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Pedestrian deaths spike in U.S. as reckless driving surges

nytimes.com

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Re: Pedestrian deaths spike in U.S. as reckless driving surges

#101

Post by avs733 »

kmlx wrote: post #52
cianmm wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m in Ireland and there is a signposted pedestrian crossing that cars routinely ignore in a park near my house. A good technique, I’ve found, is point your phone at them as you prepare to cross. It seems to scare them into stopping. Normalisation of dangerous driving is a global phenomenon where car culture reigns.

elevated pedestrian crossing is the solution here. used across London with great effect. anyway, there are many ways to calm traffic.

as a pedestrian I've just found that the result of those in Georgia, USA is that drivers ignore pedestrians more slowly.

Re: Pedestrian deaths spike in U.S. as reckless driving surges

#103

Post by giantg2 »

gameswithgo wrote: post #2

In Austin Texas we have an absurdly well marked crosswalk on the way to the elementary school, to a close approximation nobody has ever stopped to let us cross. Our daughter was nearly killed once, so far. It seems so many people in America are so fat now they don’t imagine people would ever walk, so they drive without regard for pedestrians and active hostility towards cyclists and park in the way of sidewalks, maki…

Are you actually in the crosswalk when people don't stop?

I imagine most people don't know the law this well, but... the vehicles don't have to stop unless you have at least one foot in the crosswalk in most states. So they could just be assuming you are letting them go, or they're jerks.

Re: Pedestrian deaths spike in U.S. as reckless driving surges

#104

Post by joefife »

collegeburner wrote: post #88
efitz wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How exactly did you get to “the cause of reckless driving is fat people who don’t walk everywhere?” Show your work. In most places in America walking is not a practical mode of transportation because of distance; it’s miles from your house to the grocery store, for instance. If you live in a city this might not be obvious to you but half the country lives in the burbs or rural areas. Separately, it would be nice if w…

It's also temperature. I'm not walking in 100 degrees, even 3 blocks because I'm soaked when I get there and stink.

The Spanish manage?

Re: Pedestrian deaths spike in U.S. as reckless driving surges

#105

Post by masklinn »

Aeolun wrote: post #75
kmlx wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

elevated pedestrian crossing is the solution here. used across London with great effect. anyway, there are many ways to calm traffic.

We used to have lovely speedbumps every 50 meters or so in our neighborhood. Can’t drive fast if it’ll make your car fly.

Such active traffic calming measures can be combined with more passive ones (lane narrowing, visual obstructions) to create a psychological slowdown effect in addition to the physical ones.

This works especially well combined with pedestrian and cycle passthroughs and such, including to avoid “drive-through” neighbourhoods without having to make the neighbourhood entirely impassable and a pain in the ass to residents.

Re: Pedestrian deaths spike in U.S. as reckless driving surges

#106

Post by sjg007 »

gameswithgo wrote: post #2

In Austin Texas we have an absurdly well marked crosswalk on the way to the elementary school, to a close approximation nobody has ever stopped to let us cross. Our daughter was nearly killed once, so far. It seems so many people in America are so fat now they don’t imagine people would ever walk, so they drive without regard for pedestrians and active hostility towards cyclists and park in the way of sidewalks, maki…

Let your local police department know, they will gladly sit there and ticket offending vehicles.

Re: Pedestrian deaths spike in U.S. as reckless driving surges

#107

Post by joefife »

analog31 wrote: post #59
MrBuddyCasino wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Separately, it would be nice if we had more sidewalks, but they are financially unsustainable in low density areas. What makes sidewalks expensive to maintain, relative to roads? > the biggest issue by far is dietary sugar/carbohydrates This is not clear. See this highly fascinating series on the obesity epidemic: https://slimemoldtimemold.com/2021/07/07/a-chemical-hunger-p... . Other suspects are HFCS and seed oil…

It could have to do with how they are paid for. When the sidewalks were repaired on my street, each resident received a bill, proportional to how many of the segments were in front of their house. When the road was rebuilt, the money came from Somewhere Else. Yeah, Somewhere Else is ultimately the same place, but homeowners don't see it as personally flowing out of their own pockets.

That's insane. I'm in Scotland and this sort of maintenance is just part of my council tax bill. Shared with everyone else in my county.

Re: Pedestrian deaths spike in U.S. as reckless driving surges

#108

Post by lordnacho »

_dain_ wrote: post #35
efitz wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How exactly did you get to “the cause of reckless driving is fat people who don’t walk everywhere?” Show your work. In most places in America walking is not a practical mode of transportation because of distance; it’s miles from your house to the grocery store, for instance. If you live in a city this might not be obvious to you but half the country lives in the burbs or rural areas. Separately, it would be nice if w…

>Separately, it would be nice if we had more sidewalks, but they are financially unsustainable in low density areas. Doesn't this actually imply that it's the low density that is financially unsustainable, rather than the sidewalks? I mean if your settlement pattern can't even afford a place for people to walk, what the hell are you doing?

Yes, I think the generous interpretation is that it isn't the sidewalk, but perhaps the sewage, water, electricity, comms, and maybe garbage collection that become expensive in less dense areas. All stuff that is related to the sidewalk, but not actually the sidewalk.

Re: Pedestrian deaths spike in U.S. as reckless driving surges

#109

Post by masklinn »

lkxijlewlf wrote: post #86
unicornfinder wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be fair I think the problem isn't just the people but how the roads and infrastructure is designed in the US. It's very anti-pedestrian.

No, it's people. Everyone is so fucking angry now. The only (convenient) road out of my neighborhood is through two school zones. People will PASS me in a school zone. Not the normal pass, but the floor it I'm angry pass. It's happened multiple times. They're so fucking selfish they would endanger CHILDREN just to not have to wake their sloppy ass up 10 minutes earlier so they can get to work on time.

> No, it's people.

It really is not just that. The netherlands didn’t fix their traffic by telling people to drive better (in fact they did relatively little of that), but by redesigning the entire driving conditions around the results they wanted.

Properly incentivising, and taking advantage of human psychology for other reasons than exploitation, is much more reliable than scolding people.

Getting stuck on “it’s people!” will be largely ineffective, because it’s not how people work. Though if your only goal is to have something to moan about, carry on, that’ll certainly keep.

Re: Pedestrian deaths spike in U.S. as reckless driving surges

#110

Post by op00to »

gameswithgo wrote: post #2

In Austin Texas we have an absurdly well marked crosswalk on the way to the elementary school, to a close approximation nobody has ever stopped to let us cross. Our daughter was nearly killed once, so far. It seems so many people in America are so fat now they don’t imagine people would ever walk, so they drive without regard for pedestrians and active hostility towards cyclists and park in the way of sidewalks, maki…

> America are so fat now they don’t imagine people would ever walk

It's got nothing to do with obesity. The personal auto is the US government-dictated and subsidized default transportation method. Anyone not using a personal auto is "less than". In other words, if you're walking, you're a subhuman.

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