pinkos and reds, road-kill seasonality and the telling secrets of road-side trash, as observed by a commuting cyclist

Rather than admire the natural beauty of the area while cycling between Morro Bay and San Luis Obispo each week-day, I elect to satisfy my own nature to quantify and otherwise note and ponder dumb stuff. The most obvious and constant quantifiable variable is the vehicles that zoom by me at a constant rate of 8,8 - 11,5/minute. Also, though, the surprising seasonal rhythm of road-kill and the seeming secrets held in the back-stories of certainroad-side flotsam. First, the traffic: I count the total number of vehicles, the "pinko" vehicles (hybrids) and the "commie" vehicles (full electric). I do this for the same 17,44km section every day (an odd distance, but which I chose because, regardless of my ingress to or egress from HighWay 1, I will do that 17,44km section every day). Note that, despite being cannon fodder for other cyclists these days (I've gotten progressively slower as I have lost weight, I guess due to reduced muscle mass and chronic under-fueling), I don't count other cyclists who pass me =) I also track the time it takes me to ride this interval so that I can track the "density" of the traffic (in vehicles/minute). I chose these variables because they inform my world-view -- whether there is some hope that, despite the extravagent wealth of the U.S., people will factor in their respective social and ecological impacts in one of their most impactful consumer choices. As such, I have hoped to see a reduction in traffic, an increase in hybrid and especially full electric vehicles. The answers so far, after 349 samples in 637 days? Nope, not really. I began tracking all of this 2024-02-02. In the first 100 samples, hybrids made up 11,7% of total traffic and full electrics 3,7%. As of 2025-10-31 and 349 samples, the 100-sample rolling median is 12,5% and 3,7%, respectively. That marginal basis-point increase (a bit less than 7%) in hybrids is something, I guess, but hardly anything to pin one's hopes on. As for the density of traffic, that is dependent on the time (of day) that I'm on the road, which varies a fair amount, but has stayed steady within each time segment (each segment represents 1% of a day (14 minutes and 24 seconds)) at between 8,8 and 11,5 vehicles/minute, c an overall median of 9,5 vehicles/minute. As it stands, even in this putatively progressive pocket of a generally progressive state, hybrids are a slow-growth niche, and electric vehicles are a stagnant niche within that niche. Non-sequitur as it might seem prima facie, perhaps it is better to pin one's hopes on g.l.p.-1 drugs -- they marry self-interest and social pressures (weight loss) c less food consumption (and therefore less environmental and social impact). I can't count g.l.p.-1 users on Highway 1, though, so I'll continue to just count the dammed vehicles noisily blitzing by instead of enjoying the native beauty of my ride =\ 2nd, and speaking of animals and vehicles, the road-kill: January - February: owls, especially barn March - May: snakes, mostly king snakes, never rattle-snakes May - August: skunks, and lots of them September - November: deer, passerine birds and tarantulas December: owls I'm not sure why these up-ticks happen, but I can guess: the owls hunt at dusk and dark, which in winter co-incides c peak commuter times. Snakes are born in throngs in the spring, then disburse in dense bursts. Skunks must become independent in summer, un-tested and un-tutored in traffic dealings but fearless and then dead. The deer perhaps come down from the hills as springs run dry at higher, less trafficked elevations. Last, the embodied shame and secrets in certain road-side trash: There is, for example, a constant deposit of 50ml - 300ml hard alcohol bottles on the shoulder, especially 99 Brand vodka and FireBall whiskey. There is a steady supply of emptied pseudo-ephedrine blister packs, I imagine from folks thinking (mostly-inaccurately) that they can use them to quickly drop weight. And then there is the occasional pregnancy test, possibly not disconnected from the above-mentioned alcohol and drug =)