4 ms·

Anecdotally, and I'm sure other people can share similar experiences: I've also had a couple of instances of people jay walking, popping out from behind a parke

Anecdotally, and I'm sure other people can share similar experiences: I've also had a couple of instances of people jay walking, popping out from behind a parked car right into the road - staring at their cell phone and not at the street around them - and have had to slam on my brakes to keep from hitting the person. I'm glad to have been paying attention but things could have easily gone badly.

jonnycomputer 7y ago
popping out behind a huge SUV or truck nearly as tall as an adult...
- ndiscussion 7y ago
  Not sure if you're trying to justify the jaywalking here, but if you want to live through 2020, I suggest looking before you leap.
  - jonnycomputer 7y ago
    who said anything about jaywalking? big cars block visibility at intersections too.
stefan_ 7y ago
Because you were in a car with the potential to kill people. Don't equate the two things like they are somehow the same. If you think pedestrians "jaywalking" is the problem, you are the problem.
- camhenlin 7y ago
  What I was pointing out is that distraction is the problem. Walking on a street and operating a vehicle are both potentially dangerous tasks, and people need to be vigilant looking out for others and themselves. If you're going to cross the road -jaywalking or not-, you should look both ways. You can't assume that a driver is going to see you, just as a driver can't assume that you aren't going to hop out in front of them, right or wrong as you feel that may be.
  - stefan_ 7y ago
    This is 1900s rhetoric. Putting up a poster in the 737 cabin to "watch out for MCAS". It's now 2019. We're smarter. We know how to engineer streets to not embarrass ourselves further with meaningless "appeals to everyone to watch out".
    - tanseydavid 7y ago
      City streets are dangerous -- this is a fact. Can you provide a example of these 'engineered streets' that you are talking about? I truly don't what you mean here.
upofadown 7y ago
Your story of the time you encountered a drunk/stoned/distracted pedestrian is not really helpful to this discussion. No one is claiming that pedestrians are someone perfect. The fact is that most collisions are caused by an error on the part of the driver. Knowing who to blame still doesn't help but false claims that the pedestrians are to blame tend to cause people to forget about the problem.
JohnTHaller 7y ago
A pedestrian staring at their phone is mostly risking injury to themselves, but also risking others for a poor driver that swerves to miss them and into others. A driver staring at their phone is mostly risking injury to others, especially pedestrians and bikers who they will severely injure or kill. They both suck, but one is making a far more selfish/basically evil choice.

jonnycomputer 7y ago

popping out behind a huge SUV or truck nearly as tall as an adult...

ndiscussion 7y ago
Not sure if you're trying to justify the jaywalking here, but if you want to live through 2020, I suggest looking before you leap.
- jonnycomputer 7y ago
  who said anything about jaywalking? big cars block visibility at intersections too.

stefan_ 7y ago

Because you were in a car with the potential to kill people. Don't equate the two things like they are somehow the same. If you think pedestrians "jaywalking" is the problem, you are the problem.

camhenlin 7y ago
What I was pointing out is that distraction is the problem. Walking on a street and operating a vehicle are both potentially dangerous tasks, and people need to be vigilant looking out for others and themselves. If you're going to cross the road -jaywalking or not-, you should look both ways. You can't assume that a driver is going to see you, just as a driver can't assume that you aren't going to hop out in front of them, right or wrong as you feel that may be.
- stefan_ 7y ago
  This is 1900s rhetoric. Putting up a poster in the 737 cabin to "watch out for MCAS". It's now 2019. We're smarter. We know how to engineer streets to not embarrass ourselves further with meaningless "appeals to everyone to watch out".
  - tanseydavid 7y ago
    City streets are dangerous -- this is a fact. Can you provide a example of these 'engineered streets' that you are talking about? I truly don't what you mean here.

upofadown 7y ago

Your story of the time you encountered a drunk/stoned/distracted pedestrian is not really helpful to this discussion. No one is claiming that pedestrians are someone perfect. The fact is that most collisions are caused by an error on the part of the driver. Knowing who to blame still doesn't help but false claims that the pedestrians are to blame tend to cause people to forget about the problem.

JohnTHaller 7y ago

A pedestrian staring at their phone is mostly risking injury to themselves, but also risking others for a poor driver that swerves to miss them and into others. A driver staring at their phone is mostly risking injury to others, especially pedestrians and bikers who they will severely injure or kill. They both suck, but one is making a far more selfish/basically evil choice.