6 ms·

And people who need to get somewhere to save lives are suitably invigorated, I'm sure.

by msla 6y ago

CydeWeys 6y ago
Yeah, actually. I saw a huge fucking grin on the face of the guy riding shotgun in the ambulance as the crowd of cyclists parted like magic in front of them and they had a personal escort of two vested corkers. Guy was even filming. They got where they were going faster than if the usual stop and go car traffic had been there. The great thing about people on foot or on bike is that they can easily get out of the way of emergency vehicles, vs cars and trucks which often can't.
- macintux 6y ago
  If you’ve created a logjam however, how does the ambulance get through the stopped traffic? (I’m not arguing against protesting on the freeway, to be clear, just genuinely curious how often it helps vs hinders emergency vehicles.)
  - Kerrick 6y ago
    I've experienced this outside of protests. My wife and I were driving somewhere near downtown St. Louis, on a part of the interstate where there are tall concrete barriers between the directions of traffic. There was a complete log jam due to an accident ahead, and we heard sirens coming up from behind us to the left. We were in the left of two lanes. The right shoulder was either filled up or too small (can't remember), so people couldn't really pull right more than a foot or two to allow the ambulance through. The ambulance didn't let that deter them. They took the foot or two we and the other left-lane drivers could give by getting REALLY close to the car to our right, and used it to careen down the left shoulder, scraping the side of their vehicle along the concrete barrier much of the way.
    - sudosysgen 6y ago
      Damn, that's dedication. Kudos to the drivers!
- msla 6y ago
  I'm not talking about emergency vehicles or people who get escorts. I'm talking about the doctors who have to make their own way in their own vehicles.
  - Dylan16807 6y ago
    It's okay, the minor negative effects of that are never going to be more important than the ability to protest effectively. Just like nobody blames normal traffic for killing people via doctor delays.
    - msla 6y ago
      > It's okay, the minor negative effects of that are never going to be more important than the ability to protest effectively. Are you even theoretically willing to discuss this in good faith? > Just like nobody blames normal traffic for killing people via doctor delays. That's because normal traffic jams aren't intentional.
      - Dylan16807 6y ago
        You're accusing me of bad faith. When all I did was disagree with you. What is wrong with your ability to have a discussion? Edit: It's ridiculous to me that someone flagged this but not the person accusing me of bad faith based on absolutely nothing. Whoever did that, I beg you to explain.
        sudosysgen 6y ago
        In the future, it's considered bad form to complain if your posts are flagged. That said, I agree that it certainly wasn't bad faith to argue that in some cases the downsides of protests are worth how vital it is, and it was a very cheap shot. FWIW, my city had 35% of its population, over half a million people, entirely fill almost every street downtown, and there were no catastrophic events. Worse comes to worst, alternative routes will need to be planned. I think the most catastrophic thing that happened is that the cellular systems crashed, but for the most part GSM still held out so it was okay, and the stores had landlines that were used when worse came to worst. Same during the Hong Kong protests, I never saw anyone complain about such things, and indeed I don't believe it had catastrophic effects.

And people who need to get somewhere to save lives are suitably invigorated, I'm sure.

by msla 6y ago

And people who need to get somewhere to save lives are suitably invigorated, I'm sure.

Yeah, actually. I saw a huge fucking grin on the face of the guy riding shotgun in the ambulance as the crowd of cyclists parted like magic in front of them and they had a personal escort of two vested corkers. Guy was even filming. They got where they were going faster than if the usual stop and go car traffic had been there. The great thing about people on foot or on bike is that they can easily get out of the way of emergency vehicles, vs cars and trucks which often can't.

macintux 6y ago
If you’ve created a logjam however, how does the ambulance get through the stopped traffic? (I’m not arguing against protesting on the freeway, to be clear, just genuinely curious how often it helps vs hinders emergency vehicles.)
- Kerrick 6y ago
  I've experienced this outside of protests. My wife and I were driving somewhere near downtown St. Louis, on a part of the interstate where there are tall concrete barriers between the directions of traffic. There was a complete log jam due to an accident ahead, and we heard sirens coming up from behind us to the left. We were in the left of two lanes. The right shoulder was either filled up or too small (can't remember), so people couldn't really pull right more than a foot or two to allow the ambulance through. The ambulance didn't let that deter them. They took the foot or two we and the other left-lane drivers could give by getting REALLY close to the car to our right, and used it to careen down the left shoulder, scraping the side of their vehicle along the concrete barrier much of the way.
  - sudosysgen 6y ago
    Damn, that's dedication. Kudos to the drivers!
msla 6y ago
I'm not talking about emergency vehicles or people who get escorts. I'm talking about the doctors who have to make their own way in their own vehicles.
- Dylan16807 6y ago
  It's okay, the minor negative effects of that are never going to be more important than the ability to protest effectively. Just like nobody blames normal traffic for killing people via doctor delays.
  - msla 6y ago
    > It's okay, the minor negative effects of that are never going to be more important than the ability to protest effectively. Are you even theoretically willing to discuss this in good faith? > Just like nobody blames normal traffic for killing people via doctor delays. That's because normal traffic jams aren't intentional.
    - Dylan16807 6y ago
      You're accusing me of bad faith. When all I did was disagree with you. What is wrong with your ability to have a discussion? Edit: It's ridiculous to me that someone flagged this but not the person accusing me of bad faith based on absolutely nothing. Whoever did that, I beg you to explain.
      - sudosysgen 6y ago
        In the future, it's considered bad form to complain if your posts are flagged. That said, I agree that it certainly wasn't bad faith to argue that in some cases the downsides of protests are worth how vital it is, and it was a very cheap shot. FWIW, my city had 35% of its population, over half a million people, entirely fill almost every street downtown, and there were no catastrophic events. Worse comes to worst, alternative routes will need to be planned. I think the most catastrophic thing that happened is that the cellular systems crashed, but for the most part GSM still held out so it was okay, and the stores had landlines that were used when worse came to worst. Same during the Hong Kong protests, I never saw anyone complain about such things, and indeed I don't believe it had catastrophic effects.