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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

#41

Post by zhdc1 »

_dain_ wrote: post #25
throwaway894345 wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I forget where this was, but I recall seeing video of police crossing on a crosswalk undercover and whenever a vehicle would fail to yield a cruiser would appear and pull the offender over. I would like to see a lot more of this. In Chicago, people have always blown red lights at speed right in front of parked police cars because they know police won’t do anything (and I’m not even sure if the police are allowed to d…

>I would like to see a lot more of this. The problem is, it doesn't scale, especially in a city as big and violent as Chicago. It only works so long as police keep their foot on the gas (so to speak); they minute they let up on traffic enforcement (because of competing priorities) things will get worse again. If one person speeds, that person is an idiot. But if everyone speeds, the road engineer is an idiot. A syste…

> The problem is, it doesn't scale, especially in a city as big and violent as Chicago. It only works so long as police keep their foot on the gas (so to speak); they minute they let up on traffic enforcement (because of competing priorities) things will get worse again.

Why would you need active policing to enforce traffic lights and pedestrian crosswalks?

I don't like them either, but traffic camera work.

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

#42

Post by Waterluvian »

sillyquiet wrote: post #17
unicornfinder wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be fair I think the problem isn't just the people but how the roads and infrastructure is designed in the US. It's very anti-pedestrian.

Since pedestrian deaths are 'surging', its gotta be down to something that's changed, not a factor that's been constant all along, right?

Narcissism is at an all-time high.

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

#43

Post by T3OU-736 »

I found this article a bit... odd. Not the particulars of the case. Rather, what sounds like ready excuses and what read like an almost utter lack of individual responsibility. Yes, agreed, the lockdown measures aren't fun, and yes, they mean doing things which are uncomfortable (masks), or not doing things we want (gatherings, restaurants, all other restrictions). But how is that different from just being a member of civil society? That smells like... BS.

Though, the "salience saturation" concept sounds like one of the reasons for which people in the MIL world take up smoking.

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

#44

Post by nverno »

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 than it is- same thing when crime rates reach new lows and then bounce back a bit.

1. https://www.iihs.org/topics/fatality-statistics/detail/pedes...

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

#45

Post by donkeyd »

gbtw wrote: post #23
sillyquiet wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Since pedestrian deaths are 'surging', its gotta be down to something that's changed, not a factor that's been constant all along, right?

Transport cost are too high forcing people to use alternatives like walking.

Why do you need to look for such far fetched explanations when you can clearly see massive amounts of people texting while driving? I drive quite a lot (for European standards) and I've seen the amount of people holding phones increase massively. I can recognize it from a mile away by the way people are driving.

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

#46

Post by Ottolay »

dhbradshaw wrote: post #31

Here's kind of a weird hypothesis worth at least considering: Record pricing for used cars suggests that there's a car shortage. Ironically, less cars and less driving could lead to 1. Faster driving because of clearer roads, and 2. More walking. Combine those and it wouldn't be surprising to get more auto-pedestrian accidents. One test would be to compare changes to car accidents with changes to pedestrian accidents…

It's a known hypothesis. Additionally when there is less traffic, drivers feel safer and are more likely to tune out by checking their phones, etc.

The book,Confessions of a Recovering Engineer(1), talks about this.

(1) https://www.confessions.engineer

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

#47

Post by francisofascii »

sillyquiet wrote: post #17
unicornfinder wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be fair I think the problem isn't just the people but how the roads and infrastructure is designed in the US. It's very anti-pedestrian.

Since pedestrian deaths are 'surging', its gotta be down to something that's changed, not a factor that's been constant all along, right?

One change could be people are spending more time outdoors walking. I am not sure how to back that up with data, but anecdotally it seems to be true.

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

#48

Post by imglorp »

nerdponx wrote: post #15

Regardless of how badly designed roads in America are and have been for decades, what I have noticed during the pandemic is that antisocial selfishness has become a valid way to behave, so people no longer attempt to suppress their antisocial selfish tendencies. I believe this was already in motion under Trump. He himself exemplifies antisocial selfish behavior. It's his entire gimmick. His election and his words/act…

Yes, and I think some of the media directly drove the "outrage economy" and profited from it. You get a little blip of adrenaline getting angry about something for a second and you get accustomed to it. Then you get accustomed to getting it from being angry.

Maybe aggressive driving is part of that elevated adrenaline addiction: as you go about your day you need little doses from other places like the gas pedal.

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

#49

Post by gilbetron »

samwillis wrote: post #34

Here in the UK they have just changed the Highway Code (the rules that given all road users, including pedestrians) so that pedestrians have ultimate right of way in almost all cases. It’s the opposite of the situation in the US, a pedestrian in the UK can cross the road anywhere and I believe cars have to stop and make way. It’s going to be interesting to see how it effects accident numbers, I’m worry it may actuall…

The small US city I live in made such a change, it we had several pedestrians get hit in the first year or so because drivers aren't used to it, can't see people very well, and pedestrians just figured everyone would now just stop. We changed the laws to restrict it to only crosswalks and added in a ton of new crosswalks. Even then, it was still a problem because pedestrians don't realize when someone can see them. If the are in the shade of a tree on a bright day, they can't be seen. There was a lot of learning and training to be done (some of it dumb), but now things are ok.

"Crossing the road anywhere" is quite dumb, I think, and I guarantee you'll see a spike of pedestrians getting hit for a while. Just because you can legally do it doesn't mean it's a good idea.

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

#50

Post by paulcole »

efitz wrote: post #21
gameswithgo wrote: post #2

In Austin Texas we have an absurdly well marked crosswalk on the way to the elementary school, to a close approximation nobody has ever stopped to let us cross. Our daughter was nearly killed once, so far. It seems so many people in America are so fat now they don’t imagine people would ever walk, so they drive without regard for pedestrians and active hostility towards cyclists and park in the way of sidewalks, maki…

How exactly did you get to “the cause of reckless driving is fat people who don’t walk everywhere?” Show your work. In most places in America walking is not a practical mode of transportation because of distance; it’s miles from your house to the grocery store, for instance. If you live in a city this might not be obvious to you but half the country lives in the burbs or rural areas. Separately, it would be nice if w…

The idea of walking is foreign to a huge number of Americans, regardless of how fat/thin they might be. Try living in the suburbs and telling someone you’re going to walk an errand that’s 5 miles round-trip. You might as well tell them you’re going to Mars.

I grew up and lived in rural/suburban Florida (god-awful weather) and I never learned to drive. I walked everywhere (no sidewalks). People whose lives revolve around cars just can’t imagine a person walking longer than the distance from the parking lot to the front door.

Nearly everybody wishes they could drive less but nobody will actually drive less.

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