https://twitter.com/rabbitfordinner/status/1740609135044083919

this mf thinks we still have medieval walled cities, like dude, you can literally just... walk out of the city. I mean, yeah, you can indeed disrupt logistics, but there's a pretty big gap between "trucks can't get in to deliver supplies" and "entire population is trapped inside of the city". Also railway transport isn't real I guess

also love the idea of completely destroying supply routes into the city with... backhoes and gravel. I guess city folk don't have any construction equipment of their own to clear and repair their roads. Also I guess the roads are just going to be conveniently completely empty for however many hours it takes you to block them, because, uh...

do an area study nerd

  • Zoift [he/him]
    ·
    11 months ago

    you'd need surprisingly few people to basically throw an entire cities car transportation network into a multi day gridlock

    Back in 2006 some students from Georgia Tech shut down Atlanta for 12 hours by driving the speed limit, side-by-side, around the circular I-285 Atlanta bypass during rush hour. Got traffic to snake all the way around the circle and form a car ouroborous. They tried to charge the kids with conspiracy & domestic terrorism & shit at first, because 2006, but most they could get them for was obstruction of traffic.

    So yeah, proof of concept at least.

    • 7bicycles [he/him]
      ·
      11 months ago

      Lmao, took them all of 4 people to do it.

      But yeah, pretty much. Disrupt traffic flow at a major intersection a bit by your usual non-enforced traffic infractions like double parking inconveniently or missing much or all of the green phase due to being on your smartphone or similar, 3 other people do the same at feeding arterial roads for like 10 minutes until all the impatient carbrains start trying to cheat their way onto non-cleared intersections and ta-da, gridlock that's now become a massive headache to unfuck. x10 if you can convince someone to get into a minor fender bender after it and then start arguing and taking lots and lots of photos on the road. Takes like 4 guys with all of the conviction of "maybe get a ticket" to pull it off, I'm genuinely surprised no one ever tried it.

      • GalaxyBrain [they/them]
        ·
        11 months ago

        There's some push button crosswalks around a major bottleneck bridge where I am. I'm certain 3 people just crossing the streets over and over would bring traffic to a halt

      • Zoift [he/him]
        ·
        11 months ago

        Looks like AJC doesn't have a working archive, dead links. But i did find the student film they made about doing it.