5 ms·
The law as written and the law in practice, are different matters. NYC would not function with actual adherence to the law. There is never a break in pedestri
by volkl48 8y ago
The law as written and the law in practice, are different matters.
NYC would not function with actual adherence to the law.
There is never a break in pedestrians long enough for a car to turn in a fully legal fashion at most intersections, which is why human drivers wait for the largest mass of the built-up crowd to go and then inch their way through the stream of those just arriving at the intersection (with pedestrians seeing what the car is going to do and then flowing around the car). Technically, the pedestrians have the full right of way.
On the pedestrian side, blocks are short, and if you don't jaywalk it would take forever to walk up/downtown.
And if you were to fully split pedestrian and vehicle phases (and get New Yorkers to start adhering to it), you'd just grind the city to a halt because you're moving less people/cars than the "maximum throughput" flows than we have now.
- mjevans 8y agoImagine how much safer NYC would be if the cars and pedestrians were isolated. A dedicated car layer with an extra lane on each side (at current level) and a new pedestrian layer built above the cars with physical barriers preventing falling to the level beneath.
- thegranderson 8y agoActually, NYC is very safe compared to most metro areas in the US. On a 2016 ranking, it was the 95th most dangerous metro area out of the 105 ranked. https://smartgrowthamerica.org/dangerous-by-design/ https://smartgrowthamerica.org/dangerous-by-design/
- Johnny555 8y agoAnother way to increase safety would be to slow down traffic... a lot. It used to be that cars, trains (and horses) traveled at just over walking pace, pedestrian crossings (and jaywalking) didn't exist, pedestrians crossed the street anywhere. https://youtu.be/aohXOpKtns0?t=4m4s https://youtu.be/aohXOpKtns0?t=4m4s Though I guess today's traffic densities wouldn't allow for slowly meandering through traffic.
- Animats 8y agoFinal scene, General Motors Futurama, 1939 World's Fair.[1] [1] https://youtu.be/1cRoaPLvQx0?t=1237 https://youtu.be/1cRoaPLvQx0?t=1237
- ufmace 8y agoMaybe, but good luck ever getting that built.