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Not to blame the victims but recently I’ve noticed pedestrians doing a lot of dumb stuff that is not helping. In the past week I’ve had 5 different people cross

Not to blame the victims but recently I’ve noticed pedestrians doing a lot of dumb stuff that is not helping. In the past week I’ve had 5 different people crossing multiple lanes of traffic dressed in all dark colours in areas with poor or no street lighting at night. A couple of people I would likely have hit but I caught thier silhouette against car tail lights ahead of me. Do get me stated on people stepping out into traffic at crossing when cars have a green light. People looking at phones and stepping into traffic with I guess the idea that if they don’t look at you you will avoid them. I do think the is distracted walking as well as distracted driving.

ticviking 3y ago
I was just thinking about this. There was a big push in my city to stop “over policing” things like jaywalking and disorderly conduct. We stopped ticketing people for this and over a few years people have started jaywalking and even just chilling and having conversations in a lane.
- wink 3y ago
  Not a good argument, all around the world people are allowed to cross a road and don't usually stay standing there.
- yowzadave 3y ago
  Jaywalking is not "wrong"--it's a problem of cultural expectation. In many countries, streets are significantly safer than in the US, and pedestrians are allowed to cross freely at any point. Precisely because it is understood that pedestrians will do this, cars drive more cautiously and defer to the behavior of pedestrians. The street is a shared space, and cars do not have a special privilege to use it over all other transportation means. In the US, however, streets are understood to be owned by cars. Drivers move much faster and without regard for bikes/pedestrians/etc. Even the fact that a pedestrian in the street is called "jaywalking" is an expression of this difference--it's culturally frowned upon, if not actually illegal, for pedestrians to be in the street. So the challenge is: how do you change a culture? There's a better way demonstrated in many other places, but people get very grouchy when you ask them to start acting differently--"It's our way of life!"
DonsDiscountGas 3y ago
> areas with poor or no street lighting at night Seems like an infrastructure problem then as well.
joker_minmax 3y ago
This happens where I live too. The city has installed crosswalks at several lights along a main road, but people choose to jaywalk in one spot where there is no crosswalk and the lighting is weird because of a railway overpass. Always wearing dark colors, moving slowly, usually older men. I understand that walking to the crosswalk adds time to the route. But you're crossing five lanes (2 on each side, common turn lane). If you aren't young enough to jog this, please go to the crosswalk, unless you have a deathwish.
grouchomarx 3y ago
>Not to blame the victims but should have stopped there, then. for every inattentive ped there's a dozen inattentive drivers

ticviking 3y ago

I was just thinking about this. There was a big push in my city to stop “over policing” things like jaywalking and disorderly conduct. We stopped ticketing people for this and over a few years people have started jaywalking and even just chilling and having conversations in a lane.

wink 3y ago
Not a good argument, all around the world people are allowed to cross a road and don't usually stay standing there.
yowzadave 3y ago
Jaywalking is not "wrong"--it's a problem of cultural expectation. In many countries, streets are significantly safer than in the US, and pedestrians are allowed to cross freely at any point. Precisely because it is understood that pedestrians will do this, cars drive more cautiously and defer to the behavior of pedestrians. The street is a shared space, and cars do not have a special privilege to use it over all other transportation means. In the US, however, streets are understood to be owned by cars. Drivers move much faster and without regard for bikes/pedestrians/etc. Even the fact that a pedestrian in the street is called "jaywalking" is an expression of this difference--it's culturally frowned upon, if not actually illegal, for pedestrians to be in the street. So the challenge is: how do you change a culture? There's a better way demonstrated in many other places, but people get very grouchy when you ask them to start acting differently--"It's our way of life!"

DonsDiscountGas 3y ago

> areas with poor or no street lighting at night Seems like an infrastructure problem then as well.

joker_minmax 3y ago

This happens where I live too. The city has installed crosswalks at several lights along a main road, but people choose to jaywalk in one spot where there is no crosswalk and the lighting is weird because of a railway overpass. Always wearing dark colors, moving slowly, usually older men. I understand that walking to the crosswalk adds time to the route. But you're crossing five lanes (2 on each side, common turn lane). If you aren't young enough to jog this, please go to the crosswalk, unless you have a deathwish.

grouchomarx 3y ago

>Not to blame the victims but should have stopped there, then. for every inattentive ped there's a dozen inattentive drivers