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Once seniors are too old to drive, our transportation system fails them

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Re: Once seniors are too old to drive, our transportation system fails them

#281

Post by usrusr »

ForRealsies wrote: post #276
usrusr wrote: post #217

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> For example, companies that get a monopoly will rip you off, but only by so much. Sounds like a rare victory of the good over its old nemesis, the perfect. I believe that a social environment that can pull this off will have a clear edge in many different ways, e.g. government can work so much better when it can be trusted that power abuse, if it happens, won't be excessive. Much better than pretend-saints who real…

Does empathy seem to thrive in smaller, homogeneous communities(ex. Japan, Nordic countries)?

I'd lean towards narrowing that question down to is it the explanation or is it just a confounding factor?

Optimism mandates that it should hopefully be the latter. It doesn't take much imagination to assume that celebration of ruthless, "take everything you can" types could (in theory) also be minimized in larger, now mixed communities.

Re: Once seniors are too old to drive, our transportation system fails them

#282

Post by corpMaverick »

jseliger wrote: post #44
_m8fo wrote: post #8

I always get an inkling that buses (like Bolt/Mega/PeterPan) + the existing highway + roads are superior and more scalable than any other type of transportation, dollar for dollar. Why do people push for rail? Self-driving cars obviously can enhance this (the bus idea), but I suspect they will create even more traffic if we insist on having 5 passenger cars be 75% empty. Buses are great because demand can be realloca…

Why do people push for rail Visit Japan (or these days China) and you will understand. This reminds me of people who say, "What's the big deal about electric bikes?" Ride one and you'll know. See what Japan and China are doing WRT rail and you'll know.

haha. Just yesterday, somebody said. "git is just another version control system. Not need to change away from svn" Fair comment if have used git. But it is silly if you haven't.

Re: Once seniors are too old to drive, our transportation system fails them

#283

Post by sctb »

burfog wrote: post #210
majewsky wrote: post #193

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People are downvoting because you're missing the point. The unsafety of the situation is not because of the mode of transport, but because of America's failure to deal with crime. Here in Germany, crime rates have been declining pretty consistently [1], with homicides and robberies down from "low" to "very low". The thought of getting mugged on the street or on public transit is just absurd to me. I don't know anyone…

It isn't proper to ignore America's failure to deal with crime when you compare methods of transportation. Different modes of transportation provide different levels of protection from crime. This matters. You should be wary about trusting official crime statistics, particularly in Germany. There is an ongoing effort to censor this data. You face heavily filtered search engines, content removed from social media, and…

Please don't break the guidelines by posting like this again.

> Eschew flamebait. Don't introduce flamewar topics unless you have something genuinely new to say. Avoid unrelated controversies and generic tangents.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

Re: Once seniors are too old to drive, our transportation system fails them

#284

Post by googletazer »

souprock wrote: post #142
dundercoder wrote: post #101

I’m 36, live in the suburbs, and in recent years have gone (legally) blind from Retinitis Pigmentosa. Voluntarily giving up my license was one of the hardest and most important decisions I’ve made. There is literally 0 public transportation here. Not even Uber or Lyft have come around. America’s sprawl and dependence on cars is incredible. It wasn’t until I spent time in London, Oxford, and Paris that I could recogni…

On public transit, wouldn't you be unusually vulnerable to crime? Why would you want a service that isn't safe for you?

Incredible how HN groupthink downvotes you instead of addressing your perfectly valid concerns

Re: Once seniors are too old to drive, our transportation system fails them

#285

Post by TulliusCicero »

ekianjo wrote: post #260
TulliusCicero wrote: post #244

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pedestrians and cyclists generally don't present a serious safety hazard to others. This is like complaining that people treat guns and knives with different levels of seriousness. Of course they do; both are potentially deadly, but one far more so than the other.

> cyclists generally don't present a serious safety hazard to others. If they behave dangerously and put themselves at risk of being hit, even if they are the one taking the risk, the car driver will always be at fault, no matter what. And yes, like some others have echoed in comments here, many bike riders do not stop at red lights. I see that every - single - day, multiple times.

First off, you're wrong. Cyclists can absolutely be found at fault.

Secondly, cyclist scofflaw-ness is mostly a result of a transportation system that's hostile to them. The Dutch aren't nicer cyclists because they're born that way, superior to Americans; they're nicer cyclists because the system there largely respects people on bikes, and so the system receives respect in return.

Go to any city with widespread segregated bike lanes and bike lights, and you'll likely find a culture where cyclists are no more likely to break the law than pedestrians or motorists.

Third, motorists are hardly exempt from constant law-breaking. How often do people not signal, or roll through stop signs, or enter the intersection right after the light turns red, or park in a bike lane, or 'block the box', or tailgate, or break the speed limit? I've lived in enough places in the US to know that the answer is "constantly". And all that with a vehicle that's vastly more dangerous than any bike or jogger.

I mean, my god, one of the most common and stereotypical complaints in America about where anyone lives is "ugh, drivers in [state] are the WORST".

Re: Once seniors are too old to drive, our transportation system fails them

#286

Post by avs733 »

ptaipale wrote: post #207
avs733 wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I, and several of my friends when I used to live in Phoenix, were big walkers. Its evening? go for a walk around the neighborhood. Walk to work, even though it was like 1.5 miles...just...walk. Each of us were stopped at least once by police for being suspicious...near as I can tell (we were all >middle class white people) all that was suspicious was us walking on sidewalks. Outside of the biggest cities America is a…

Disagree with the antagonism, though my sample is of course very small. Coming from North Europe, where it's fairly natural to walk distances of a few hundred meters to do an errand, I and colleagues used to walk from a hotel in Rohnert Park to a Wal-mart on the other side of highway 101, whenever visiting the place and needing to do some shopping. And each time there were people driving by who would stop at us and a…

I should clarify that by antagonism I don't mean individual negativity or dislike for...

I mean conscious lack of interest at a design level in engaging those populations. The situation you describe, to me, is a manifestation of that cultural antagonism. That situation exists because society is squeezing out people who walk.

Re: Once seniors are too old to drive, our transportation system fails them

#287

Post by TulliusCicero »

maxerickson wrote: post #273
TulliusCicero wrote: post #245

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even in big cities American urban design tends to strongly favor cars and ignore pedestrians. Here in Germany, any decent sized intersection will have pedestrian islands, often multiple islands just for a single side. In the states, these are relatively uncommon. Or look at where the stoplights are. In Germany, they're set back such that it's impossible for a driver to go into the crosswalk and still see the light. T…

Where you say "all", you are talking about roads and major streets. The typical American street has a sidewalk set back from the street and light traffic (so the controls at the intersections barely matter).

If you're talking about local, non-arterial roads, those are much worse for pedestrians in the US too.

1. At least here in Munich, most of them here have enough space for one lane of parked cars, and one comfortable lane of traffic; if cars happen to approach each other on such a street, one has to pull out somewhere, or sometimes they can barely squeeze by each other. Contrast that with the US, where room enough for two lanes of parked cars and for two lanes of traffic (albeit without any markings) are the standard.

2. Setbacks here, both for businesses and homes, are much smaller than in the US.

3. There are many "cut-throughs" and little paths that are only permeable to pedestrians and cyclists, not cars.

The practical impact of the above is that streets here feel more human scale, cars travel more slowly, and walking and biking are more convenient. I let my six-year old son bike on the road on local streets here to get to the bakery or train station, something I'd never do in the bay area, where I'm originally from.

Re: Once seniors are too old to drive, our transportation system fails them

#288

Post by Cd00d »

ACow_Adonis wrote: post #201
Cd00d wrote: post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's extreme. I have a car in NYC. The subway system here is amazing, while also being an embarrassment. But, the car provides the freedom to visit friends and family for a day or weekend. The cost is $200 per month parking and $150 per month insurance, plus the cost of the car, which is relatively low as we drive less than 500 miles per month. We can visit family in 45 minutes or 2 hours (depending on destination)…

Out of curiosity, where in NYC is this? Because I live in Melbourne, Australia, and $200 USD per month is literally what someone pays me and the spousal unit for our car space after conversion from AUD to USD, and I'm not in the CBD, and I'm assuming (i think correctly) car parking is far cheaper here than in new york city...

Brooklyn. More specifically Park Slope / Boerum Hill / Gowanus. We are in a newer high rise with a garage on premises. The cost of parking also gets us some space to store some items.

Re: Once seniors are too old to drive, our transportation system fails them

#289

Post by megaman22 »

rimliu wrote: post #229
SirZimzim wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Doesn't help that drivers act incredibly entitled to the road and view pedestrians and bicycles as obstacles.

Otoh, drivets are also the ones taking the traffic regulations most seriously. Pedestrians are inclined to jaywalk, and that’s pretty much it, but don’t get me started on bicycles…

My experience is generally that it's safer to cross the street away from crosswalks. Typically, crosswalks are put in places that have subpar visibility in one or both directions, or at intersections where there are many more variables in play and potential decisions that multiple parties can make. Drivers will do unpredictable things if you are on foot and merely in the general area of a crosswalk.

If you cross the street on a straight-away with good visibility, you can gauge the speed of the traffic, determine a safe window, and cross easily, without disruption.

Re: Once seniors are too old to drive, our transportation system fails them

#290

Post by maxerickson »

TulliusCicero wrote: post #287
maxerickson wrote: post #273

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where you say "all", you are talking about roads and major streets. The typical American street has a sidewalk set back from the street and light traffic (so the controls at the intersections barely matter).

If you're talking about local, non-arterial roads, those are much worse for pedestrians in the US too. 1. At least here in Munich, most of them here have enough space for one lane of parked cars, and one comfortable lane of traffic; if cars happen to approach each other on such a street, one has to pull out somewhere, or sometimes they can barely squeeze by each other. Contrast that with the US, where room enough for…

They may not be as nice as in Germany but they are not typically hostile either.

The streets in town here are ~20-25 feet wide and mostly don't have much traffic. 3 or 4 extra steps to cross an empty street isn't a big problem.

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