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The first question that comes to my mind watching this, is, why didn't the _pedestrian_ see the _car_? It looks as though she didn't even look up until the ca
by Treblemaker 9y ago
The first question that comes to my mind watching this, is, why didn't the _pedestrian_ see the _car_? It looks as though she didn't even look up until the car was only a few feet away from here. I'm not just trying to "blame the victim". The car "should" have responded sooner. But see-and-avoid works both ways. If you're choosing to cross a road in the dark, you, too, have a responsibility to understand the drivers' limited visiblity and act accordingly. My point is that this is a teachable moment for not only SDV developers, but also for pedestrians.
- lhorie 9y agoA theory that occurred to me last night is that if she was homeless, she may also have had an untreated eye condition such as myopia.
- malandrew 9y agoWhat about sound? Also, with myopia you should still be able to see a light source traveling towards you.
- lhorie 9y agoI sometimes have trouble figuring out what lane an oncoming car is on, with glasses, in daytime. It wouldn't surprise me if she was absent-mindedly taking a familiar route to her homeless camp and mistakenly thought the car was on the left lane.
- Sohcahtoa82 9y agoAs if which lane the car was in matters... There was a car coming. She shouldn't have been in the road, period.
- gkya 9y agoIf that car was on the left late it have passed her by as she carried on crossing the right lane.
- pfarnsworth 9y agoShe probably had untreated mental illness as well.
- linkregister 9y agoArticles claim she’s from Mesa, AZ. There’s nothing that suggests she’s homeless.
- lhorie 9y agoI recall reading somewhere that "she was well-liked" by people interviewed at a nearby homeless camp.
- jonathanyc 9y agoThe pedestrian died, not the SDV developers. Calling this a “teachable moment ... also for pedestrians” is rather disrespectful.
- lsaferite 9y agoHow exactly is it disrespectful to use this as a teaching aid for other pedestrians about the danger of crossing a road at night?
- jonathanyc 9y agoIf the article were about a cyclist who, while riding without a helmet, was run over and killed by a car whose driver didn’t do a safe lane change, and I commented: “Not trying to blame the victim... but this is a teachable moment not only for drivers, but for cyclists...” ... it would be a true statement, which is why I didn’t say the GP was making a false one, but a normal native speaker would at least recognize it as a strange thing to say. Cyclists should wear helmets, and the cyclist certainly is partly to blame. But no one was suggesting that the cyclist is guilt-free, so the actual effect of the statement is to try and draw a false equivalence. It’s like saying “sure, global warming is real, but let’s not forget the effects of gradual and natural cyclical climate change.” No educated person in the discussion “forgot” the second, but by phrasing it this way you’re implying we should be paying equal attention to a large effect and a much smaller one.
- fastball 9y agoThe pedestrian was at fault here, not the driver. This is not where you should be crossing the road in the middle of the night with no lights on.
- jonathanyc 9y agoNo, as others have discussed, driving above the speed limit when it is “the middle of the light with no lights on” means the driver is at fault as well.
- deft 9y agoSaying "I'm not trying to do X" doesn't absolve you from doing exactly that. Nice try though. Not trying to be rude ;)
- mikeash 9y agoI see a lot of people who cross the street without looking. I definitely don’t get it. I constantly check everywhere even when I clearly have the right of way. But that’s how people are.
- matte_black 9y agoThese people need to watch more videos of people getting run right the hell over before it finally sinks in. I’ve watched enough that I never walk close alongside any road, and keep a good distance from an intersection while waiting for the cars to stop, because sometimes they don’t!
- smileysteve 9y agoJust remember, it's very likely that many of these people do the same thing when driving.
- cm2187 9y agoAnd I wouldn't be surprised if many of these people are really concerned about the threat of terrorism or of flying while ignoring an imminent lethal risk that is many orders of magnitude higher.
- drcode 9y agoEasy, the pedestrian had to cross sometime, and they couldn't predict which of the many lanes the car would move into.
- lgats 9y agoMaybe it was her exam week. /s
- oska 9y ago> If you're choosing to cross a road in the dark, you, too, have a responsibility to understand the drivers' limited visiblity and act accordingly. You have a self-responsibility, which most people act on (self-preservation). But as a driver you have a responsibility to pedestrians who can be killed by the machine that you are driving. That is the greater responsibility and why active care for pedestrians should be one of the highest regards of a driver (or autonomous driving system).
- userbinator 9y agoIf you're choosing to cross a road in the dark, you, too, have a responsibility to understand the drivers' limited visiblity and act accordingly. No kidding. This might be a somewhat controversial opinion, but I think the elephant in the room here is this general "pedestrian has right of way" notion. It's much easier for pedestrians to watch out for and evade cars than the other way around, and yet we seem to insist the opposite? That seems rather backwards and contrary to the laws of physics.
- davidorff 9y agoTHere are several lanes free with plenty of room for the car to pass without issue. I think the pedestrian assumed this was just an inconsiderate driver not slowing down and driving around me... as there is no way on earth that a human would ever have hit her! the video is totally unrepresentative, and if it was representative then the car should have been doing half the speed.