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Abu Dhabi Traffic Accidents Dropped 40% During the BlackBerry Outage

theatlanticwire.com

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Re: Abu Dhabi Traffic Accidents Dropped 40% During the BlackBerry Outage

#41

Post by sjs »

brador wrote: post #25
CJefferson wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You think that most people who bike all their lives, end up getting killed that way? When I was a student there were over 100 cycles in common use, and in the 4 years I was there there was only one broken leg from a cycle accident. While that is a tiny sample, that certainly looks like a lot lower than you predict.

Relative to other forms of transport, yes. People coming from, say, the netherlands just don't realise how dangerous it is to ride bikes on roads in non-biking countries (uk, us, etc.). Car drivers just don't bother looking or just don't care. "King of the road" mentality.

You don't know where ck2 lives.

I live in Victoria, BC and there are bikes on the road all the time here. A good portion of the roads have bike lanes and people are used to driving motor vehicles in tandem with bikes on the road.

For all you know he does live in the Netherlands. Maybe even on Vlieland (ok I know this is extremely unlikely, but we don't know).

Re: Abu Dhabi Traffic Accidents Dropped 40% During the BlackBerry Outage

#42

Post by [deleted] »

ck2 wrote: post #12
brador wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Aside...but, why do you ride a bike on road? Yes, there are health benifits from the exercise and joy of riding a bike, but the negatives are pollution/lung issues and reasonably high likelihood of injury or death compared to other forms of transport. As the risk of injury/death rises along with driver carelessness, is there a point at which you would reduce or stop your on road bike usage?

To get from point A to B? Gas is nearly $4 a gallon. My town has bike lanes, why shouldn't I be able to use them? Unfortunately they are not the kind of bike lanes with the "wake up" bump strip between the car and bike. I also walk on sidewalks instead of a treadmill in a gym. Seems more practical and purposeful to me. If using a cellphone while driving is proven to be almost as bad as being drunk - why isn't it as i…

[deleted]

Re: Abu Dhabi Traffic Accidents Dropped 40% During the BlackBerry Outage

#43

Post by lpolovets »

ck2 wrote: post #12
brador wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Aside...but, why do you ride a bike on road? Yes, there are health benifits from the exercise and joy of riding a bike, but the negatives are pollution/lung issues and reasonably high likelihood of injury or death compared to other forms of transport. As the risk of injury/death rises along with driver carelessness, is there a point at which you would reduce or stop your on road bike usage?

To get from point A to B? Gas is nearly $4 a gallon. My town has bike lanes, why shouldn't I be able to use them? Unfortunately they are not the kind of bike lanes with the "wake up" bump strip between the car and bike. I also walk on sidewalks instead of a treadmill in a gym. Seems more practical and purposeful to me. If using a cellphone while driving is proven to be almost as bad as being drunk - why isn't it as i…

Using a cell phone while driving is illegal in some places (like California, Maryland, and probably other states). However, this might make things worse. I've noticed several disturbing trends in places where using cell phones while driving is illegal:

1) People keep the cell phone closer to their lap where it's harder to get caught by a policeman, instead of between their eyes and the road (which at least keeps the road in their peripheral vision).

2) When people look up from their cell phone, they are now spending some of their time looking around for cops instead of looking at the road.

3) Fines are often low (e.g. $25 or $50 for first offense), and thus not a huge incentive to stop.

Re: Abu Dhabi Traffic Accidents Dropped 40% During the BlackBerry Outage

#45

Post by jrockway »

matwood wrote: post #28
mootothemax wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which part? seems commonsense that bike riding would be more dangerous than car driving...not everything needs a dataset when simple physics would suffice. This part: the negatives are pollution/lung issues This part: reasonably high likelihood of injury or death And this part: compared to other forms of transport From your latest comment, this part: seems commonsense that bike riding would be more dangerous than car…

Most of the answers boil down to depends where you live. When I lived in Denver there were tons of bike only trails, the air was usually great, and lots of people biked. Biking there was a way of life for many people. Where I live now, the air is great, but there are few if any bike lanes. Yet, I still see cyclists going down 2 lane roads with traffic going by them at 50MPH. An accident is bound to happen, and over t…

The accident statistics do not back up your assertion. Most cyclists are injured when turning from the wrong lane or when using bike paths or sidewalks. When you're on the road with the rest of the vehicles, people pay attention to you because they have to check to be sure that a car is not where you are. (There are bad drivers, but you have better maneuverability and brakes than them.)

Americans are taught at an early age to be afraid of riding their bikes on the street, but there is really nothing scary about it. And drivers aren't as bad as you think they are: when there is something in their path, they tend to steer around it.

Re: Abu Dhabi Traffic Accidents Dropped 40% During the BlackBerry Outage

#46

Post by jrockway »

brador wrote: post #25
CJefferson wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You think that most people who bike all their lives, end up getting killed that way? When I was a student there were over 100 cycles in common use, and in the 4 years I was there there was only one broken leg from a cycle accident. While that is a tiny sample, that certainly looks like a lot lower than you predict.

Relative to other forms of transport, yes. People coming from, say, the netherlands just don't realise how dangerous it is to ride bikes on roads in non-biking countries (uk, us, etc.). Car drivers just don't bother looking or just don't care. "King of the road" mentality.

I don't know how you drive your bike, but if this is what you think, you're doing it wrong. If you drive your bike like it's a car, motorists will notice you and pass you with a wide margin. If you ride on the wrong side of the road and turn left from the right lane, then yeah, it's scary because you're driving like a maniac. Don't do that.

Get this book and read it: http://www.amazon.com/Effective-Cycling-6th-John-Forester/dp...

Re: Abu Dhabi Traffic Accidents Dropped 40% During the BlackBerry Outage

#47

Post by mikeash »

dquigley wrote: post #36
ChrisLTD wrote: post #30

Over the past couple of years I've noticed that when I pass someone driving erratically or abnormally slow, they are more often than not futzing with their phone (texting or talking). This is the kind of driving that ten years ago I would have attributed to drunkenness. It's a serious factor in my desire to move somewhere where I don't need a car to get around.

But when you live in the city like I do, just crossing the street can be made dangerous by these same people. [EDIT] Plus people walking and texting in the city can be just as bad when driving in Chicago when they walk out into an intersection without looking.

People who walk and text very rarely injure or kill other people, though. I don't really mind people being a menace to themselves, but I very much mind people being a menace to me and people I care about.

Re: Abu Dhabi Traffic Accidents Dropped 40% During the BlackBerry Outage

#48

Post by mikeash »

brador wrote: post #18
dangrossman wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That would be the value of his life if the expected chance of death while biking were 100%.

Over a lifetime, I'd say it gets pretty close.

The lifetime risk of death from bicycle riding isn't anything close to 100%, and if you think it is, please show your statistics to back it up.

Re: Abu Dhabi Traffic Accidents Dropped 40% During the BlackBerry Outage

#49

Post by mikeash »

brador wrote: post #21
mootothemax wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, there are health benifits from the exercise and joy of riding a bike, but the negatives are pollution/lung issues and reasonably high likelihood of injury or death compared to other forms of transport. Do you have anything to back that statement up with? Sounds like FUD to me.

Which part? seems commonsense that bike riding would be more dangerous than car driving...not everything needs a dataset when simple physics would suffice.

I've noticed that people who back their arguments up with "common sense" are usually wrong.

Re: Abu Dhabi Traffic Accidents Dropped 40% During the BlackBerry Outage

#50

Post by bonzoesc »

culebron wrote: post #2

As Paul Graham noticed earlier, computers became something like TV on the working desktop, smartphones are even a more danger. I hope in my lifetime I'll see something new to displace smartphones/tablets and make them look old like TV now, and be less dangerous and less addictive.

I'd much rather see something new to make driver-operated motor vehicles seem old and impractical. Smartphone usage by a passenger on a bus or train doesn't pose a constant lethal threat to everyone on the road, merely a threat of inconveniencing the user when they miss their stop.
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