Uber vehicle reportedly saw but ignored woman it struck

Post by jpatokal » Tue, May 08, 2018, 12:39 PM UTC

lemoncucumber wrote: post #368

Noumenon72 wrote: post #319

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This makes no sense to me even after assuming you are from a country that drives on the left and reading the Wikipedia page.

First off, note that hook turns are a bike thing, not a car thing — trying to imagine it with cars isn’t going to make any sense. They rely on the fact that bikes are small enough that they can fit in the space in front of the stopped opposite-direction cars (which might be a crosswalk, bike box, etc). You just go stop there, turn your bike so it’s pointing the right direction, and wait for the green. They work even…

Post by jnwatson » Tue, May 08, 2018, 12:41 PM UTC

jakelazaroff wrote: post #11

assblaster wrote: post #7

The question I want to know is: Did Uber doctor the camera video to make the road seem darker than it actually was? If you recall, there was initially a doubt that Uber was at fault because the streets appeared extremely dark, but I think they were buying time to delay the outage at incompetent Uber. The police initially didn't fault Uber based on this video.

That was a bad call on the part of the police. You're only allowed to drive as fast as conditions permit. If it's dark enough that you can't avoid an obstacle by the time your headlights illuminate it, you need to slow down .

Post by zdragnar » Tue, May 08, 2018, 12:49 PM UTC

resonantjacket5 wrote: post #374

zdragnar wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't protest self-driving cars, protest the laws you feel shouldn't apply to you. After all, there are plenty of other reasons jaywalking laws might become more strictly enforced.

Lol or perhaps jaywalking laws should be loosened if they're not being applied anyways in most cities.

Post by tremon » Tue, May 08, 2018, 12:53 PM UTC

Sangermaine wrote: post #81

dahart wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Personally, I’d rather see driving behavior normalize nationally than cater to regional differences in enforcement. The driving laws in each city & state the US are less different than the locally accepted behaviors, but it would be safer all around if drivers and pedestrians all expected the same things, and if we took traffic & safety laws more seriously. More enforcement of existing traffic laws will save many ord…

The "reality should conform to my ideal, not my ideal to the reality" approach is and has always been a guaranteed recipe for failure. "Let's change everyone's minds and behavior everywhere" is much harder than changing software.

Post by bryanlarsen » Tue, May 08, 2018, 1:05 PM UTC

systoll wrote: post #278

blahedo wrote: post #208

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not unique to Pittsburgh (also prevalent in Rhode Island, among other places), but more importantly, letting the first car turn left first is useful to keeping traffic flowing on narrow roads—which, in the areas that use this tactic, rely on it. So, not following local customs is a good way to snarl traffic (since the oncoming traffic will be waiting for the car to take its turn).

Not that I'd recommend doing it in an area not used to it... but that sounds like a riskier alternative to a hook turn. With hook turns, If you want to turn right, you start in the leftmost lane. When your light goes green, you 'hook' around to put yourself in front of the cars to your [initial] left. From there, the road you want to enter is straight ahead. This way, no-one cuts across lanes where traffic has a gree…