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U.S. pedestrian deaths reach a 40-year high

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Re: U.S. pedestrian deaths reach a 40-year high

#261

Post by jeffbee »

briandear wrote: post #231
jeffbee wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In California, pickups are still registered as commercial vehicles. This comes as a surprise to some first-time truck buyers. The new Rivian R1T is registered commercial and weighs over 3 tons, bringing further restrictions as to the places and times it can be driven or parked. Again, surprising some buyers.

Not true. I had a Tacoma that was not commercial registered. This was two years ago.

OK, go ahead and prove that with photographs or something. Because it's quite clear in the law that if you have a pickup truck it is to be registered as a commercial vehicle, unless it has a fixed camper top or other thing that permanently covers the bed. That's why almost* every pickup truck in CA has commercial plates distinguished by their format of a single letter and six digits, instead of three letters and four digits.

* almost, because you can still get custom vanity plates on pickups.

Re: U.S. pedestrian deaths reach a 40-year high

#262

Post by kpennell »

tristor wrote: post #112

Just one more evidence point for why crossovers, SUVs, and trucks are stupid passenger vehicles. There are way too many of these behemoths on our roadways, many lifted, making it worse for pedestrians, anyone driving a normal decent car, and the environment. We have an arms race of stupidity with everyone trying to get a bigger vehicle than everybody else so they can drive more aggressively, see past the other stupid…

One solution I've heard mentioned is charging a tax per 1000 pounds of vehicle. There needs to be some incentive for using a lighter/smaller vehicle.

Re: U.S. pedestrian deaths reach a 40-year high

#263

Post by kaitai »

zo1 wrote: post #230
jwestbury wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Curious, have you considered the in-between here? Consider medium-density European cities, which still have massively higher density suburbs, but rarely the density -- combined employment and population densities -- of the urban core of most American cities. I hated living in Seattle, but I'm now an American finding I enjoy living in London. I walk around trees and birds every day, because I have good park access, an…

Reading this discussion I can't help but get reminded of the whole discussion around free-range chicken. Just in your comment, you talk about how tou have "access" to a park. Sounds like a little pasture area meant to distract you from the urban "farm" you are in, and you get a little slice of free range grassland to keep you happy. Dangling it infront of you to keep you productive. Does this not disturb anyone?

If you want to live in the country, live in the country.

I, though, like living in my neighborhood of single-family homes & small/medium size apartment buildings, with four coffeeshops, two independent grocery stores, restaurants, local shops, and more within walking or biking distance. I like being able to take a walk to pick up some bread and eggs and buy a present for a family member (no car) and bike to a major river area where I can hike for tens of miles if I like, or even go swimming and drown (it's wild enough for that if that's what you value).

People are driving in risky ways these days, running red lights much more than they used to, but it still does feel that in my city neighborhoods, folks are more conscious of pedestrians and bikes than in the suburbs I sometimes visit for friends/kid stuff/work. In the suburbs there seem to be many wide roads (4 lanes) separating areas of cul de sacs, with 35 mph speed limits but people actually going 50. Part of this is that the city streets are packed with parked cars and there are people visibly carrying out activities of daily living, while the suburban wide streets give this impression of being cars-only.

Re: U.S. pedestrian deaths reach a 40-year high

#264

Post by roflyear »

Most roads don't need through traffic, at least in densely populated areas. We should focus on making it so cars do not drive where people want to be walking.

In my small town, there are a lot of aggressive drivers. Of course there are many ways to get where they are going, they just end up on a street where there are people crossing the road. Then they are super aggressive about it.

Re: U.S. pedestrian deaths reach a 40-year high

#265

Post by ArtemZ »

piffey wrote: post #180
BitwiseFool wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>"There are hundreds of low-cost, low-effort ways to start making things better." I used to think this as well, until I started sitting in on HOA and city council meetings. Good lord, even the most seemingly simple proposals are drenched in red tape and artificial barriers imposed by busybodies. I'm not sure how to get around this, sadly.

Easy: drop the public commentary portion of development. Random old people with nothing to do all day shouldn't be allowed to delay a project by months because they want to complain about the orientation of a window on a project. If you don't own the land, weren't democratically elected, and aren't funding the property you shouldn't get a say in local land use. Ridiculous that we've even set up these systems.

That's ridiculous to prohibit residents from having a say about the area development, whether they are old or not.

Re: U.S. pedestrian deaths reach a 40-year high

#266

Post by sidewndr46 »

luxurytent wrote: post #11

I guess pickup trucks fall under the category of SUVs? It's wild how we've lost access to our streets and neighbourhoods for the convenience of mostly suburban vehicle users. Actually not wild, but disgraceful. The majority of roads are too wide and with little options for alternative modes of transport, drivers are growingly frustrated and angry on the road. We continue to make the mistake of thinking the solution i…

The reason why drivers are increasingly angry where I live is because there is no enforcement of traffic laws at all. Red lights are run nonstop, drivers use bicycle lanes as travel lanes, etc. I watched someone just reverse down a road opposite the direction of travel yesterday. Like it was no big deal.

Re: U.S. pedestrian deaths reach a 40-year high

#267

Post by cryptonector »

conductr wrote: post #108
ethanbond wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would COVID/lockdowns have “changed the way people drive?” Any proposed mechanism? Seems more likely you had a lot of shifting around of people’s driving (e.g. city dwellers moving to suburbs)

The roads were wide open for 2+ years, people got used to driving very fast and not really paying attention to their surroundings because there wasn't much other traffic to start with. People started running red lights because not other traffic to wait on. You could drive recklessly without much risk. Now people are still driving recklessly but have a lot more cars and activity around them. One thing that I've notice…

There was (and still is) greatly reduced traffic enforcement as well.

Re: U.S. pedestrian deaths reach a 40-year high

#268

Post by roflyear »

fargle wrote: post #254

We've definitely seen a lot more pedestrian deaths in our area in the last couple years. But it's not the prevalence or size of the cars, SUVs, trucks. What's happening here is that there's an explosion of homeless living and walking in and around the very fast two-lane roads and one highway in particular. They are drugged out of their mind and oblivious. Just about every couple weeks there's a fatality where someone…

If you are making claims you have to back them up somewhat.

Re: U.S. pedestrian deaths reach a 40-year high

#269

Post by Cupertino95014 »

michaelsshaw wrote: post #219
AlbertCory wrote: post #170

"Walking without looking where you're going" needs to be a ticketable offense. Extra fines if you walk into a street. Sometimes I'll see someone heading right towards me, not looking, and I shout "Hello!" Frequently there isn't even an apology.

Makes sense: as pedestrians you are at much greater risk so it is your responsibility to make sure psychopaths driving dangerous lifted trucks don't kill you at every turn.

> psychopaths driving dangerous lifted trucks

whoa. You got some anger issues there, pal.

Re: U.S. pedestrian deaths reach a 40-year high

#270

Post by sidewndr46 »

LarryDarrell wrote: post #225
luxurytent wrote: post #11

I guess pickup trucks fall under the category of SUVs? It's wild how we've lost access to our streets and neighbourhoods for the convenience of mostly suburban vehicle users. Actually not wild, but disgraceful. The majority of roads are too wide and with little options for alternative modes of transport, drivers are growingly frustrated and angry on the road. We continue to make the mistake of thinking the solution i…

We've been regulating the wrong things when it comes to vehicles. Instead of being obsessed with MPG, we should have been obsessed with weight and size. There's no reason for a sedan to be heavier than 3000 lbs. There's no reason 1/2 ton pickups should be bigger than a 1994 Ford F150. Once a car is light and small(ish) the good MPG will follow. My 1988 Volvo 240 got 30mpg on a recent road trip and that's with it need…

From what I understand if you outlaw anything heavier than 3000 lbs you've basically banned most EVs other than the tiny ones resembling a city car.
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