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Not really. I've had people driving perfectly normal sedans with 1,000-yard stare off to their left as they're turning right on red, who don't see me at all as

Not really. I've had people driving perfectly normal sedans with 1,000-yard stare off to their left as they're turning right on red, who don't see me at all as a pedestrian trying to walk across the crosswalk from their right. I first noticed this a few decades ago (before even iPhones). The average American doesn't understand the concept of "have your head on a swivel" and maintaining situational awareness of what is going on in two different directions. Or of just always be looking the direction that you're going (if you're about to stomp on the accelerator you better first be looking forward). The massive SUVs and trucks just make the problem worse, but they didn't start the problem. And that is apart from the horrible level of driver education, and education in general in the US, where a lot of drivers don't seem to understand that you actually need to stop for a right on red, or even that you need to yield to traffic from the left and just blow straight through the light.

noahjk 3y ago
This is my feeling as well. People are just trying to get where they’re going. That means, when turning on red, entering the intersection without stopping behind the line first. This almost always means driving straight through the crosswalk as well. And like you said, people have optimized their turning by staring left, prepared to barely even slow down before turning if the coast is clear. No thought is given to a potential pedestrian. Entering straight into intersections on a red light is an extremely bad habit that the US has. Along with getting rid of right turns on red (80% of pop would still do it), some countries also move the traffic lights to the close side of the street (above the traffic it controls, as opposed to across the intersection), forcing cars to stop further back to be able to see the light. I think that would be a huge impact to traffic patterns that is more physics based rather than legislature based.
- lamontcg 3y ago
  Yeah the biggest factor on making it worse isn't iPhones or big SUVs but just increasing narcissism (although the factors seem to be multiplicative).

noahjk 3y ago

This is my feeling as well. People are just trying to get where they’re going. That means, when turning on red, entering the intersection without stopping behind the line first. This almost always means driving straight through the crosswalk as well. And like you said, people have optimized their turning by staring left, prepared to barely even slow down before turning if the coast is clear. No thought is given to a potential pedestrian. Entering straight into intersections on a red light is an extremely bad habit that the US has. Along with getting rid of right turns on red (80% of pop would still do it), some countries also move the traffic lights to the close side of the street (above the traffic it controls, as opposed to across the intersection), forcing cars to stop further back to be able to see the light. I think that would be a huge impact to traffic patterns that is more physics based rather than legislature based.

lamontcg 3y ago
Yeah the biggest factor on making it worse isn't iPhones or big SUVs but just increasing narcissism (although the factors seem to be multiplicative).