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Something needs to be done more proactively about mitigating the impact of cars on people/animals/objects around them. Cars (and the distrust of the ability of

Something needs to be done more proactively about mitigating the impact of cars on people/animals/objects around them. Cars (and the distrust of the ability of the people driving them) are the cause of so much worry and concern. - There’s anxiety over walking, biking, or running places (not even that far away) because of the worry over cars. - No parents I know want to let their kids ride their bikes across the neighborhood to their friends’ houses or to/ from school because of the worry over cars. - Some people even drive their dogs to the park instead of walking around the neighborhood because of the worry over cars. Cars basically monopolized the idea of transportation, and in effect it is also hard to separate from them. “Sharing the Road” doesn’t work in practice, as the sharing is never enough to make anyone not in a car feel comfortable about it. We need some kind of government initiative or legislation or something meaningful to equip cars and safety features to mitigate the dangers of cars for the rest of the world around them. It’s going to take forever to be implemented if car manufacturers just roll out these things as “premium features” - that’s like enabling a system of charging extra for a car to come with seatbelts. I’ve heard, “Well, I grew up in the {60s, 70s, 80s} and we would play in the streets and be ok around cars.” Yea, well, go look at the specs of cars from those decades. People weren’t driving around in F-150s, Chevy Surburbans, and 260hp 140mph sportscars like they are today.

siemprenocasa 7y ago
> It’s going to take forever to be implemented if car manufacturers just roll out these things as “premium features” - that’s like enabling a system of charging extra for a car to come with seatbelts. I support safety mandates to implement safety technology in cars and retrofit it to older vehicles too. The road is filled with assholes and dumbasses, and while the assholes certainly suck, as a person who walks/scooters around in the city, the dumbasses are the ones that I've learned to really to watch out for. People looking at their phone while driving, people distracted that are looking away from the road, old people driving that can't even see a crosswalk and don't notice red lights, etc. Part of the reason, I think, are the almost laughable qualifications to renew a license in most places, and another part is the lax assignment of responsibility on drivers to be competent. I trust safety technology to do it's job better than I trust 100% of people to be competent while driving. Like many things, even if 9/10 people do the right thing, all it takes is 1 person to fuck it up for others.
t-writescode 7y ago
In the 90s, they definitely were driving around in 140mph cars and big, big trucks, especially out in the country or in suburbia in the south; and we definitely walked around, rode bikes everywhere and so on. People are super, super afraid of everything. Now, I will say that people looking at their smart phones or driving with headphones on (this is a thing. What the heck, what is wrong with these people. No, I don’t care if they’re on a phone call, blue tooth for your car is a thing) is a new thing and is very distracted driving.
AnimalMuppet 7y ago
It was the 1960s. 1966, to be exact. My mother let my brother and I (5 and 4, respectively) walk our bikes down the road (no sidewalks) about three houses down, to the dead-end street, and we could ride them there. A bit later, she heard the sirens. The police cars and ambulance went right past our house, in the direction of the dead-end street. She came running out of our house, to find my brother and I sitting on our bikes at the entrance to the dead-end street, watching the show. It turned out the "show" was a neighbor boy about my age. He got hit crossing the road. He's been in a wheelchair ever since. So, yes, we did a lot of things in the 1960s. Some fo us got away with doing them. Some didn't. For those who didn't, the consequences could be pretty heavy.

siemprenocasa 7y ago

> It’s going to take forever to be implemented if car manufacturers just roll out these things as “premium features” - that’s like enabling a system of charging extra for a car to come with seatbelts. I support safety mandates to implement safety technology in cars and retrofit it to older vehicles too. The road is filled with assholes and dumbasses, and while the assholes certainly suck, as a person who walks/scooters around in the city, the dumbasses are the ones that I've learned to really to watch out for. People looking at their phone while driving, people distracted that are looking away from the road, old people driving that can't even see a crosswalk and don't notice red lights, etc. Part of the reason, I think, are the almost laughable qualifications to renew a license in most places, and another part is the lax assignment of responsibility on drivers to be competent. I trust safety technology to do it's job better than I trust 100% of people to be competent while driving. Like many things, even if 9/10 people do the right thing, all it takes is 1 person to fuck it up for others.

t-writescode 7y ago

In the 90s, they definitely were driving around in 140mph cars and big, big trucks, especially out in the country or in suburbia in the south; and we definitely walked around, rode bikes everywhere and so on. People are super, super afraid of everything. Now, I will say that people looking at their smart phones or driving with headphones on (this is a thing. What the heck, what is wrong with these people. No, I don’t care if they’re on a phone call, blue tooth for your car is a thing) is a new thing and is very distracted driving.

AnimalMuppet 7y ago

It was the 1960s. 1966, to be exact. My mother let my brother and I (5 and 4, respectively) walk our bikes down the road (no sidewalks) about three houses down, to the dead-end street, and we could ride them there. A bit later, she heard the sirens. The police cars and ambulance went right past our house, in the direction of the dead-end street. She came running out of our house, to find my brother and I sitting on our bikes at the entrance to the dead-end street, watching the show. It turned out the "show" was a neighbor boy about my age. He got hit crossing the road. He's been in a wheelchair ever since. So, yes, we did a lot of things in the 1960s. Some fo us got away with doing them. Some didn't. For those who didn't, the consequences could be pretty heavy.