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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

#471

Post by rootusrootus »

RajT88 wrote: post #100
jdalgetty wrote: post #33

I live in a subdivision full of young families with kids. I'm also a runner, an avid dog walker and someone who walks his kids to and from school every day. As someone out on foot on a daily basis I am constantly blown away by the amount of people speeding on residential streets and not stopping at stop signs. I don't get it! These are clearly people who live in these neighbourhoods yet they don't care enough about t…

Also a runner here - over the years I've lived in a handful of towns, and the wealthier the town, the more likely people are to just totally blow stop signs without checking. (And they get mad if they almost hit you)

> And they get mad if they almost hit you

I don't read much into that. It's extremely common for people to become angry when startled, especially in a near-collision situation.

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

#472

Post by rootusrootus »

jeffbee wrote: post #462
rootusrootus wrote: post #449

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 .

OK, but you are completely wrong, which you can demonstrate to yourself just by walking outside and looking at the license plates of pickup trucks.

Alright, I'm wrong, that's why I quoted the actual California DMV. You're right, my bad.

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

#473

Post by bobbylarrybobby »

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.

Yes, but no, because the MPG standards in the US are on a per-size basis. I forget exactly what, but it's per weight, or per footprint (m^2) or something else that lets you shrink the ratio by just building a physically larger car.

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

#474

Post by mcv »

johnea wrote: post #86
luxurytent wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, some areas in particular the big box developments are almost a lost cause. What needs to happen to those first is large, dense development within the plazas. Build residential on top of the mall, remove parking lots (or move them underground), and densify first. Once you move that needle, you can focus on active transport options. The type of development I describe is happening (two examples in my Canadian city)…

In this analysis, pickup trucks and SUVs are identical, in that they have high vertical grills that obstruct the driver's view of the area immediately in front of the vehicle. This vehicle configuration is the major cause of the increase in pedistrian accidents. However I was surprised the article didn't mention pedestrian behavior at all, which is clearly increasing the risk of pedistrian accidents in recent years.…

> In this analysis, pickup trucks and SUVs are identical, in that they have high vertical grills that obstruct the driver's view of the area immediately in front of the vehicle. This vehicle configuration is the major cause of the increase in pedestrian accidents.

From what I understand, trucks, including pickups and SUVs, don't have to meet the same safety requirements as regular cars, which is just insane, when you think about it. They are already bigger and heavier and therefore more dangerous, and on top of that the safety rules are looser?!

Big trucks require a special license, but small ones can be driven with a regular license. Maybe that needs to change. Either they should follow the same safety rules as regular cars, or they should require special training and a stricter license.

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

#475

Post by CalRobert »

jwestbury wrote: post #141
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…

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…

To each their own. His attitude seemed to me like finally, someone, somewhere actually gave a damn about the fact people are killing us and our kids, and stealing our cities, instead of abstracting it away.

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

#476

Post by poomer »

jdalgetty wrote: post #33

I live in a subdivision full of young families with kids. I'm also a runner, an avid dog walker and someone who walks his kids to and from school every day. As someone out on foot on a daily basis I am constantly blown away by the amount of people speeding on residential streets and not stopping at stop signs. I don't get it! These are clearly people who live in these neighbourhoods yet they don't care enough about t…

There is a stop sign in front of my house and probably around 95% of cars stop, and the amount of cars that completely ignore it (ie don't even slow down) is easily <1%. I think this is just more of an issue with local cultural norms.

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

#477

Post by InSteady »

zimpenfish wrote: post #450
piloto_ciego wrote: post #438

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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".

They may well go hand in hand. Through social media we are all bombarded with messages about how fucking terrible everything is on a daily basis. Unless you are incredibly selective about your social media usage, you can't spend 10 minutes on a platform without seeing some kind of stressful or depressing or outrage-inducing news.

It used to just be home-bodies and elderly people who sat in front of news programs all day, but now it's all of us. Bad news generates clicks, and there's plenty to be found.

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

#478

Post by jeffbee »

rootusrootus wrote: post #472
jeffbee wrote: post #462

Earlier quoted context omitted.

OK, but you are completely wrong, which you can demonstrate to yourself just by walking outside and looking at the license plates of pickup trucks.

Alright, I'm wrong, that's why I quoted the actual California DMV. You're right, my bad.

You quoted an irrelevant source which you do not understand. The primary source is right here:

CVC §410 https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySectio...

CVC §471 https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySectio....

CVC §260 https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySectio...

The last of which makes pickups, based on the prior two definitions, commercial vehicles. "A “commercial vehicle” is a motor vehicle of a type required to be registered under this code ... designed, used, or maintained primarily for the transportation of property."

Or, you could just google "are all trucks in California registered commercial", ask any truck owner, or ask any truck dealer.

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

#479

Post by CalRobert »

ojhughes wrote: post #466
rhaway84773 wrote: post #445

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

They have ballooned quite a lot, we are still behind the obscene size of the typical American SUV. Range Rovers are seen as a status symbol

It's Ford Kugas as far as the eye can see. Lots of absurdly high Rangers too :-(

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

#480

Post by saiya-jin »

egberts1 wrote: post #253
saiya-jin wrote: post #217

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is not the best design, you can still go full speed through it. Much better ones actually force you to slow down, ie sub 30kmh otherwise your suspension, tires etc will get hammered a bit (or more). There are numerous ways how to do it, ie central island is wide, island's walls are high and steep, you can have speed bumps before it etc. Its has been done elsewhere and it works.

Already done. A car leaps 7 meters into the air across the roundabout. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=aniguxnz9ik

So it worked, weeded out dangerous driver before it can kill bunch of kids crossing the road on pedestrian crossing. Generally it really works, I mean 100% of the cases where I live. Everybody slows down, normal cars, sports cars, motobikes etc. If you don't, you suffer for your own ignorance.
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