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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

#441

Post by rootusrootus »

bichiliad wrote: post #193
lotsofpulp wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In many areas, it would take a ton of work in the effort of making destinations closer to each other. Huge parking lots, setbacks, wide roads, and detached houses on their own quarter, or even eighth, of an acre lot make it so the choice between walking/bicycling and using a personal car is not much of a choice. Public transportation is also not an option due to how inconvenient it is due to how infrequently it would…

> Public transportation is also not an option due to how inconvenient it is due to how infrequently it would run, and the cost of missed or missing buses/trains, which again, run infrequently due to lack of density of people. I think it depends on where you are, but useful public transit is very possible in most places. Low frequency is the result of poor planning, not a requirement of public transit.

> Low frequency is the result of poor planning

Not in my experience. It has more to do with funding. We have a specific tax levied just for transit, and people don't vote to increase it.

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

#442

Post by michaelmrose »

SoftTalker wrote: post #221
i80and wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This happened to me and it left me with lasting anxiety. I stopped in town at a crosswalk for a pedestrian waiting to cross, and the car a couple seconds behind me went around and tore through the crosswalk. I don't know what the answer is. Drivers make mistakes -- they don't see things, they might be preoccupied, etc. etc. And yeah, all too often they're negligent to the point of malice. But urban landscapes are alm…

The thing to do is NOT do the unexpected. Being excessively courteous and letting an oncoming car turn left, or stopping for a pedestrian who is not already in the crosswalk but is waiting for a gap in traffic, is unexpected. It surprises other drivers and they get annoyed and then do something stupid like zooming around you.

If you are required by law to stop for them once they are in the crosswalk then cars should expect to find people stopped some of the time and stop themselves.

If nobody expects to stop then pedestrians either must always wait for a big enough gap that they hope to cross unimpeded or step out knowing you are coming to force you to stop. The first is frequently impossible and the second is dangerous. It also creates the "dangerous" situation of having a car stopped at an intersection.

Older folks especially likely to have a hard time doing A or B due to decreasing mobility and vision. Personally I think if you can't handle such a scenario safely you have no business being in charge of a car.

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

#443

Post by giraffe_lady »

bluescrn wrote: post #425
giraffe_lady wrote: post #395

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The "defund the police" movement that happened just before Covid has contributed to police pulling back enforcement of all sorts of things. How? That movement failed and police have more funding now. If you're paying them more and they're doing less that's a problem between y'all. You got what you wanted you don't also get to blame us.

I suspect that a movement that took the 'ACAB' slogan mainstream did a pretty good job of demoralising the police, though, leaving them less effective even with increased funding. Why should they risk their lives for a society that hates them?

They should do the job they get paid to do. Insisting we also adore them for it seems pretty precious. No one made them be a police. Barring the anomaly of the post sept-11 US it has always been an unpopular job.

The "risk their life for" thing I don't even want to get into but here we go. Most of the risk is the normal health damage and accident risk of being in a car all day, and it's comparably dangerous to other jobs where you're in a car all day. Statistically in a police encounter, the lives most at risk are any but the officers'. And were you not here for Uvalde or what?

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

#444

Post by InSteady »

droopyEyelids wrote: post #125
westpfelia wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I dont have an answer for why. Just it has. I live in a major city in the midwest and its wild how often I see people drive with zero regard for anyone else. Running red lights and almost hitting someone, cutting people off, swerving in traffic erratically to be faster. Its honestly scary some days.

My experience mirrors yours perfectly. When the lockdowns started, people began to drive "crazier" for lack of a better term. I hesitate to speculate as to what caused it, but the difference was as clear as night and day.

I'm acutely aware of it as a bike commuter. It has saved my neck on a few occasions in the past three years since I have adopted the assumption that everyone in a vehicle is intentionally trying to kill me.

It seems like it's a combo of impatience + lapses in attention more than anything else, but something has to be fueling it because it is consistently worse now than it has ever been in my 15 years of biking for transport. Pre-emptive braking with the right of way has saved my ass more times that I can count.

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

#445

Post by rhaway84773 »

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…

Europeans also focus on MPG. Their cars haven’t ballooned in the way American cars have.

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

#446

Post by rootusrootus »

pkulak wrote: post #42
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…

> drivers are growingly frustrated and angry Good luck making policy changes against the wishes of a majority population that's frustrated and angry as it is. We are in deep, deep trouble. Not only are we not removing lanes and giving space back to people, we're still adding lane miles in every city in America. Even my "urbanist" home town of Portland Oregon is about to spend billions to add a few dozen lane miles to…

I-5? They should route it around the city altogether. Or cap it and build over the top.

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

#447

Post by pastage »

ryukafalz wrote: post #196
themodelplumber wrote: post #173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> we all know that stop signs just dont Are there some numbers on this? Even if your own? I mean, _some_ people don't stop, sure that's valid on its face. But they "just don't work anywhere", is that what, half of drivers refusing to stop at a four way stop? One in four? I get that it's a fraught topic, but still...

It's not as comprehensive as you're probably looking for, but I saw a video a while back with some observations on this in Ottawa: https://youtu.be/HT_KdFCVEdc

It is true from my experience that yield signs are used extensively in some parts of Europe. Are stop signs really that common in NA?

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

#448

Post by rootusrootus »

InSteady wrote: post #323
pkulak wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> drivers are growingly frustrated and angry Good luck making policy changes against the wishes of a majority population that's frustrated and angry as it is. We are in deep, deep trouble. Not only are we not removing lanes and giving space back to people, we're still adding lane miles in every city in America. Even my "urbanist" home town of Portland Oregon is about to spend billions to add a few dozen lane miles to…

Shame we can't instead invest billions into making public transit, especially the max lines running from the suburbs into downtown, far more efficient as a practical solution for commuters. The Esplanade is one of my favorite bike routes in the city, second only to the Springwater corridor. I love cruising up the East side and back on the West side while looking out over the Willamette. I'm going to be sad if that ro…

If only we could have made max more like a real urban rail system instead of a toy. It's brutally slow, especially if you are unfortunate enough to take it through downtown Portland.

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

#449

Post by rootusrootus »

jeffbee wrote: post #99
jmclnx wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes they do now, in my State, until I think 30 or 40 years ago, pickups had to register as commercial and had to follow laws specific to them and pay more taxes. Some lows restricts commercial vehicles from many roads. I suspect it was a move by Reagan when he deregulated the trucking industry. I think if a vehicle meet specific weight and size criteria, it needs to pay more and have restrictions. These new big picku…

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.

That is untrue. Passenger vehicles are specifically excluded.

https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/vehicle-registration/new-regis...

You may be thinking of the classification they apply to pickup trucks that costs like $24. They have no additional regulation as a commercial vehicle unless you're using them, well, commercially.

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

#450

Post by zimpenfish »

piloto_ciego wrote: post #438
WillPostForFood wrote: post #13

Article ignores it, but looking at the source data you can see pedestrian deaths were flat, then a large spike in 2020 during Covid, and now we are at a new higher plateau. Cause is not a change in roads, or cars, or more SUVs. Covid/lockdowns changed the way people drive. Less civility, less police enforcement, more chaos. Driving is noticeably worse and more stressful than pre-Covid.

There’s a growing sense of anger in literally almost everyone I know. Somewhere on the way, people have become more misanthropic, close-minded, and angry. I’m not sure why. I think it is social media and the enshittification of all these services? Also, the rise of authoritarianism in America and abroad may contribute to this? Regardless, more and more I see people living in a fantasy world where people both “suck im…

> I’m not sure why.

The general state of the global economy, late-stage capitalism fucking everyone who isn't a literal millionaire over, climate change, general political instability, the mentioned rise of authoritarianism, etc. All of those are vastly more influential than "social media, enshittification thereof".

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