Pedestrian deaths spike in U.S. as reckless driving surges • Hacker News Board

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

#341

Post by tim333 » Tue, Feb 15, 2022, 12:50 PM UTC

pwr-electronics wrote: post #337

tim333 wrote: post #336

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Strange really - I've never figured what that's all about, speaking as a driver who has no problem with cyclists.

It's a culture war topic.

Ah. Not seen so much of that in London though in the comments section of the Daily Mail some people rant about cyclists. Guess it's more seeing them as an enemy tribe rather than them actually cluttering the road. In London the bigger aggression issue I've seen is cyclists having a go at pedestrians which also puzzles me a bit if less so.

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

#342

Post by mcdonje » Tue, Feb 15, 2022, 4:52 PM UTC

aeharding wrote: post #300

mcdonje wrote: post #24

US infrastructure is focused around cars. People don't walk much because cities are spread out for wide roads meant for cars, highways, and parking lots. That makes the distances less walkable. Bikes don't have safe dedicated lanes in many places. Many cities eschew trains because they would rather put another lane on a road because of traffic jams. However, because of induced demand, and the infrastructure forcing e…

> We need more trains, light rail, subways. I'd argue we simply need more walkability, and to place shops and destinations closer to people. Public transit is great, but is not an effective way to fix our auto-centric land use. In Strong Towns this is discussed. Transit should come to enhance and solve the transportation needs of already great, walkable places. Transit should not be created to try to induce great pla…

Buses are not an effective way to fix car-centric land use, but trains are. Places built around infrastructure made for cars are not walkable. Places built around train stops are.

Train stations are generally planned for places where people are already going. The development that happens around them is a natural result of them being there. Unlike bus stops, train stops are not easily moved and generally have more people passing through on foot. That makes it a good bet developing around there.

If your business relies on foot traffic, a bus stop is a risky place to set up next to. The service could move or shut down the bus stop without much effort. Not so with a train station. Buses also use roads, which take up much more land per traveler than trains do.

If you want a walkable city, you still need to get people in and out of it. Simply blocking off roads will give you a wide moat of parking lots around the city. Trains are necessary for walkable cities.

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

#343

Post by collegeburner » Tue, Feb 15, 2022, 5:34 PM UTC

paulcole wrote: post #265

collegeburner wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's also temperature. I'm not walking in 100 degrees, even 3 blocks because I'm soaked when I get there and stink.

Get there earlier and relax in the AC? Bring a change of clothes and a stick of deodorant? Cool off with water and baby wipes in the bathroom? Deal with being sweaty and smelly. Whether that is worth it or not to you is up to you to decide. But you've just found another excuse for driving when walking is possible (not possible for everyone, but possible for some).

All your suggestions are lots less convenient. Carrying clothes and deoderant, having to go early and sponge bathe mtself, or putting other people off when they smell me. I shouldnt have to do those for a few blocks walk like to and from lunch.

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

#344

Post by avianlyric » Wed, Feb 16, 2022, 1:09 PM UTC

iso1631 wrote: post #301

avianlyric wrote: post #242

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes I know. But the change makes it clear you shouldn’t impede continuing traffic (including pedestrians walking down the pavement), and you should consider the pavement part of the highway (which it is), rather than a separate part of the road which automotive traffic is allowed to cut through with impunity. Obviously cars should always give way to pedestrians in the roadway, the alternative is running them down. I…

Cars of course have used the pavement as part of the highway for years, constantly driving and blocking it, mowing down about 40 pedestrians a week on the "safety" of the pavement, just for the convenience of the driver. The police nor council do anything about it. > I don’t think we need a Highway Code rule to make it clear why that’s a bad idea. While the UK is far better than the wild west of the US (pedestrians k…

I literally have know idea what point you’re trying to make.

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

#345

Post by sporkland » Wed, Feb 16, 2022, 4:20 PM UTC

bequanna wrote: post #284

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.

I think OP wasn't blaming Trump's actions directly, but rather that the combo of people hating Trump and the pandemic has unhinged people and they've started driving worse for it.

So less about Trump and more about Trump's effects on liberals.