The whole America on its feet? by Barbora Misakova

It is not such a long time ago what I have seen one good commercial. It was pointing at gas prices which are still raising and at the consequences of it which can come sooner than we expect. The camera was slowly leading you through the city, showing you all those highways and big cross roads. But instead of thousands of cars all you could see on the roads were people. People standing on the bridge in a long row, people waiting and impatiently watching traffic lights while waiting on green signal. No cars, no bikes, no lorries. Just people, standing on their feet. A bit funny picture I must say, but now I think that in a few years it could be even more realistic than it is funny now. Just look what's going on in the U.S. these days. People are just fed up with gas and oil prices, they don't want to hear about it anymore, they don't want to pay more just because they want to ride their kids safely to school. It just got on their nerves. And, of course, there are even more people whose biggest problem is they just cannot afford to pay such prices everyday! So I would say that a picture from the commercial was pointing at the future. Not so distant future. When you are monitoring whole situation in the U.S. it seems that people living there are probably in a very short time going to revert to biking or so called “pedestrian sport”. The most interesting on this thing is the fact, that people are using their bicycles again not because of their health, but because of the gas prices. Anyway, the point is, that society is going to change from primarily driving on primarily walking or biking. At least till the gas prices are normal again. That's why a lot of cities started preparing online mapping services and websites, which could help all bikers and pedestrians to choose the most quick and safe roads leading to their jobs or schools. Even though it looks easy, it is not. Pedestrians cannot walk through such areas which are possible for bikers and inside out. That's why there is still more mapmakers and route planners thinking about creating an adequate bike and pedestrian navigator.

related story: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080725/ap_on_hi_te/tec_web_maps_for_walking;_ylt=ApMkKYpEqygAHFoUSRikt4us0NUE

by Barbora Misakova for PocketNews (http://pocketnews.tv)

PocketNews is a new real-time news broadcaster delivering the latest and hottest news right to your pocket ! With global clients who want to be kept up to date, PocketNews is everyone's way of keeping in touch with the World.<br><br><font size=2>These news are original content from young talents around the world and are selected for you by Chris Cantell.</font><br>

edited by Beata Biskova