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Pedestrian deaths spike in U.S. as reckless driving surges

nytimes.com

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Re: Pedestrian deaths spike in U.S. as reckless driving surges

#281

Post by syshum »

ericmay wrote: post #267
syshum wrote: post #256

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because not everyone has neighborhoods of kids offering to shovel snow, I even tried to contract it out however most of the companies around here want commercial contracts not residential snow removal, and the ones that do offer "best effort" time tables where their commercial customers come first. The last home I had with sidewalks the city would fine you if they were not cleared in 24 hours, contractors would come…

Ah crap didn't realize I was dealing with a COVID denier. Nothing more to say here.

it is amazing the leaps some people take. If you did not have full throated support for every terrible policy every government enacted in their panic around covid, I must be a "COVID Denier"

I bet since I oppose Vaccine Mandates I am also an "anti-vaxxer" as well right? even though I am vaccinated from every illness for which there is a vaccine I am eligible to get including COVID.

If you do not support authoritarian government you must be anti-science, this is an amazing timeline..

Re: Pedestrian deaths spike in U.S. as reckless driving surges

#282

Post by ericmay »

syshum wrote: post #281
ericmay wrote: post #267

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ah crap didn't realize I was dealing with a COVID denier. Nothing more to say here.

it is amazing the leaps some people take. If you did not have full throated support for every terrible policy every government enacted in their panic around covid, I must be a "COVID Denier" I bet since I oppose Vaccine Mandates I am also an "anti-vaxxer" as well right? even though I am vaccinated from every illness for which there is a vaccine I am eligible to get including COVID. If you do not support authoritarian…

I’m talking about sidewalks and roads and you turned the conversation to COVID lockdowns. Whatever you want to call yourself, I’m not interested in engaging further.

Re: Pedestrian deaths spike in U.S. as reckless driving surges

#283

Post by sokoloff »

cdot2 wrote: post #11
sokoloff wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The first time I saw opposite direction traffic stop to show respect to a funeral procession (common in the South), I was very confused.

It has never occurred to me that people might not do that.

In Massachusetts, cross traffic doesn’t even always stop…

Re: Pedestrian deaths spike in U.S. as reckless driving surges

#284

Post by bequanna »

jpm_sd wrote: post #83

I live in a dense, walkable Boston suburb that is served by the MBTA commuter rail. But it's also full of "Masshole" drivers and adjacent to a couple of high-traffic major highways. I've observed a sharp increase in impatience and road rage, both on our 25 mph city streets, and on and off Rtes 1 and 93, in the last 2 years. Not to mention ever-more inattentive driving with eyes on phones. It's pretty alarming. I don'…

Blaming Trump for inattentive driving?

All bad things I don’t like are caused by X group is a poor way to look at the world.

Letting your biases creep so far into how you make simple evaluations like that is a red flag and it might be time for some deep introspection.

Re: Pedestrian deaths spike in U.S. as reckless driving surges

#285

Post by tetsusaiga »

cochne wrote: post #158

Totally anecdotal, but I have noticed a huge uptick of drivers running red lights and stop signs in my area in NY. I have been wondering the reason.

It's funny, if you look in my comment history, I just made the same observation the other day.

Anecdata, and all that, but it's interesting that so many people are noticing this.

Re: Pedestrian deaths spike in U.S. as reckless driving surges

#286

Post by nverno »

thaway2839 wrote: post #243
nverno wrote: post #44

This article seems pretty misleading. Looking at the historical trends [1], there were more pedestrian deaths per year 50 years ago. And that is before taking into account that the population has doubled since then! There is clearly an uptick in recent years, but this nyt article is trying to hard to hype it up. Coming off historical lows, around 10 years ago, the percentage yearly increase can sound more shocking th…

The uptick is real. It's an uptick despite reduced driving. A 45% increase in deaths per mile driven is no joke. Further, you're also ignoring advancements in medicine, emergency services, healthcare systems, rules (e.g., cities in the US have drastically reduced max speeds), safety focused street design changes, etc. that mean that the odds of a pedestrian dying have reduced in general. Comparing broadly to 50 years…

Did you look at the pedestrian deaths graph/100,000 at the bottom of that page? It's not just 'broadly to 50 years ago', the number of deaths has been decreasing, or pretty steady that whole time. Anyway, it was more just the way it was written that was annoying, like the author was trying to pull a fast one on the reader, cherry-picking stats to make a point.

Re: Pedestrian deaths spike in U.S. as reckless driving surges

#287

Post by jbotz »

spywaregorilla wrote: post #122
jbotz wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> it seems a bit like we are regressing as a society to animal kingdom behavior Hey, on behalf of my animal brethren, I resent that! ;-) Seriously, while nature can seem cruel --- red in tooth and claw --- there also exists in nature a definite "politeness", i.e. the context for aggression is well defined (for example, predator-prey, maintenance and challenge of group hierarchy, defense of territory) and outside of t…

Pretty sure that doesn't hold up against actual primate studies

I didn't say anything about primates... I was talking about nature in general. And I didn't say that humans are more aggressive than all other animals, only that we are among the most aggressive. And yes, chimpanzees and some other primates are pretty similar to humans in aggression. But very few other animals are; aggression is usually confined to fighting over mating rights or territory, and the former is often quite ritualistic.

Re: Pedestrian deaths spike in U.S. as reckless driving surges

#288

Post by giantg2 »

mistersquid wrote: post #261
chiefalchemist wrote: post #244

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Given the number off people who text while driving, I'd say you're far more likely to get hit from behind than you woukd while walking into traffic.

This seems odd to me because a pedestrian is almost never going to be able to dodge oncoming even slow-moving traffic. Perhaps it’s about observing inattentive drivers before they present immediate danger or establishing eye contact? In any case, I stand corrected on the legality of pedestrian salmoning, though I’m not convinced of its advisability.

"This seems odd to me because a pedestrian is almost never going to be able to dodge oncoming even slow-moving traffic."

If you work the field at an AutoX course, you'll know that it is quite possible to dodge them. The chances of dodging a car when paying attention are substantially higher than if one is not.

Re: Pedestrian deaths spike in U.S. as reckless driving surges

#289

Post by masklinn »

ghaff wrote: post #271
masklinn wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wow, that’s active, unbelievable, nonsense.

I must say I was not aware that people can be responsible for the maintenance of the sidewalk in front of their house if there is one. But it's quite common to have to shovel that sidewalk (or pay someone to do it)--at least in the city--and you can be fined if you don't. It's probably an easement on your property so you're responsible for it.

Yes having to keep the sidewalk traversable sounds like a possible duty as, as you note, you have an easement.

But having to pay for it directly sounds extremely counter-productive.

And even the first part is dubious really: there should be sidewalks most everywhere including non-residential locations or the like, which the city would almost certainly have to clear alongside the roadway. Surely in that case it’s more efficient and simpler to just clear everything uniformly?

Re: Pedestrian deaths spike in U.S. as reckless driving surges

#290

Post by ghaff »

dncornholio wrote: post #268
dqv wrote: post #251

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Because pedestrians have the intrinsic motivation of not wanting to die. Do they? Where I live, at night, no one ever wears reflectors, save a few cyclists. It seems like people don’t think about this at all. You’re walking around at night and someone driving a car doesn’t see you until it’s too late. I think there is some merit to asking the question about how pedestrians can be safer. I’m happy to practice what I…

Where are you walking around where a car might hit you though? Are there no sidewalks? Infrastructure needs to be build around pedestrians and cyclists. The youtube channel "Not Just Bikes" shows how it can be done.

When I drive in Cambridge, I find people dressed in dark clothes constantly darting out to cross streets at random locations at night. As a driver am I alert and keep my speed down? Absolutely. But many pedestrians and cyclists absolutely behave recklessly.
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