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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

#81

Post by aurizon »

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…

In Toronto there are paid people with fluorescent traffic warden clothes and signage who attend all crosswalks and traffic light for the student travel periods, AM, Noon, PM. Other times they have walk buttons that start flashing lights and an overhead banner (flasher lighted)

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

#82

Post by masklinn »

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…

> Separately, it would be nice if we had more sidewalks, but they are financially unsustainable in low density areas.

That is complete nonsense. Sidewalks are not a significant additional expense to the road it’s on, even at a much lower level of build quality / complexity require very little maintenance as the only damage is environmental (pedestrians and cyclists do 6 or 7 orders of magnitude less damage to the surface than sedans do, per unit of distance, add 4 for a loaded truck).

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

#83

Post by jpm_sd »

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't let my kids bike around the neighborhood anymore, I'm worried they will get hit.

It does feel like the one-two punch of [Trump + pandemic] has led to people feeling more entitled to let their rage and impatience out in public. I don't know how we recover from this as a society?

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

#84

Post by jbotz »

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…

> 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 that context violence is generally avoided. Humans, both primitive and civilized, are among the more aggressive of animals and in particular display aggressive behavior with less reason or provocation than most species. To some extend civilization actually makes this worse; it's easier to act aggressively when the aggression is less likely (because of existence of laws and police) to turn into deadly violence, and violence is less likely to be deadly because of hospitals and antibiotics.

Otherwise I agree completely with you. In particular, I also suspect that Trumpism has done more harm to polite civilization than Covid.

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

#85

Post by masklinn »

analog31 wrote: post #59
MrBuddyCasino wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Separately, it would be nice if we had more sidewalks, but they are financially unsustainable in low density areas. What makes sidewalks expensive to maintain, relative to roads? > the biggest issue by far is dietary sugar/carbohydrates This is not clear. See this highly fascinating series on the obesity epidemic: https://slimemoldtimemold.com/2021/07/07/a-chemical-hunger-p... . Other suspects are HFCS and seed oil…

It could have to do with how they are paid for. When the sidewalks were repaired on my street, each resident received a bill, proportional to how many of the segments were in front of their house. When the road was rebuilt, the money came from Somewhere Else. Yeah, Somewhere Else is ultimately the same place, but homeowners don't see it as personally flowing out of their own pockets.

Wow, that’s active, unbelievable, nonsense.

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

#86

Post by lkxijlewlf »

unicornfinder wrote: post #6
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…

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.

No, it's people. Everyone is so fucking angry now. The only (convenient) road out of my neighborhood is through two school zones. People will PASS me in a school zone. Not the normal pass, but the floor it I'm angry pass. It's happened multiple times. They're so fucking selfish they would endanger CHILDREN just to not have to wake their sloppy ass up 10 minutes earlier so they can get to work on time.

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

#87

Post by amcoastal »

Kye wrote: post #13
amcoastal wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Its just where you live. Welcome to large cities. You can move to more hospitable parts of the country where people still have basic respect for people. The politics in the South sure have annoyed me, but dealing with the public (i.e. people who you don't know) in everyday life is miles different compared to living in NY, CA, FL, TX etc.

It's more you trade sets of respects and disrespects. Small towns are great as long as you conform to a narrow set of socially conservative expectations. The south isn't all bad, but the bad escalates faster than in other places the further you are from a major highway.

Definitely agree with this sentiment. My perspective on receiving more respect in the South probably has a lot to do with being a redneck looking white guy.

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

#88

Post by collegeburner »

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…

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

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

#89

Post by edmcnulty101 »

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…

> It seems so many people in America are so fat now they don’t imagine people would ever walk,

As a fat person and I think I can take the liberty to speak on behalf of other fat people, you are absolutely correct.

So be sure to please get out of the way and stay out of the way.

Another good option is to go to the city council and have them rope off areas of the town for pedestrians only, if you want to be safe.

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

#90

Post by avianlyric »

gilbetron wrote: post #49
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. I…

You’ve been able to cross a road anywhere since the dawn of time in pretty much the entire of Europe (U.K. included).

The changes in Highway Code really just say that cars should give way to pedestrians that are crossing minor roads, while walking down a major road.

I.e. the general rule is that all traffic going down a major should wait and give way to continuing traffic, regardless of if it’s a car, bike or pedestrian, when they enter or leave the major road to/from a minor road.

There’s is still an expectation that all road uses take care and respect other road users. You don’t ever have a “right of way” only the obligation to “give way”.

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