Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Oslo had 0 pedestrian, 0 cyclist, 0 children and 1 driver trafic deaths in 2019

twitter.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

231–240 of 524 posts

Re: Oslo had 0 pedestrian, 0 cyclist, 0 children and 1 driver trafic deaths in 2019

#231

Post by ossworkerrights »

RivieraKid wrote: post #132
ossworkerrights wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What a stark contrast to Romania, which had almost 2000 deaths at a population only 4 times larger than norway. Wondering what are the lessons to learn and apply to that country as the situation is out of control.

Safer cars.

Most cars around Romania are German made and used, most recently clocked or written off in that country. But the issue is driving culture and lack of policing I think. Romania had cameras and they were removed, the government claims, because they are against EU regulation. Naturally that's BS, and most laws are made in favor of law breakers not sure why.

Re: Oslo had 0 pedestrian, 0 cyclist, 0 children and 1 driver trafic deaths in 2019

#232

Post by blaser-waffle »

Someone wrote: post #149
semi-extrinsic wrote: post #105

The entire country (Norway) had 0 children traffic deaths in 2019. In total 110 traffic deaths, of which 72% were men, very similar to the past few years. About 2/3rd of deaths were drivers or passengers in a car (the rest motorbike or pedestrian), and of those in cars 1/3rd were not using a seat belt. So it's likely you could get an immediate decrease in total traffic deaths of close to 20% if you could just force e…

That assumes that those not wearing seat belts would be alive if they did. That’s possible, but not a given, and likely not completely true. One way to (sort-of) check that would be to compare that 1/3rd with the fraction of all drivers that do not wear a seat belt.

Indeed. It's reasonable to assume no belt = no survival, but not always. Anecdote time:

Knew some kids on HS who liked to party hard. They drove drunk and somehow flipped their car. One of my friends wasn't wearing a seatbelt and was flung violently from the car -- but lived. Even made a full recovery, eventually. The driver and another passenger were crushed.

Re: Oslo had 0 pedestrian, 0 cyclist, 0 children and 1 driver trafic deaths in 2019

#233

Post by tehwalrus »

alistairSH wrote: post #114
vegardx wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In Oslo at least, the crosswalks (usually) have lights if there's an intersection, and since there are no laws against crossing on red you are free to do so, as long as you don't create any dangerous situations. I'd argue that the lights are not to improve traffic flow, but to signal pedestrians that it's safe to cross, something sighted, young or otherwise healthy people often take for granted by just looking both w…

In the US, pedestrian signals do NOT signal when it’s safe to cross. Cars almost always have a green in the same direction, meaning they can turn into you. I almost get run over once a month because of this.

When I visited the USA for a conference, I looked up a nice coffee place that was just across the street from the academic campus where I was staying. I went to the nearest crossing point, waited for several cycles of the traffic lights, and still couldn't deduce when it was safe to cross.

The road markings were black and white stripes, which mean "cars must always stop for pedestrians crossing here" where I live (UK). The description above chimes with my experience. Who does have priority when the light is red but cars are still turning right?

In the end, I went back and had the nasty coffee in the university. It seemed to dangerous to try to cross.

Edit: this is different in different states? It was in North Carolina for reference.

Re: Oslo had 0 pedestrian, 0 cyclist, 0 children and 1 driver trafic deaths in 2019

#234

Post by reallydontask »

gjm11 wrote: post #176
reallydontask wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is true but to whom should we attribute the CO2, the user or the producer?

When someone gets shot, usually you blame the shooter rather than the people who made the gun. Even if the gun is of the sort specifically designed for killing people. (As opposed to hunting animals or target-shooting for sport.) It seems like the same would go for CO2 emissions. There will probably always be uses for oil that are worth the cost in environmental damage, and if someone uses it for things that aren't t…

So what about the CO2 produced in the manufacture of items?

Against whom should be tally up the CO2, the user of the manufactured item or the producer of the manufactured item?

Re: Oslo had 0 pedestrian, 0 cyclist, 0 children and 1 driver trafic deaths in 2019

#235

Post by t0mas88 »

thegerman010 wrote: post #162
gokhan wrote: post #13

One interesting observation on Oslo is that, pedestrians do cross the street when it's red for them, if there's no moving traffic close by. This is totally different from, for example, Copenhagen, Stockholm and places I visited in Germany. They're like Italians of the north. That's probably why we felt at home on the streets during our stay there, as a family from Turkey. I would love to have that 0 deaths statistics…

Ever been to Amsterdam? Its crazy here

Haha, was going to post this. Nobody waits for the lights in Amsterdam or any of the other sizable Dutch cities. Maybe part of that is that if you walk through a red light and get hit by a car the driver still takes at least 50% of the blame? And speeds in the inner city are very low due to bikes and now small scooters being on the same roads as well.

Re: Oslo had 0 pedestrian, 0 cyclist, 0 children and 1 driver trafic deaths in 2019

#236

Post by gvjddbnvdrbv »

alistairSH wrote: post #114
vegardx wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In Oslo at least, the crosswalks (usually) have lights if there's an intersection, and since there are no laws against crossing on red you are free to do so, as long as you don't create any dangerous situations. I'd argue that the lights are not to improve traffic flow, but to signal pedestrians that it's safe to cross, something sighted, young or otherwise healthy people often take for granted by just looking both w…

In the US, pedestrian signals do NOT signal when it’s safe to cross. Cars almost always have a green in the same direction, meaning they can turn into you. I almost get run over once a month because of this.

Norwegian traffic lights are the same.

Re: Oslo had 0 pedestrian, 0 cyclist, 0 children and 1 driver trafic deaths in 2019

#237

Post by gvjddbnvdrbv »

AdrianB1 wrote: post #94
elfexec wrote: post #9

That's impressive. Even more impressive is that the yearly death toll has been 10 or below since around 2005. Is it because people/teens are now staying indoors more due to the internet or is it due to a policy change or is it technological improvements in cars? I don't speak norwegian so I can't read the linked article.

It seems they almost eliminated (not completely) the cars from the city: https://www.fastcompany.com/90294948/what-happened-when-oslo...

Basically not true. This applies to a small section of the city center.

Re: Oslo had 0 pedestrian, 0 cyclist, 0 children and 1 driver trafic deaths in 2019

#238

Post by kristofferR »

chrisseaton wrote: post #140
pi-rat wrote: post #10

HN 11 months ago: Oslo made its city center basically car-free https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19000076

That’s a bizarre article. If you go to Oslo for yourself you will see it is far from car free - there’s cars everywhere like a normal city.

It's because of the various definitions of "city center".

The upcoming car free city center in question is just a pretty small area, which has been a driving hell for years anyway, due to all the pedestrians, public transportation and low speeds. Unless you're a taxi who want to increase your fare, you wouldn't want to drive through it anyway.

Re: Oslo had 0 pedestrian, 0 cyclist, 0 children and 1 driver trafic deaths in 2019

#239

Post by gvjddbnvdrbv »

elfexec wrote: post #9

That's impressive. Even more impressive is that the yearly death toll has been 10 or below since around 2005. Is it because people/teens are now staying indoors more due to the internet or is it due to a policy change or is it technological improvements in cars? I don't speak norwegian so I can't read the linked article.

Norwegian drivers are very careful and look out for pedestrians.

Re: Oslo had 0 pedestrian, 0 cyclist, 0 children and 1 driver trafic deaths in 2019

#240

Post by aidenn0 »

tehwalrus wrote: post #233
alistairSH wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the US, pedestrian signals do NOT signal when it’s safe to cross. Cars almost always have a green in the same direction, meaning they can turn into you. I almost get run over once a month because of this.

When I visited the USA for a conference, I looked up a nice coffee place that was just across the street from the academic campus where I was staying. I went to the nearest crossing point, waited for several cycles of the traffic lights, and still couldn't deduce when it was safe to cross. The road markings were black and white stripes, which mean "cars must always stop for pedestrians crossing here" where I live (UK…

Pedestrians have the right of way compared to cars with a red light. Cars turning right on red are required to stop before turning, but whether or not they do depends on the culture of the locality.

Also, as a note, college campuses are some of the worst places for cars and pedestrians to have to interact. The students seem to ignore the rules of the road regardless of whether they are pedestrians or drivers.

Post reply on HN