6 ms·

Unfortunately very true. So much of America is designed with the assumption that everyone has a car and there's no attempt to make anything pedestrian-accessibl

Unfortunately very true. So much of America is designed with the assumption that everyone has a car and there's no attempt to make anything pedestrian-accessible. I live in San Jose and I honestly miss walking. I mean sure, I can walk, but I can't use it to go anywhere other than the 7/11 near my apartment without taking an hour or more out of my day. That's not to say I don't like living here (I do) but I guess that's just something you deal with when you trade a comparatively small college town (Santa Cruz) for a huge, spread-out city.

nickbauman 10y ago
I believe the US has the highest car ownership per capita in the OECD.
justinhj 10y ago
I used to live in London (England) and walk and tube everywhere. My first trip to the US was LA. I parked at a cafe and bought a coffee. We saw a store across the street so crossed it. Even though traffic was light and it was easy to do so without causing it to slow down the cars honked us for doing so. Jaywalking. I'd never really thought of Jaywalking outside of movies. So we go in the store and afterwards make an effort to walk a couple of blocks down to the crossing so we don't get arrested or run down. When we get back to the car there's a tow truck trying to take it away because we were shopping across the street and no longer customers of this strip. It was pretty amazing to us. We spent the rest of the trip driving everywhere, no matter how small the journey.
- justinlardinois 10y ago
  > When we get back to the car there's a tow truck trying to take it away because we were shopping across the street and no longer customers of this strip. Does this not happen in other countries? It's not exactly common in the US, but you will see it dense areas sometimes where a) parking is limited and costs money and b) businesses provide parking free of charge to their own customers.
  - namenotrequired 10y ago
    I'm European and have never heard of such a thing. It sounds bizarre to me.
    - justinlardinois 10y ago
      When you think about it from a business's perspective it makes sense. If a bunch of people who aren't your customers fill up your lot, and there isn't nearby parking or it costs money, potential customers will arrive and might leave without patronizing your business because they can't find a place to park. Obviously it's annoying when it's enforced as overzealously as the above example.

nickbauman 10y ago

I believe the US has the highest car ownership per capita in the OECD.

justinhj 10y ago

I used to live in London (England) and walk and tube everywhere. My first trip to the US was LA. I parked at a cafe and bought a coffee. We saw a store across the street so crossed it. Even though traffic was light and it was easy to do so without causing it to slow down the cars honked us for doing so. Jaywalking. I'd never really thought of Jaywalking outside of movies. So we go in the store and afterwards make an effort to walk a couple of blocks down to the crossing so we don't get arrested or run down. When we get back to the car there's a tow truck trying to take it away because we were shopping across the street and no longer customers of this strip. It was pretty amazing to us. We spent the rest of the trip driving everywhere, no matter how small the journey.

justinlardinois 10y ago
> When we get back to the car there's a tow truck trying to take it away because we were shopping across the street and no longer customers of this strip. Does this not happen in other countries? It's not exactly common in the US, but you will see it dense areas sometimes where a) parking is limited and costs money and b) businesses provide parking free of charge to their own customers.
- namenotrequired 10y ago
  I'm European and have never heard of such a thing. It sounds bizarre to me.
  - justinlardinois 10y ago
    When you think about it from a business's perspective it makes sense. If a bunch of people who aren't your customers fill up your lot, and there isn't nearby parking or it costs money, potential customers will arrive and might leave without patronizing your business because they can't find a place to park. Obviously it's annoying when it's enforced as overzealously as the above example.