Americans have been stripped of the right to walk

[Razgovory]

My little sis tries to get buy without using a car (she doesn't have a license).  It's extremely inconvenient.  It takes her an extra hour or two a day to do what she needs to do.

[mongers]

I've managed about 16 years without a car, though I live in a country about the size of a medium US state, I've a train station 9.5miles away and coaches/buses leaving from 520 yards away. 

Wouldn't like to try that in the US or Canada.

[Ed Anger]

I run over poors.

[Valmy]

No, I meant on the whole  - not just transportation.

That is true as well. This place is a hell hole and anybody even thinking about moving here better have second thoughts.

[Jacob]

I've managed about 16 years without a car, though I live in a country about the size of a medium US state, I've a train station 9.5miles away and coaches/buses leaving from 520 yards away. 

Wouldn't like to try that in the US or Canada.

It's doable in Canada in one of the larger cities. I managed for 20 years without a car in Vancouver, for example. Wouldn't want to not have a car now that I have a kid, though.

[Admiral Yi]

I didn't have a car in DC.  I was fine.

[OttoVonBismarck]

A good friend of mine once spent a year in Savannah Georgia on a work assignment.  She did not own a car in Vancouver and was, and is, a determined walker.  But she found trying to get around Savannah on foot practically impossible and she was forced to lease a car for that year.  Apparently there is a distinct lack of sidewalks and crosswalks there.  Perhaps it was the area she was living in?

Almost certainly, yes--Savannah proper has sidewalks on essentially every street. Maybe she lived in the suburbs or well away from the city center, but I've been to Savannah for vacations and such a few times (we've vacationed on Tybee Island a couple times, and Savannah is a quick 20 minute drive away.) Savannah's downtown is very tourist-friendly and has tons of little shops and walk-up street attractions.

[OttoVonBismarck]

Most actual cities in America you can get by fine without walking. But America isn't a place where it's easy to travel 20 miles if you don't have a car, there's simply not demand for robust non-driver transportation systems for local trips like that outside of a few cities. Also in America families have very little interest living in the inner city, gentrification in most American cities is being pushed by middle class and affluent young people, couples with no children, gay couples etc. So someone in a "family" mindset will find it hard to imagine how to live in the city center without all the family-oriented amenities. But the answer is the people who live there do not desire those amenities, they don't have kids, don't care too much about the quality of local schools and etc.

[Jacob]

Most actual cities in America you can get by fine without walking. But America isn't a place where it's easy to travel 20 miles if you don't have a car, there's simply not demand for robust non-driver transportation systems for local trips like that outside of a few cities. Also in America families have very little interest living in the inner city, gentrification in most American cities is being pushed by middle class and affluent young people, couples with no children, gay couples etc. So someone in a "family" mindset will find it hard to imagine how to live in the city center without all the family-oriented amenities. But the answer is the people who live there do not desire those amenities, they don't have kids, don't care too much about the quality of local schools and etc.

Interesting. In my local Canadian experience there are plenty of child- and family- amenities in or near the city centres. Not so much right in the business district, but in the residential areas there are plenty of community centres, daycares, playgrounds etc.

[DontSayBanana]

This is why Americans are so fat

https://aeon.co/essays/step-by-step-americans-are-sacrificing-the-right-to-walk

-snip-

You know what else we're losing?  The ability to do independent research.  I'm having a hard time finding the trial judgment, but I just read the appeal judgment giving the green-light to her retrial.

1) She and her children were jaywalking.  There was a crosswalk 150-feet away that they weren't in because she testified she didn't like going the extra distance.
2) It was 9:15 at night, and the section of street wasn't lit, so on top of jaywalking, you're jaywalking across a dark, multi-lane highway.  Parenting skills are starting to come into question here.
3) Not explicitly stated in the appeal judgment, but she got the 2nd vehicular homicide conviction at a retrial that she chose voluntarily instead of one year of probation.  I don't think I'd ever before heard of a sweetheart deal like that, where the judge and the prosecutor went "we think the jury was too harsh on you, we'll let you do one year probation or we can move for a retrial."  In going for the retrial instead of the slap on the wrist, I'd call her an idiot of the highest caliber.

To come back to the author, who is admittedly "writing from a position of privilege," no, I don't see Georgia v. Nelson as trampling pedestrians' rights (pun not intended); it's a cascade failure of common sense.

[Valmy]

Most actual cities in America you can get by fine without walking. But America isn't a place where it's easy to travel 20 miles if you don't have a car, there's simply not demand for robust non-driver transportation systems for local trips like that outside of a few cities. Also in America families have very little interest living in the inner city, gentrification in most American cities is being pushed by middle class and affluent young people, couples with no children, gay couples etc. So someone in a "family" mindset will find it hard to imagine how to live in the city center without all the family-oriented amenities. But the answer is the people who live there do not desire those amenities, they don't have kids, don't care too much about the quality of local schools and etc.

Well at least Austin has that going for it. Downtown is an amazing place to live. The schools are excellent and there are tons of things for kids to do.

If only I was rich.

[Brazen]

In the UK there is no jaywalking law and pedestrians have right of way, and roads are designed to support that with different sorts of crossing.

http://www.theorytestadvice.co.uk/learn-to-drive/crossings.php

[Brazen]

The highway code for pedestrians:
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/the-highway-code/rules-for-pedestrians-1-to-35

[Valmy]

The highway code for pedestrians:
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/the-highway-code/rules-for-pedestrians-1-to-35

Those seem like tips rather than rules. If those are actual codes than your laws are much more restrictive than ours.

In the UK there is no jaywalking law and pedestrians have right of way, and roads are designed to support that with different sorts of crossing.

Yeah pedestrians have the right of way here as well.

[Malthus]

"Here lies Winsor McKay,
Claimed to have the right of way."