Automakers invented the crime of jaywalking (2015)

Post by Retric » Thu, Oct 12, 2023, 7:57 PM UTC

giantg2 wrote: post #87

loloquwowndueo wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Look at the amount of road space, infrastructure, resources devoted to cars vs. pedestrians. The typical way for pedestrians to cross a busy highway for example is via a bridge - the pedestrian has to put up with going up and down the stairs. Pedestrians typically have to go out of their way to cross streets even at level. Traffic lights have “beg buttons” for pedestrians to use, god forbid they interrupt the flow of…

"The typical way for pedestrians to cross a busy highway for example is via a bridge" I'm not sure where you're from, but I have seen very few of these. Usually the ones I've seen are over a very busy road with few to no intersections and a lot of foot traffic. These are beneficial to the flow of both car and foot traffic instead of using long cycle times. “beg buttons” I'm sorry, but that is some extreme spin. What…

Post by pixl97 » Thu, Oct 12, 2023, 7:59 PM UTC

alexfoo wrote: post #65

ilaksh wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it comes down to things like speed. If we accept that the road is a place to be able to quickly move a lot of vehicles, then that just isn't a safe place for pedestrians. If we go back to lower speeds then maybe it could be manageable in a same way. But as it is actually used now for 3000 pound vehicles to zoom about in, it makes no sense for pedestrians to be intersecting and sharing the space at all. Just d…

Luckily some countries don’t think about it like this. Many European countries put pedestrians first in cities and towns. Cars can go “quickly” between cities and towns but around pedestrians they really do need to slow down. I wouldn’t want to live anywhere where the car is king and everyone else must cede to its ultimate priority. People need to give themselves more time to get places, rather than thinking they are…

Post by piscisaureus » Thu, Oct 12, 2023, 8:00 PM UTC

freedomben wrote: post #80

cjensen wrote: post #10

The Library of Congress has a great film taken from the front of a cable car in pre-fire San Francisco [1]. It's absolutely terrifying to see how unsafe the streets were. It wasn't just cars either: horse-drawn carts dart in and out of traffic just as cars did, pedestrians cross at-will in front of all vehicles, and at one points kids mess about jumping on the back of vehicles. It's obvious major regulation was neede…

More of a meta-comment, but somebody working with AI to upscale/enhance images/videos ought to take a crack at making that picture quality better. Would be fascinating to generate a reasonable audio track as well of what it would have sounded like, especially as cars/motors accelerate, people shout things, etc. Certainly not an easy task, but would be super cool

Post by cafard » Thu, Oct 12, 2023, 8:05 PM UTC

mikrl wrote: post #82

trothamel wrote: post #79

Note that like most laws, Jaywalking laws tend to make more sense when you read them. Here's the law in New York: https://law.justia.com/codes/new-york/2015/vat/title-7/artic... 1152. Crossing at other than crosswalks. (a) Every pedestrian crossing a roadway at any point other than within a marked crosswalk or within an unmarked crosswalk at an intersection shall yield the right of way to all vehicles upon the roadwa…

Canada specific, but… Diagonal crossing is a thing in Quebec City at certain intersections which stop the traffic flow in every direction. Otherwise I only ever do it when I cannot see any cars which is fairly common at night in rural areas.

Post by nix0n » Thu, Oct 12, 2023, 8:09 PM UTC

armchairhacker wrote: post #33

retrac wrote: post #23

Worth pointing out that "jaywalking" is not a universal crime. There are jurisdictions in the USA where it's legal. And it's legal here in Canada. Even the term stands out -- I'm familiar with "jaywalking" but you only use a term for it if it's illegal. We just call it "crossing the street", or "impeding the flow of traffic", depending how you do it. (It's not exactly a free for all: in Ontario there is still a requi…

In Boston (and maybe Massachusetts as a whole), jaywalking is a crime but the fee is literally $1. There was a Boston globe article about this, where some journalist spent his day intentionally and blatantly jaywalking everywhere, including right in front of cops. He didn’t get a single fine.