting the local environment with their exhaust - and it’s an EV, right?

          Weight doesn’t matter so much to pedestrians btw. Front end design and hood design is much more important.

          Lots of new cars now actually have a deployable hood that lifts (next to the windshield if you hit / are about to hit a pedestrian.

          This allows for a more cushioned landing.

          Doesn’t help if the vehicle is so tall you get smooshed in the grill, though.

          Increases tire width also helps stopping quicker in many circumstances, but yes, definitely, added weight makes it harder to stop in conditions with reduced grip like rain and snow.

          What we need is better safety systems - ie. automated driving as an end goal.

          Kids and bicyclists will still be at risk due to their own behavior, but autonomous driving will still be able to perceive quicker and be more consistent in reducing speed around observable high risk “actors” in the environment.

          Not saying any of this is an argument for unnecessarily big and heavy cars, but at the moment there is only two electric station wagons in the market. So if you want a bigger trunk than a sedan can offer, but not an SUV you can choose between the Porsche Taycan Cross Turismo or the MG 5.

          Not much to choose from sadly.

          The Audi A6 Avant is coming, so is the ID.7 wagon, but they’re still at least a year out, if not 1.5.

          And the Nio ET5 wagon is coming out right about now as well.

          And this will bring the total amount of electric wagons up to 5, three of which comes from VAG.

          In the meantime there’s a boatload of huge electric SUV’s that offer no advantage over a wagon except maybe roof height since batteries eat up some underfloor space.

      • @CarloGesualdo@beehaw.org
        4•1 year ago

        I read everything you wrote because you went through the effort to write it. I think the “agree to disagree” place is about as good as we’re gonna get.