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The symbiotic growth of the automobile industry and law enforcement
- dsfyu404ed 8y agoThis is kind of an incomplete analysis and I find two big flaws with it. Lots of other things were happening in this time period that greatly increased the amount of regulation the average person had to contend with when going about their life, I'm not sure the automobile is remarkable except as an example of the general trend. Laws in a democratic society are an exercise in group consensus. You can't just dictate how fast people can drive or what plants people can smoke or what liquids they can drink and expect people to comply at scale without the kind of law enforcement that is incompatible with a free society.
- i_am_proteus 8y ago>“In the old days there was no such thing as a jaywalker,” he recalled, because one “could cross the street wherever you pleased, subject to your liability for negligence.” This is largely still the case in East coast cities.
- dsfyu404ed 8y agoWhich is kind of a pleasant oddity because east coast cities (or cities in general for that matter) are not known for their deference to personal responsibility when legislation is an option.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- notfromhere 8y agopersonal and social responsibility are two different things.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- mtnGoat 8y agoI can attest seattle does in fact ticket you for jaywalking... my brother has two tickets for it. :x
- jtbayly 8y agoActual title rather than subtitle would make a lot more sense: "The Need for Speed Limits" There is almost no discussion of the symbiotic growth of the two.
- trillic 8y agoI live in Ann Arbor, Michigan. It's a very pedestrian friendly city, and frankly it's a pain to drive because of how freely people just wander into the street and cross with almost no regard. The law is pretty clear that pedestrians have the right of way and I see people stopped for not yielding to pedestrians ALL THE TIME. It's nice, especially between classes when hundreds of people may be trying to cross a street, that we are able to get to class on time and the one person in the car isn't going to mow us all over. At bigger intersections there are walk lights, and people obey them for the most part, but the majority of campus and the city has crosswalks with stop signs or "yield to pedestrian" signs.