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

npr.org

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

#81

Post by paulryanrogers »

At my license renewal I clearly failed the vision test yet they passed me anyway. When I finally got to the eye doctor they said I really should not be driving until getting corrective lenses. Thankfully I was able to minimize driving until getting a cheap pair of glasses.

In the US the only way to legally kill on multiple occasions is by vehicle accident. Yet the system is afraid of taking away ones 'right' to drive as it degrades quality of life so much. You can report someone you know is unsafe, though in some states they'll be notified who reported them, causing a chilling effect.

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

#82

Post by yowzadave »

ticviking wrote: post #63
asimpleusecase wrote: post #57

Not to blame the victims but recently I’ve noticed pedestrians doing a lot of dumb stuff that is not helping. In the past week I’ve had 5 different people crossing multiple lanes of traffic dressed in all dark colours in areas with poor or no street lighting at night. A couple of people I would likely have hit but I caught thier silhouette against car tail lights ahead of me. Do get me stated on people stepping out i…

I was just thinking about this. There was a big push in my city to stop “over policing” things like jaywalking and disorderly conduct. We stopped ticketing people for this and over a few years people have started jaywalking and even just chilling and having conversations in a lane.

Jaywalking is not "wrong"--it's a problem of cultural expectation. In many countries, streets are significantly safer than in the US, and pedestrians are allowed to cross freely at any point. Precisely because it is understood that pedestrians will do this, cars drive more cautiously and defer to the behavior of pedestrians. The street is a shared space, and cars do not have a special privilege to use it over all other transportation means.

In the US, however, streets are understood to be owned by cars. Drivers move much faster and without regard for bikes/pedestrians/etc. Even the fact that a pedestrian in the street is called "jaywalking" is an expression of this difference--it's culturally frowned upon, if not actually illegal, for pedestrians to be in the street.

So the challenge is: how do you change a culture? There's a better way demonstrated in many other places, but people get very grouchy when you ask them to start acting differently--"It's our way of life!"

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

#83

Post by joker_minmax »

The drivers need to put the cell phone down, of course - I was almost run over by an Amazon Prime truck when the driver was on a phone - but the pedestrians need to put the phone down too. Six years ago I was using Google maps to find my way around as a pedestrian, and I walked directly into a pole. Where I live the local news recently did a special on distracted pedestrians walking into things. I know a lot of people like to use headphones to walk around and listen to music, but I also think your ears are a MUST HAVE if you're walking anywhere there could be cars. It's the driver's responsibility to stop, but I live in an area with a lot of blind hills, and you need to hear the car before it crests if you're in the road.

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

#84

Post by joker_minmax »

asimpleusecase wrote: post #57

Not to blame the victims but recently I’ve noticed pedestrians doing a lot of dumb stuff that is not helping. In the past week I’ve had 5 different people crossing multiple lanes of traffic dressed in all dark colours in areas with poor or no street lighting at night. A couple of people I would likely have hit but I caught thier silhouette against car tail lights ahead of me. Do get me stated on people stepping out i…

This happens where I live too. The city has installed crosswalks at several lights along a main road, but people choose to jaywalk in one spot where there is no crosswalk and the lighting is weird because of a railway overpass. Always wearing dark colors, moving slowly, usually older men. I understand that walking to the crosswalk adds time to the route. But you're crossing five lanes (2 on each side, common turn lane). If you aren't young enough to jog this, please go to the crosswalk, unless you have a deathwish.

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

#85

Post by johnea »

Drivers in the US are VERY inattentive. It's reacched the point where operating the vehicle has come to be seen as just a distraction from playing w/ a cell phone.

Sadly, pedestrians are ALSO VERY inattentive. My closest encounter to a pedestrian accident was when a pedestrian stepped in front of my car, mid-bloc, on a very dark night, wearing all black, and staring at his phone.

The first thing I saw in the dark was his face, lit by the glow of his phone...

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

#86

Post by johnea »

johnea wrote: post #85

Drivers in the US are VERY inattentive. It's reacched the point where operating the vehicle has come to be seen as just a distraction from playing w/ a cell phone. Sadly, pedestrians are ALSO VERY inattentive. My closest encounter to a pedestrian accident was when a pedestrian stepped in front of my car, mid-bloc, on a very dark night, wearing all black, and staring at his phone. The first thing I saw in the dark was…

When I screached to a halt, to avoid hitting him, he never looked up. He continued to walk across the street staring at his phone...

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

#87

Post by ALittleLight »

eimrine wrote: post #18
ALittleLight wrote: post #3

"Pedestrian deaths have been climbing since 2010 because of unsafe infrastructure and the prevalence of SUVs, which tend to be more deadly for pedestrians than smaller cars, according to Martin" The report itself shows there's an increase in pedestrian fatalities in slightly fewer than half of states and the increase comes from deaths at night and not in the daytime. How would an increase in SUVs (which is a national…

> How would an increase in SUVs (which is a national trend) cause this result? Do you agree that a SUV has worse ability to observe the road? Do you agree that a pedestrian has more chances to survive after being hit by a small car? If you answer "yes" to both my question than you have to understand that the real question is "why an increase in SUVs is not causing this result in other states". If your answer is "no"…

SUVs are certain to be more deadly - they are bigger and higher, but they are replacing older cars and older cars, by dint of lack of modern safety features and degraded condition, are likelier to be in an accident - so the effect of more SUVs is not obvious.

Regardless, the fact is that the increase in pedestrian deaths is mostly in a few states and mostly in nighttime driving and SUVs don't explain either of those factors.

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

#88

Post by timbit42 »

majewsky wrote: post #69
trashface wrote: post #43

Already discussed to death literally yesterday: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36480122 Am I living in groundhog day?

Different people are online at different times. Maybe the submitter didn't see the first submission because it had already dropped off the frontpage when they came online.

Maybe put the search bar at the top of the front page instead of the bottom to help people realize it is available and to encourage people to use it.

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

#89

Post by grouchomarx »

asimpleusecase wrote: post #57

Not to blame the victims but recently I’ve noticed pedestrians doing a lot of dumb stuff that is not helping. In the past week I’ve had 5 different people crossing multiple lanes of traffic dressed in all dark colours in areas with poor or no street lighting at night. A couple of people I would likely have hit but I caught thier silhouette against car tail lights ahead of me. Do get me stated on people stepping out i…

>Not to blame the victims but

should have stopped there, then. for every inattentive ped there's a dozen inattentive drivers

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

#90

Post by eurleif »

difosfor wrote: post #73

City roads should basically not be built for cars but for pedestrians, cyclists, public transportation and only then: cars. Interestingly narrowing roads also helps cars slow down naturally. Build some separate bike lanes while you're at it.

>Interestingly narrowing roads also helps cars slow down naturally.

What an interesting definition of "help". By the same token, you can help pedestrians to slow down by breaking their legs.

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