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You're legally allowed to wear all black clothing walking beside the road at night. That doesn't make it a good idea.

mikepurvis 7y ago
Sure, and nor is it a good idea for women to walk home late at night in their clubbing attire. But failure to heed this "common sense" very much does not make it their fault if bad things happen to them in those circumstances. It's fine to counsel people to dress brightly when crossing the road at night, but it's really important that that not be the focal point of a discussion about road safety— dressing brightly is a common sense coping strategy to handle the fact that there has been a cascade of failures elsewhere in the system that has led to an environment of unsafe roads, unsafe vehicles, and unsafe drivers. Blaming pedestrian choices instead of examining root causes just excuses and justifies the unacceptable status quo.
- ApolloFortyNine 7y ago
  It can be very very hard to spot someone in all black clothing walking in the same direction at traffic beside the road. That's what causes these cases to go from criminal acts to be classified as an accident. >Blaming pedestrian choices instead of examining root causes just excuses and justifies the unacceptable status quo. It of course varies wildly by case if the pedestrian can be faulted at all. In my examples, I would argue yes. If crossing at a crosswalk, with the light, and someone making a right turn hits them? It'd be different.
  - mikepurvis 7y ago
    My experience is limited, but from what I can tell from my local coverage in Kitchener ON, it's rare that a driver is faulted for hitting a person walking, regardless of the circumstances. And even when a driver is charged following a collision, when you follow those up a few months later, they all end up dropped or being settled— either way, the person driving is back on the road almost immediately. But regardless of the legal story, the real judgment begins when media coverage uses the passive voice and insists that everything is an accident, rather than a collision, see: https://usa.streetsblog.org/2018/03/28/how-coverage-of-pedestrian-fatalities-dehumanizes-victims-and-absolves-drivers/ https://usa.streetsblog.org/2018/03/28/how-coverage-of-pedes...

Sure, and nor is it a good idea for women to walk home late at night in their clubbing attire. But failure to heed this "common sense" very much does not make it their fault if bad things happen to them in those circumstances. It's fine to counsel people to dress brightly when crossing the road at night, but it's really important that that not be the focal point of a discussion about road safety— dressing brightly is a common sense coping strategy to handle the fact that there has been a cascade of failures elsewhere in the system that has led to an environment of unsafe roads, unsafe vehicles, and unsafe drivers. Blaming pedestrian choices instead of examining root causes just excuses and justifies the unacceptable status quo.

ApolloFortyNine 7y ago
It can be very very hard to spot someone in all black clothing walking in the same direction at traffic beside the road. That's what causes these cases to go from criminal acts to be classified as an accident. >Blaming pedestrian choices instead of examining root causes just excuses and justifies the unacceptable status quo. It of course varies wildly by case if the pedestrian can be faulted at all. In my examples, I would argue yes. If crossing at a crosswalk, with the light, and someone making a right turn hits them? It'd be different.
- mikepurvis 7y ago
  My experience is limited, but from what I can tell from my local coverage in Kitchener ON, it's rare that a driver is faulted for hitting a person walking, regardless of the circumstances. And even when a driver is charged following a collision, when you follow those up a few months later, they all end up dropped or being settled— either way, the person driving is back on the road almost immediately. But regardless of the legal story, the real judgment begins when media coverage uses the passive voice and insists that everything is an accident, rather than a collision, see: https://usa.streetsblog.org/2018/03/28/how-coverage-of-pedestrian-fatalities-dehumanizes-victims-and-absolves-drivers/ https://usa.streetsblog.org/2018/03/28/how-coverage-of-pedes...