7 ms·

I stopped using buses and trams in the US out of fear for my personal safety. I'm not going to wear a bulletproof vest and carrying a handgun concealed just to

I stopped using buses and trams in the US out of fear for my personal safety. I'm not going to wear a bulletproof vest and carrying a handgun concealed just to get around town. Now I drive between safer areas to do things and meet people and don't have to put myself in danger by exposing myself in the in-between areas. A metal box goes a long way to prevent an assault. The whole situation is just pathetic.

siquick 4y ago
Where do you live? As an outsider it’s crazy that anyone in the US can think like this.
- orangepurple 4y ago
  Have lived in multiple top 10 US cities by population. It's the same story everywhere. Watch the interviews by charliebo313 to learn the story.
throwaway894345 4y ago
I'm not a hardcore anti-car person, but realistically you're safer taking buses and trains and so on in the US than you are driving on the highway. Of course, if you're just taking trips across town a car might be safer? Ideally though major cities would police public transit better, but we really reversed course on policing in this country beginning circa 2014 and crime has risen commensurately.
- orangepurple 4y ago
  After witnessing how 911 and the police treat my reports I am convinced that crime stats in all major US metro areas are cooked and rife with under-reporting and lies. The crime rate is much higher than the stats show. Imagine my horror when I was put on put on hold for 5 minutes with 911 in the nation's capital after being attacked while jogging and the dispatcher was annoyed at me for bothering her.
  - throwaway894345 4y ago
    That’s a fair point and one I agree with. Police across the country have either pulled back or been pulled back such that proactive policing has been dramatically reduced, which has been driving up crime, but it also means police aren’t looking for crimes like they used to do, which would also contribute to an “underreporting” effect. And homicides and other not-so-easily-overlooked crimes are way, way up so it would be surprising if the forces operating on homicides (“I can get away with murder”, basically) weren’t also operating on other crimes.
asdff 4y ago
I just can't imagine living life in this much fear, and I ride transit in LA county. The things I've seen would probably send you to some bubblewrapped environment in the midwest, but at the end of the day they are just things that I've seen and not things that have personally affected me at all. Someone smoking meth on the platform ultimately doesn't affect me. Someone selling loose cigarettes doesn't affect me. Two crazy people getting into a fight over nothing also doesn't affect me. A guy tagging MS-13 on the schedule map similarly doesn't affect me. You don't make eye contact and keep to yourself, and nothing happens to you. If something does happen, every single train car has an intercom tied to EMS, and every single bus has a driver who is trained on how to deal with these situations when they do inevitably come up (pull over and call EMS). If you got beat up I'm sure you'd have a case against the city and the city attorney would probably be happy to settle and pay you versus deal with a lawsuit and potentially more seriously have to address something. The odds of you getting killed are just too low to even seriously consider, you are probably a lot more likely to die crossing the street to get to the bus stop than you are to die on the bus involved in some situation.
- runesofdoom 4y ago
  >I just can't imagine living life in this much fear >You don't make eye contact and keep to yourself, and nothing happens to you. This sounds like you are living your life in fear.
  - _bohm 4y ago
    Oh please. Making eye contact is a surefire way to draw the attention of someone who is acting erratically. If you have the time and will to engage directly with every single one of these people, then be my guest. But to call this living in fear is laughable to anyone who's ever spent an appreciable amount of time commuting via public transit.
    - 0des 4y ago
      If there are people erratic enough to be a source of danger from mere eye contact, thats a good reason to be carrying concealed.
quantified 4y ago
That sounds much more fear-filled than the actual risk you run.
- orangepurple 4y ago
  The police in my city in the US (2+ million pop.) are there to document the aftermath of crimes (only if substantial damage was caused or they won't come out) and to take photos of deceased bodies. Your life is purely in your own hands despite the illusion. You simply roll the dice daily. I called the police three times to report crimes in progress and have been blown off, the police responded after a few hours each time, or my police report was "lost". I needed it for an insurance claim when thousands of dollars of my property was stolen. In another city I have even called 911 and been put on hold for 5 minutes. In the nation's capital after being attacked unprovoked while running at dusk in a large central park but managed to barely slip out of his grip and book it. Thinking back it would have been very easy to make a body disappear there without a trace. Zero follow up or news about attacks occurring there. The 911 dispatcher was annoyed that she had to be bothered by me. I should have known better I guess after seeing a car laying in the middle of Missouri Ave with all four wheels sheared off after a police chase. Thankfully it's easy to protect yourself with a concealed handgun. Just kidding, it's illegal to possess or use weapons in Washington D.C.
  - chasd00 4y ago
    I was shot at from a car while walking down the sidewalk. I could hear the ricochets off the pavement near me. I ducked behind a tree and called 911. They took my name/location and hung up. I never saw an officer. /this was in Dallas Texas about a month ago
    - orangepurple 4y ago
      Jesus christ. I have heard of similar incidents happening as being part of a gang initiation, especially if the attack was purely unprovoked (i.e., you weren't targeted for political or financial motives). I reckon this kind of stuff is a special kind of behavior usually reserved for areas within a day's drive to the Mexican border.
earth_walker 4y ago
Sounds hellish. Is the money really worth living in such a place?
- chasd00 4y ago
  Maybe it’s a form of the Stockholm syndrome? I can’t make heads or tails why someone would want to live in that environment either.
  - orangepurple 4y ago
    It's difficult for Americans to change anything because all changes are potentially racist and they can't escape either because immigration to safe foreign countries is only feasible for those that can claim and prove unbroken ancestry or exceptional talent. The only solution Americans have is to universally liberalize handgun concealed carry and make bodycams in public ubiquitous so you can exonerate yourself after defending yourself. Americans are swimming in an ocean of criminals if they decide to be out in public. It can't be fixed at this point because all changes are perceived as harming some minorities or racist. Nevermind that in the places where most life threatening crimes occur, minorities are not the minority. Americans' mindset is so warped that it will take generations of suffering and unnecessary death to sufficiently correct the cultural zeitgeist. This is why concealed carry and bodycams are so essential to normal Americans today. You can't fix society so you have to protect yourself and exonerate yourself with video footage.
    - throwaway894345 4y ago
      This is the craziest thing I’ve read this week. Yes, we have too much violent crime, but it’s not worse than it was in the 90s. That’s a lot of regression in a short period of time, and we don’t want to continue on this trajectory, but it’s not nearly as extreme as you suggest. I suspect you’re making a couple of errant assumptions: 1. Looking at the sheer number of homicides in the US without accounting for the US’s very large population (our rates are still high for a 1st world country, but not as much as they seem without the population adjustment) 2. Assuming that crime is evenly distributed across our country. Most of the violent crime in the US happens in so-called “inner cities”. Most of the country is very safe, but a few places are very unsafe. Basically the US is a biiiigggg and diverse country by 1st world standards.

siquick 4y ago

Where do you live? As an outsider it’s crazy that anyone in the US can think like this.

orangepurple 4y ago
Have lived in multiple top 10 US cities by population. It's the same story everywhere. Watch the interviews by charliebo313 to learn the story.

throwaway894345 4y ago

I'm not a hardcore anti-car person, but realistically you're safer taking buses and trains and so on in the US than you are driving on the highway. Of course, if you're just taking trips across town a car might be safer? Ideally though major cities would police public transit better, but we really reversed course on policing in this country beginning circa 2014 and crime has risen commensurately.

orangepurple 4y ago
After witnessing how 911 and the police treat my reports I am convinced that crime stats in all major US metro areas are cooked and rife with under-reporting and lies. The crime rate is much higher than the stats show. Imagine my horror when I was put on put on hold for 5 minutes with 911 in the nation's capital after being attacked while jogging and the dispatcher was annoyed at me for bothering her.
- throwaway894345 4y ago
  That’s a fair point and one I agree with. Police across the country have either pulled back or been pulled back such that proactive policing has been dramatically reduced, which has been driving up crime, but it also means police aren’t looking for crimes like they used to do, which would also contribute to an “underreporting” effect. And homicides and other not-so-easily-overlooked crimes are way, way up so it would be surprising if the forces operating on homicides (“I can get away with murder”, basically) weren’t also operating on other crimes.

asdff 4y ago

I just can't imagine living life in this much fear, and I ride transit in LA county. The things I've seen would probably send you to some bubblewrapped environment in the midwest, but at the end of the day they are just things that I've seen and not things that have personally affected me at all. Someone smoking meth on the platform ultimately doesn't affect me. Someone selling loose cigarettes doesn't affect me. Two crazy people getting into a fight over nothing also doesn't affect me. A guy tagging MS-13 on the schedule map similarly doesn't affect me. You don't make eye contact and keep to yourself, and nothing happens to you. If something does happen, every single train car has an intercom tied to EMS, and every single bus has a driver who is trained on how to deal with these situations when they do inevitably come up (pull over and call EMS). If you got beat up I'm sure you'd have a case against the city and the city attorney would probably be happy to settle and pay you versus deal with a lawsuit and potentially more seriously have to address something. The odds of you getting killed are just too low to even seriously consider, you are probably a lot more likely to die crossing the street to get to the bus stop than you are to die on the bus involved in some situation.

runesofdoom 4y ago
>I just can't imagine living life in this much fear >You don't make eye contact and keep to yourself, and nothing happens to you. This sounds like you are living your life in fear.
- _bohm 4y ago
  Oh please. Making eye contact is a surefire way to draw the attention of someone who is acting erratically. If you have the time and will to engage directly with every single one of these people, then be my guest. But to call this living in fear is laughable to anyone who's ever spent an appreciable amount of time commuting via public transit.
  - 0des 4y ago
    If there are people erratic enough to be a source of danger from mere eye contact, thats a good reason to be carrying concealed.

quantified 4y ago

That sounds much more fear-filled than the actual risk you run.

orangepurple 4y ago
The police in my city in the US (2+ million pop.) are there to document the aftermath of crimes (only if substantial damage was caused or they won't come out) and to take photos of deceased bodies. Your life is purely in your own hands despite the illusion. You simply roll the dice daily. I called the police three times to report crimes in progress and have been blown off, the police responded after a few hours each time, or my police report was "lost". I needed it for an insurance claim when thousands of dollars of my property was stolen. In another city I have even called 911 and been put on hold for 5 minutes. In the nation's capital after being attacked unprovoked while running at dusk in a large central park but managed to barely slip out of his grip and book it. Thinking back it would have been very easy to make a body disappear there without a trace. Zero follow up or news about attacks occurring there. The 911 dispatcher was annoyed that she had to be bothered by me. I should have known better I guess after seeing a car laying in the middle of Missouri Ave with all four wheels sheared off after a police chase. Thankfully it's easy to protect yourself with a concealed handgun. Just kidding, it's illegal to possess or use weapons in Washington D.C.
- chasd00 4y ago
  I was shot at from a car while walking down the sidewalk. I could hear the ricochets off the pavement near me. I ducked behind a tree and called 911. They took my name/location and hung up. I never saw an officer. /this was in Dallas Texas about a month ago
  - orangepurple 4y ago
    Jesus christ. I have heard of similar incidents happening as being part of a gang initiation, especially if the attack was purely unprovoked (i.e., you weren't targeted for political or financial motives). I reckon this kind of stuff is a special kind of behavior usually reserved for areas within a day's drive to the Mexican border.

earth_walker 4y ago

Sounds hellish. Is the money really worth living in such a place?

chasd00 4y ago
Maybe it’s a form of the Stockholm syndrome? I can’t make heads or tails why someone would want to live in that environment either.
- orangepurple 4y ago
  It's difficult for Americans to change anything because all changes are potentially racist and they can't escape either because immigration to safe foreign countries is only feasible for those that can claim and prove unbroken ancestry or exceptional talent. The only solution Americans have is to universally liberalize handgun concealed carry and make bodycams in public ubiquitous so you can exonerate yourself after defending yourself. Americans are swimming in an ocean of criminals if they decide to be out in public. It can't be fixed at this point because all changes are perceived as harming some minorities or racist. Nevermind that in the places where most life threatening crimes occur, minorities are not the minority. Americans' mindset is so warped that it will take generations of suffering and unnecessary death to sufficiently correct the cultural zeitgeist. This is why concealed carry and bodycams are so essential to normal Americans today. You can't fix society so you have to protect yourself and exonerate yourself with video footage.
  - throwaway894345 4y ago
    This is the craziest thing I’ve read this week. Yes, we have too much violent crime, but it’s not worse than it was in the 90s. That’s a lot of regression in a short period of time, and we don’t want to continue on this trajectory, but it’s not nearly as extreme as you suggest. I suspect you’re making a couple of errant assumptions: 1. Looking at the sheer number of homicides in the US without accounting for the US’s very large population (our rates are still high for a 1st world country, but not as much as they seem without the population adjustment) 2. Assuming that crime is evenly distributed across our country. Most of the violent crime in the US happens in so-called “inner cities”. Most of the country is very safe, but a few places are very unsafe. Basically the US is a biiiigggg and diverse country by 1st world standards.