Americans have been stripped of the right to walk

[Valmy]

So wait, I misread the original article Tim posted. Was the woman crossing a busy road with her kids *not* on a zebra crossing? What a cunt. Even if noone was hurt, she should be charged with reckless endangerment and have social services take her kids away from her.

Your calls for blood and vengeance towards people who have done you no harm always puzzles me.

[grumbler]

That was the entire point of the article. To show how we have made walking, a crazy hard thing to do.

It has always been a crazy hard thing to do.  The point of the article was to display hysteria in the hopes of getting clicks.

[Eddie Teach]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-AFn7MiJz_s

[crazy canuck]

That was the entire point of the article. To show how we have made walking, a crazy hard thing to do.

It has always been a crazy hard thing to do. 

Not in civilized countries that put cross walks near bus stops.

[Valmy]

Not in civilized countries that put cross walks near bus stops.

Well generally it considered the job of the city of plan out crosswalks and bus stops.

[alfred russel]

That was the entire point of the article. To show how we have made walking, a crazy hard thing to do.

It has always been a crazy hard thing to do. 

Not in civilized countries that put cross walks near bus stops.

I have been to a number of countries and I have yet to see one that has a crosswalk at every bus stop along busy four lane highways in the suburbs.

[garbon]

Pedestrians have right of way on sidewalks.  Vehicles have right on way on motorways.  If a pedestrian tries to cross a vehicle road that is not, say, a zebra crossing, he needs to give way to cars. 

Well I was always told the pedestrian always has the right of way regardless of how illegally they may be jaywalking.

I don't think that's the case. I mean drivers aren't allowed to hit pedestrians but pedestrians still aren't actually allowed to just cross the street however/whenever they want.

True...but that is what I said. Drivers are supposed to yield to pedestrians no matter what. Pedestrians can still be ticketed for jaywalking.

Well are there many civilized places that just let drivers hit pedestrians? Presumably one is supposed to always try to avoid hitting someone.

[Iormlund]

Pedestrians have right of way on sidewalks.  Vehicles have right on way on motorways.  If a pedestrian tries to cross a vehicle road that is not, say, a zebra crossing, he needs to give way to cars.

I agree with Mono. What kind of nonsense would give pedestrians the right of way outside of zebra crossing.

When crossing a road, pedestrians are advised to wait until it is safe to cross. If a pedestrian is crossing the road across a side street where a car is about to turn, vehicles should give way to the pedestrian. In UK schools children are taught to cross roads safely through the Green Cross Code. British children are taught to "Stop, Look, Listen and Think" before crossing a road, as demonstrated in the Arrive Alive campaign.


Apparently we do here in Britain (in a specific circumstance anyway.)

The same provision exists in Spain.

[Eddie Teach]

Well are there many civilized places that just let drivers hit pedestrians? Presumably one is supposed to always try to avoid hitting someone.

I hear in China the m.o. is to back over them to make sure the pedestrian is dead so you don't have to pay their hospital bills.

[crazy canuck]

That was the entire point of the article. To show how we have made walking, a crazy hard thing to do.

It has always been a crazy hard thing to do. 

Not in civilized countries that put cross walks near bus stops.

I have been to a number of countries and I have yet to see one that has a crosswalk at every bus stop along busy four lane highways in the suburbs.

ok.  But when you travel you really should try to do more than carry out a detailed survey of suburban cross walk practices.

[grumbler]

I have been to a number of countries and I have yet to see one that has a crosswalk at every bus stop along busy four lane highways in the suburbs.

ok.  But when you travel you really should try to do more than carry out a detailed survey of suburban cross walk practices.

One of the two of you should, and it's not him. 

[The Minsky Moment]

When I was in school, they used to teach people how to be good pedestrians. Safety and etiquette.

Boil it down and what that woman in the article did was stupid and dangerous. Yeah, it sucked that the crosswalk was .3 miles away, but avoiding erratic actions around drivers operating vehicles is simple common sense.

Yeah. She should petition her local authorities to build a crossing near the bus stop (preferably a high raise crossing so it does not interfere with the traffic).

Seriously?
While she's at it, she should pray to Zeus, and do the hokey-pokey -about as effective.

What you guys are missing is that there are many places in the US where little accommodation is made for pedestrian traffic - there may be one crossing per mile.  This is a deliberate decision and local governments in this places have zero interest spending more tax money to fix it.

[Jacob]

What you guys are missing is that there are many places in the US where little accommodation is made for pedestrian traffic - there may be one crossing per mile.  This is a deliberate decision and local governments in this places have zero interest spending more tax money to fix it.

Yeah, I haven't traveled extensively in the US but I've been to a number of places that were pretty poorly laid out for the purposes of walking compared to what I'm used to. It seems pretty obvious that those were deliberate design choices - like not putting a pedestrian crosswalk at a traffic light at all, or like only having sidewalks and other walking paths connecting buildings to parking lots, but not connecting buildings to buildings.

[grumbler]

Seriously?
While she's at it, she should pray to Zeus, and do the hokey-pokey -about as effective.

What you guys are missing is that there are many places in the US where little accommodation is made for pedestrian traffic - there may be one crossing per mile.  This is a deliberate decision and local governments in this places have zero interest spending more tax money to fix it.

Are you saying that people who ride buses generally count for less in the political equation than people who drive cars?  Say it ain't so, Joe!

I grew up in Ann Arbor, where traffic must yield to pedestrians under almost all circumstances.  It made driving a huge pain in the ass, which was, I suppose, part of the point.  However, it also made taking the bus a huge pain in the ass.  Still, it is a more pleasant town by far than most, in part because you can walk.

[mongers]

Glad 'we' got there in the end.

Maybe the discussion here was forced to take a two page detour to the nearest logical crossing point due to the usual argument traffic?