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Why can't you take some responsibility for their safety? You're the one in a 200+ bhp murder machine, not them. If somebody can dart out into the path of your c

by tom_ 6y ago

Why can't you take some responsibility for their safety? You're the one in a 200+ bhp murder machine, not them. If somebody can dart out into the path of your car, you should be asking yourself why you let yourself get into that situation.

BitwiseFool 6y ago
>"You're the one in a 200+ bhp murder machine, not them. If somebody can dart out into the path of your car, you should be asking yourself why you let yourself get into that situation." If somebody can dart out in front of my car, isn't that the fault of the person who darted? Or, the civil engineer who designed the road? How can you possibly say that I let myself get into this situation?
- tom_ 6y ago
  My point is: why were you not more carefully assessing the situation, to ensure that you were driving at an appropriate speed, given the risk of having somebody leap into the path of your car? That is after all a situation you presumably want to avoid. (Even if you don't care about hitting somebody, maybe at least consider that it's equivalent to having a 75 kg lump of meat fired at your car at, say, 35 mph.)
  - BitwiseFool 6y ago
    I've had pedestrians dart out in front of my path on three separate occasion in my life. Thankfully, I was aware enough to prevent hitting them. A combination of a slow enough speed, good brakes, enough distance, and luck (to be honest). It was a jarring experience each time, and each time it was completely unexpected. Of course I care about the life of the people who almost got hit - and I'm glad they didn't get maimed. But I absolutely did do a lot of cursing and wondering why they didn't look both ways.
inglor_cz 6y ago
From a city that has a lot of public transport (Prague): some people will dart in front of fully loaded buses, trams, or even trains at a railway crossing. That is humanity at its finest. (/s) I would be pissed off if maximum speed of a train (a 20000+ bhp murder machine, by your standard) that I use to commute was lowered to some 10 kph in order to keep those candidates of the Darwin Award alive. Being weaker (pedestrian) does not absolve you of all guilt if you decide to hazard with your life.
- ck425 6y ago
  But a train is on specific tracks where a pedestrian has little need to be. That's not the case with cars, which intermingle heavily with pedestrian areas. In those cases I think it's perfectly fair to restrict their speed for safety and to put the onus on the driver to prioritise safety. The alternative is we either ban cars from pedestrian areas completely or we just accept the deaths or heavy inconvenience of pedestrians (which seems to be the current US model).
- yw3410 6y ago
  Please think a little about what you've said; that you'd rather a fellow human would be killed for less than 5 minutes of convenience for you.
  - Noumenon72 6y ago
    That's exactly what the jaywalker said about their own life when they decided to jump out into traffic to get across sooner. And it's a rational calculation: the five minutes saved is concretely useful and the chance of a death is low. When you do the math and present value calculation, you get more of your life to enjoy if you risk it sometimes.

by tom_ 6y ago

BitwiseFool 6y ago

>"You're the one in a 200+ bhp murder machine, not them. If somebody can dart out into the path of your car, you should be asking yourself why you let yourself get into that situation." If somebody can dart out in front of my car, isn't that the fault of the person who darted? Or, the civil engineer who designed the road? How can you possibly say that I let myself get into this situation?

tom_ 6y ago
My point is: why were you not more carefully assessing the situation, to ensure that you were driving at an appropriate speed, given the risk of having somebody leap into the path of your car? That is after all a situation you presumably want to avoid. (Even if you don't care about hitting somebody, maybe at least consider that it's equivalent to having a 75 kg lump of meat fired at your car at, say, 35 mph.)
- BitwiseFool 6y ago
  I've had pedestrians dart out in front of my path on three separate occasion in my life. Thankfully, I was aware enough to prevent hitting them. A combination of a slow enough speed, good brakes, enough distance, and luck (to be honest). It was a jarring experience each time, and each time it was completely unexpected. Of course I care about the life of the people who almost got hit - and I'm glad they didn't get maimed. But I absolutely did do a lot of cursing and wondering why they didn't look both ways.

inglor_cz 6y ago

From a city that has a lot of public transport (Prague): some people will dart in front of fully loaded buses, trams, or even trains at a railway crossing. That is humanity at its finest. (/s) I would be pissed off if maximum speed of a train (a 20000+ bhp murder machine, by your standard) that I use to commute was lowered to some 10 kph in order to keep those candidates of the Darwin Award alive. Being weaker (pedestrian) does not absolve you of all guilt if you decide to hazard with your life.

ck425 6y ago
But a train is on specific tracks where a pedestrian has little need to be. That's not the case with cars, which intermingle heavily with pedestrian areas. In those cases I think it's perfectly fair to restrict their speed for safety and to put the onus on the driver to prioritise safety. The alternative is we either ban cars from pedestrian areas completely or we just accept the deaths or heavy inconvenience of pedestrians (which seems to be the current US model).
yw3410 6y ago
Please think a little about what you've said; that you'd rather a fellow human would be killed for less than 5 minutes of convenience for you.
- Noumenon72 6y ago
  That's exactly what the jaywalker said about their own life when they decided to jump out into traffic to get across sooner. And it's a rational calculation: the five minutes saved is concretely useful and the chance of a death is low. When you do the math and present value calculation, you get more of your life to enjoy if you risk it sometimes.