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[Lazyslob]

Jaywalker4lyfe

 

[Toa TAK]

As someone who lives in LA, I THANK you car industry. I thank you.

 

[Little Green Yoda]

Ive said over and over I'm not going to defend these hypothetical pedestrians who lack a self preservation instinct and leap in front of speeding cars, despite the effort to put me in that position. I plainly laid out my opinion on this issue. I'm not sure what else to say. Cars are the deadly variable of this equation.

Careless pedestrians may be anecdotal but certainly not hypothetical. Multiple posters besides myself have brought them up in this very thread - are we all lying? My original post merely stipulated that the attitude of shifting 100% of the blame/responsibility to drivers is the reason why some pedestrians take for granted the fact that drivers don't want to run over them - so they walk into the street whenever they damn please. Your only response to that is: lol those people don't exist

Of course, cars are the deadly variable of this equation. Does this mean we should outlaw cars? Or enact a 5 mph speed limit whenever a pedestrian is nearby? All of which would save lives and only inconvenience those entitled drivers those dastardly city planners and automakers cater to?

Spoiler

no, I'm not saying you're supporting these ideas

The focus on cars is exactly why driving in the city is terrible. When everybody has to drive, you get shitshows like LA. If you facilitate walking, biking, and public transit you don't bottleneck everything and turn driving into a nightmare with no alternative.

Parking wouldn't be a nightmare if everybody wasn't driving and fewer people needed to own vehicles personally.

Society's focus on cars is a main determinant in that, yes. I'm just refuting the idea that the cities are so accommodating to cars. Even if the city developers' original intent never considered pedestrians or their needs, the implementation of crosswalks, stoplights, etc have changed that balance somewhat. Have things changed enough? Probably not. Infrastructure in this country blows. Even something as simple as well-lit areas at intersections without a traffic light would improve safety at night significantly.

 

[Slavik81]

This type of entitlement is exactly what a lot of people display here. Can't count how many times I see idiots crossing the road in the middle of the street instead of walking a few extra steps to the intersection with a crosswalk. What's worse is that most of them don't give a flying fuck and expect the world to stop for them. Some don't even bother looking for cars and cross indiscriminately.

In my experience, dumbass pedestrians are more common and are worse than bad bikers.

Walking a half-block in each direction can add 10 minutes to a trip in some places. The fact of the matter is that a lot of jaywalking is really an indication of bad urban design. Nobody should be surprised that when 'the right thing' is made ridiculously difficult, that everybody takes shortcuts.

For the most part, the solution is to put some thought into how the streets and pathways are designed. Put crosswalks in sensible locations, like next to bus stops and major attractions.

There are always idiots doing dumb things as a one-off, but the vast majority of jaywalking I see is entirely predictable.

 

[Vilam]

Jaywalking being illegal is stupid - I can look both ways and make a decision for myself if I should cross a road or not, thanks.

That said, it's a small price to pay to continue enjoying the car culture of the USA, so I'll happily tolerate it.

 

[CassidyIzABeast]

People use the the center turning lane as a sidewalk here.

 

[Little Green Yoda]

Walking a half-block in each direction can add 10 minutes to a trip in some places. The fact of the matter is that a lot of jaywalking is really an indication of bad urban design. Nobody should be surprised that when 'the right thing' is made ridiculously difficult, that everybody takes shortcuts.

For the most part, the solution is to put some thought into how the streets and pathways are designed. Put crosswalks in sensible locations, like next to bus stops and major attractions.

There are always idiots doing dumb things as a one-off, but the vast majority of jaywalking I see is entirely predictable.

Oh, certainly. I don't disagree with any of that. I'm not completely opposed to people carefully jaywalking.

It's the jaywalkers who hold up traffic or don't even look before crossing the middle of the street that I hate. Somehow being irked at that makes me the inconsiderate entitled asshole.

 

[lastflowers]

no, but your point of contention was concerning the purpose of the thread...when you clearly didn't read the OP.it seems like an accurate representation of your position at this point. Its not my intention to purposefully misrepresent your opinion. And we are done. When it gets to this point, you have no intention of advancing the conversation in any meaningful way. I'm not going to defend shit I never said or even implied.

Ive said over and over I'm not going to defend these hypothetical pedestrians who lack a self preservation instinct and leap in front of speeding cars, despite the constant effort to put me in that position. I plainly laid out my opinion on this issue. I'm not sure what else to say. Cars are the deadly variable of this equation.

So your position is that cars are deadly and people should remember that? That's not really a statement worth looking at or discussing in regards to jaywalking laws, nor the origins thereof.

 

[HalfBakedProphet]

So your position is that cars are deadly and people should remember that? That's not really a statement worth looking at or discussing in regards to jaywalking laws, nor the origins thereof.

no, my position is that our car-centric infrastructure isn't accommodating to pedestrians. It is a direct cause to people putting themselves in dangerous and stupid situations.

That position is absolutely relevant in a thread concerning auto makers lobbying to get laws made to protect the users of their products.

 

[ItWasMeantToBe19]

I really fucking hate jaywalkers and I mostly just take public transport.

Jesus christ people, why do you have to make me worried about dumbasses coming from every direction instead of just getting to the white lines? I don't care if it's a conspiracy from car companies, the amount of information that drivers have to process at once should be minimized as far as it can and people only crossing at certain points helps that a good deal.

 

[Bubble Metropolis]

I drive everywhere--it's a 30 minute walk to the nearest store from my home--and I still think it's absolutely terrifying that people here think it's absurd that they should have to always expect that someone could leap out in front of their car. Of course you fucking should. The entire first month of my driver's ed. classes back in highschool was basically sitting in the simulator, waiting for that basketball to fly out in front of your car that's going 30mph in a residential area and braking before the child followed after it. This sort of awareness should be applied absolutely everywhere. I live in a heavily wooded suburb with high speed limit, unpatrolled streets, but you have to constantly be on the lookout for deer, raccoons--anything, really. Nowhere should be considered "safe". We're in massive machines that could instantly ruin or end the lives of people outside of them in an instant, and also our own, and we should act like it.

 

[Jackpot]

All the people supporting jaywalking laws, you realise they barely exist outside the US, right? Why do you think that is.

 

[Dougald]

I honestly thought jaywalking was a joke until I went to the US. I guess it's better for drivers who can't be arsed to look where they're going

 

[teruterubozu]

So much rancor over jaywalking in this thread. LOL. GAF is serious business about anything.

 

[PetriP-TNT]

Whoa, didn't know that jaywalking is a crime. Dang

 

[danwarb]

How dare people walk on the land between buildings in towns and cities. Freedom!




Drivers, pay attention or don't drive.

 

[Mr.Wreckless]

How dare people walk on the land between buildings in towns and cities. Freedom!




Drivers, pay attention or don't drive.

How much will paying attention help if I'm doing 45mph and someone is walking across the street on the other side of a hill? I will either hit them or swerve into another lane and possibly kill even more people. That can't be 100% on the driver.

 

[Hunter S.]

Jaywalking twice a day keeps the doctor away.

The only time I saw this law enforced was at my college where jaywalking was done in mass. I still did it anyways in the areas the pigs did not watch.

 

[RangerX]

Is jaywalking actually enforced in the US? Coming from a country where you can cross the road wherever you want I always wondered do you actually get fined for that kind of thing

 

[teruterubozu]

Is jaywalking actually enforced in the US?

Not really. Only if the cop wants to be a real dick. New York City alone could balance the national budget if they handed out jaywalking tickets.

 

[Dougald]

How much will paying attention help if I'm doing 45mph and someone is walking across the street on the other side of a hill? I will either hit them or swerve into another lane and possibly kill even more people. That can't be 100% on the driver.

Do you speed around blind corners too? If you can't see what's coming you should be doing an appropriate speed

What if there's a broken down car on the other side? Or a deer? Or any number of things?

 

[Riki]

Good. That was one of the worst segments on Leno's show.

 

[Calabi]

America is so weird. I dont understand how you get anywhere on foot if you cant cross the street.

A law like this wouldnt work in the work in the UK. We have so many twisting roads, we could never have enough crosswalks(I'm presuming thats a zebra crossing or pedestrian crossing).

 

[Zoe]

Where are you driving 50mph with a crosswalk 20 feet away?

There are plenty of roads with crosswalks and a speed higher than that in Texas. The road I live on used to be 65, but too many people were afraid to go the speed limit.

 

[plagiarize]

All the people supporting jaywalking laws, you realise they barely exist outside the US, right? Why do you think that is.

They're all conveniently ignoring the part in the OP's first follow up post where someone who enforced jaywalking laws for over a decade admitted that doing so did absolutely nothing to the injury/crash statistics.

That's why this isn't akin to seat belt laws. Seat belt laws do actually save lives where enforced. Jay walking laws don't. They just make the town money.

Things should only be illegal if doing so has a net positive effect to society beyond increasing revenues.

There are plenty of roads with crosswalks and a speed higher than that in Texas. The road I live on used to be 65, but too many people were afraid to go the speed limit.

You're missing the point. If you're 20 feet away from a crosswalk you should already be slowing and prepared to stop. You shouldn't still be doing 50 miles per hour 20 feet from the crosswalk.

 

[YoungHav]

what is the herpes/pharmaceutical industry thing?