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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

#271

Post by ragebol »

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.

What if that window is looking straight into your bedroom or bathroom? I'd want to at least voice some concern over that. It's then up to officials to ignore that complaint or not. Having no way to express such concerns is faster of course, but there's downsides too

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

#272

Post by briandear »

I wish we could have these discussions with actual data instead of emotions.

The top four cars involved in fatal accidents in the US (not exclusive to pedestrians) but all fatal accidents.

Chevy Silverado. Ford F-150. Honda Accord. Toyota Camry.

The first SUV on the list, the Ford Explorer is in 10th place.

The Silverado and F150 are also the most popular work trucks, so those drivers are on the roads more miles per day, I don’t have that data specifically but my point is that the data isn’t simply about “big trucks are more dangerous.”

The Ford Focus kills more people than a Chevy Tahoe.

In California the number one killer is the Honda Civic. In New York, it’s the Accord.

https://www.titlemax.com/discovery-center/planes-trains-and-...

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

#273

Post by roflyear »

throwawaaarrgh wrote: post #167

Does nobody else find it weird that in most of suburban America there are still no sidewalks? I was just driving around US1 in Connecticut and there were no sidewalks. Lots of people walking on grass beside the road to get to a bus stop. I guess if you're handicapped you just move.

There are sidewalks on much of US1, but no, it isn't surprising that more highway-like roads do not have sidewalks.

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

#274

Post by pc86 »

sidewndr46 wrote: post #270
LarryDarrell wrote: post #225

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I don't think the pedestrian getting hit cares whether it's an EV or not.

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

#275

Post by dhbradshaw »

Need basic stats to make sense of this. The most hopeful interpretation is that there are more pedestrians than ever.

Alternatively maybe there are just too many big vehicles or maybe people are bad drivers. Or maybe both.

But without more granular data it's all just-so stories.

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

#276

Post by sidewndr46 »

apexalpha wrote: post #248
LarryDarrell wrote: post #225

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

>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 needing a tune up. Doesn't this work both ways? If you focus on MPG then lighter, smaller variants of the same model will win out over bigger, heavier ones.

What does weight matter on a road trip? Unless you are exclusively driving at 30 mph uphill I don't see it mattering much. Wind resistance is the dominant force. This is the same reason why most railroads put limitations on the maximum grade they have to climb. They are mainly working against wind resistance, not gravity.

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

#277

Post by kitsunesoba »

bb86754 wrote: post #181
glimshe wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My suburb does as much as it can to make itself walkable. There are crossings and sidewalks everywhere, but it's still a low density suburb so it doesn't make much sense to walk almost anywhere (my kid does walk to school as it happens to be close, but that's it). So while they are trying to address this problem, very few people actually walk. But all of this said, I want low density. Having lived many years in a hig…

The whole high rise situation in almost every U.S. city you described (i.e. small central cluster of high-rises) is more a result of insane zoning policies, not traffic safety. High density and peace and quiet really aren’t mutually exclusive, although admittedly 99% of towns and suburbs in the U.S. fail to build such places, largely, in fact, because of traffic engineering. For example, I lived in a town of around 1…

Implementation definitely matters. There's plenty of quiet to be found in the Tokyo metro area for example, which is quite dense relative to US cities. The residential areas are pretty tranquil all day and aside from nightlife hotspots, big chunks of the inner city are absolutely dead at night.

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

#278

Post by asciimov »

wussboy wrote: post #101
apsec112 wrote: post #23

I'm not even slightly surprised by this, sadly. Cops need to start ticketing people who drive like maniacs. I drive in DC, and every week I almost get hit by some loon going 30+ over the limit who doesn't care that I'm in the lane they're merging into. I've never seen anyone get ticketed. The roads have become something out of Mad Max , just pure developing-world anarchy.

Enforcement is not the solution because it requires constant vigilance. Road design is because you can build the road in a way that brings about the speed/safety envelope you desire, and then it always works correctly whether anyone is monitoring it or not.

Reckless drivers will do their thing regardless of road design.

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

#279

Post by xeromal »

kpennell wrote: post #262
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.

That sounds reasonable but I wonder how well it'll work. Gas here in SoCal is over 5$ a gallon and people still driving massive cars paying over 100$ per fill up. It's nuts!

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

#280

Post by flutas »

wussboy wrote: post #101
apsec112 wrote: post #23

I'm not even slightly surprised by this, sadly. Cops need to start ticketing people who drive like maniacs. I drive in DC, and every week I almost get hit by some loon going 30+ over the limit who doesn't care that I'm in the lane they're merging into. I've never seen anyone get ticketed. The roads have become something out of Mad Max , just pure developing-world anarchy.

Enforcement is not the solution because it requires constant vigilance. Road design is because you can build the road in a way that brings about the speed/safety envelope you desire, and then it always works correctly whether anyone is monitoring it or not.

I honestly think it's a "do both" issue.

We seriously need to radically re-engineer most roads around me, but the police also really need to step up enforcement.

Before 2020 I could count the number of cars with either no plates or expired temp plates on one hand, since 2020 the number of cars with no plates is crazy, and the number of cars with months expired temp tags is just insane. That also tells me those cars don't have insurance, since I don't know of any insurance that will actually cover any claims you have with no valid registration.

https://www.thv11.com/article/traffic/arkansas-has-27000-car...

Even crazier to me, it looks like California is going to exact opposite direction and making it something you can't be pulled over for.

https://legiscan.com/CA/text/SB50/id/2813949

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