5 ms·

Are empty roads causing people to drive recklessly? Or are the isolation and disruption to people's lifestyles causing it?

cglace 6y ago
Probably a little of both. I doubt the souped up cars racing each other are just acting out due to being stir crazy.
- ikeyany 6y ago
  If that were true, one would expect reckless driving to scale indirectly with density.
  - nwatson 6y ago
    "Less-density-and-easier-to-speed-and-be-reckless" vs "cheap-gas-so-let's-go-for-it" vs "stir-crazy-in-lockdown" vs ... "rage-over-losing-my-job-or-having-to-work-in-risky-situations-while-the-rich-folks-work-from-home-while-saving-even-more-of-their-income" -- I think the latter feeling would contribute a lot to risky driving.
creaghpatr 6y ago
People are driving like maniacs on what were previously clogged up city streets from what I've seen. Hopefully a novelty that wears off. And of course there's this: https://www.wsbtv.com/news/local/dekalb-county/90s-film-tv-actress-among-dozens-arrested-street-racing-stunts/H35HJAXD4BBEZGXZJHN7EPWEDQ/ https://www.wsbtv.com/news/local/dekalb-county/90s-film-tv-a... And this: https://www.fox5atlanta.com/news/atlanta-police-arrest-dozens-in-street-racing-crackdown https://www.fox5atlanta.com/news/atlanta-police-arrest-dozen...
- beerandt 6y ago
  Atlanta's always had a problem with street "racing." Not finish line racing, but fast joy-riding in big groups, especially street bikes. It's not a novelty.
  - creaghpatr 6y ago
    True, but safe to say the frequency is way up as a result of emptier streets.
    - beerandt 6y ago
      I'd say as a result of boredom.
wereHamster 6y ago
Narrow, congested streets with not a lot of open space around it for run off are safer than wider, empty streets with lot of space around for when a driver might get off course. Why? Because a narrower street will keep the drivers focused on the road and potential dangers, whereas in the wider setting invites drivers to speed and drive recklessly in general, thinking that when they do a mistake they'll be safe anyways. This has been studied, however I don't have a link to the research papers at hand.
- ikeyany 6y ago
  My question is not "are empty streets safer?" My question is "how do we know the amount of reckless behavior isn't influenced by a once-in-a-lifetime event (pandemic)?"
  - hexedpackets 6y ago
    We know that removing traffic calming devices causes faster and more reckless driving. Poorly designed streets in high-density areas tend to rely on heavy traffic as their primary means of traffic calming. The pandemic could also separately be playing a role, but its certainly not the only cause if it is a factor.
__s 6y ago
Empty roads. I've seen empty roads in normal times promote this sort of thing. Similarly, city's that build narrower roads experience less speeding
- ikeyany 6y ago
  I'm still not convinced. And it wouldn't be hard to prove either: there must be data for how much empty roads affects reckless driving during non-pandemic times. So if today's empty roads are causing reckless driving at a similar rate, then I would conclude that the pandemic isn't relevant. It would have been nice for the BBC to compare the two cases in their article.
  - __s 6y ago
    2014: https://www.citylab.com/design/2014/10/why-12-foot-traffic-lanes-are-disastrous-for-safety-and-must-be-replaced-now/381117 https://www.citylab.com/design/2014/10/why-12-foot-traffic-l...

cglace 6y ago

Probably a little of both. I doubt the souped up cars racing each other are just acting out due to being stir crazy.

ikeyany 6y ago
If that were true, one would expect reckless driving to scale indirectly with density.
- nwatson 6y ago
  "Less-density-and-easier-to-speed-and-be-reckless" vs "cheap-gas-so-let's-go-for-it" vs "stir-crazy-in-lockdown" vs ... "rage-over-losing-my-job-or-having-to-work-in-risky-situations-while-the-rich-folks-work-from-home-while-saving-even-more-of-their-income" -- I think the latter feeling would contribute a lot to risky driving.

creaghpatr 6y ago

People are driving like maniacs on what were previously clogged up city streets from what I've seen. Hopefully a novelty that wears off. And of course there's this: https://www.wsbtv.com/news/local/dekalb-county/90s-film-tv-actress-among-dozens-arrested-street-racing-stunts/H35HJAXD4BBEZGXZJHN7EPWEDQ/ https://www.wsbtv.com/news/local/dekalb-county/90s-film-tv-a... And this: https://www.fox5atlanta.com/news/atlanta-police-arrest-dozens-in-street-racing-crackdown https://www.fox5atlanta.com/news/atlanta-police-arrest-dozen...

beerandt 6y ago
Atlanta's always had a problem with street "racing." Not finish line racing, but fast joy-riding in big groups, especially street bikes. It's not a novelty.
- creaghpatr 6y ago
  True, but safe to say the frequency is way up as a result of emptier streets.
  - beerandt 6y ago
    I'd say as a result of boredom.

wereHamster 6y ago

Narrow, congested streets with not a lot of open space around it for run off are safer than wider, empty streets with lot of space around for when a driver might get off course. Why? Because a narrower street will keep the drivers focused on the road and potential dangers, whereas in the wider setting invites drivers to speed and drive recklessly in general, thinking that when they do a mistake they'll be safe anyways. This has been studied, however I don't have a link to the research papers at hand.

ikeyany 6y ago
My question is not "are empty streets safer?" My question is "how do we know the amount of reckless behavior isn't influenced by a once-in-a-lifetime event (pandemic)?"
- hexedpackets 6y ago
  We know that removing traffic calming devices causes faster and more reckless driving. Poorly designed streets in high-density areas tend to rely on heavy traffic as their primary means of traffic calming. The pandemic could also separately be playing a role, but its certainly not the only cause if it is a factor.

__s 6y ago

Empty roads. I've seen empty roads in normal times promote this sort of thing. Similarly, city's that build narrower roads experience less speeding

ikeyany 6y ago
I'm still not convinced. And it wouldn't be hard to prove either: there must be data for how much empty roads affects reckless driving during non-pandemic times. So if today's empty roads are causing reckless driving at a similar rate, then I would conclude that the pandemic isn't relevant. It would have been nice for the BBC to compare the two cases in their article.
- __s 6y ago
  2014: https://www.citylab.com/design/2014/10/why-12-foot-traffic-lanes-are-disastrous-for-safety-and-must-be-replaced-now/381117 https://www.citylab.com/design/2014/10/why-12-foot-traffic-l...