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Violent crime might be rare, but unpleasant interactions with strangers are common. Panhandling, for example, can make people feel unsafe. You can never be su
by welshwelsh 3y ago
Violent crime might be rare, but unpleasant interactions with strangers are common.
Panhandling, for example, can make people feel unsafe. You can never be sure how a person will react if you say no. It's illegal to panhandle on the subway, but still happens all the time.
- brailsafe 3y agoI guess my point was the delta between how unsafe people are and how unsafe they feel. While it's important to build and improve systems like transit in a way that helps people feel comfortable, a whole lot of any given car driving majority that would make an argument against safety are probably some of the same people who'd buy a gun to ward against a hypothetical situation where someone is targeting them with another gun. I never had these fears, the car I already had was just the easier option, until it broke down. If someone were to consult me about my transit experience (albeit in a very different place) I'd tell them "Ya, sometimes there are panhandlers, sometimes there are super drunk people, but tbh I can't remember any specific examples because they're just random background noise from time to time". Meanwhile there are plenty of times I've almost been killed by cars in relatively mundane situations that I can remember specific examples of, including those I almost caused while driving and making a trivial mistake. Should people be more concerned about hypothetical discomfort resulting from someone asking for money, or the very predictable consumption of time, energy, money, and every day life altering risk of one wrong move by anyone around them? The latter doesn't mean I never drive, but for the 2-3 weeks a year I might need one, I just rent it, and then I'm reminded of why I don't want one, but it's nice sometimes.