Pedestrians = more dangerous than drivers?
09-24-19, 11:08 AM
#101
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I've witnessed this many times before. One time an old man nearly clipped me. I caught up to him at a light and situated myself in front of his car in the middle of the lane. As I was standing and waiting for the light to change he slowly moved his car towards me, running into my bike, never once stopping. Had I not moved I'd likely have ended up with few broken bones.
I've also had a teenaged girl drive a van with 4 guys in their late teens, chasing me, doing u-turns, and generally driving like one would in a video game. Whenever she got close enough to me, she'd stop, allowing the guys to open the sliding door and chase after me with hockey sticks. You cannot imagine how terrifying it was—my chest had palpitations for the next two weeks due to my overexertion. Finally, I got away. I came back again and found them stopped at a gas station getting gas. I said to her, "I've got your licence, and the police will be notified." How queer it is that she then begs me not to call them; you'd have thought she'd wanted the police to be called by the way she was driving. So, I called them for her. I also told the police I was going to have her charged, just to put a little extra fear in her.
I've also had a teenaged girl drive a van with 4 guys in their late teens, chasing me, doing u-turns, and generally driving like one would in a video game. Whenever she got close enough to me, she'd stop, allowing the guys to open the sliding door and chase after me with hockey sticks. You cannot imagine how terrifying it was—my chest had palpitations for the next two weeks due to my overexertion. Finally, I got away. I came back again and found them stopped at a gas station getting gas. I said to her, "I've got your licence, and the police will be notified." How queer it is that she then begs me not to call them; you'd have thought she'd wanted the police to be called by the way she was driving. So, I called them for her. I also told the police I was going to have her charged, just to put a little extra fear in her.
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09-24-19, 11:19 AM
#102
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A friendly pedestrian out celebrating his birthday today.
09-24-19, 12:03 PM
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09-24-19, 02:22 PM
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09-25-19, 01:47 PM
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09-25-19, 10:02 PM
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More info on the friendly pedestrian of Philadelphia can be found at: https://www.citylab.com/life/2018/10...gritty/572350/
Note: the cited article includes pictures and words that might offend people with a preference for unholy creatures with an orange tint.
Note: the cited article includes pictures and words that might offend people with a preference for unholy creatures with an orange tint.
09-26-19, 05:02 AM
#110
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Those machines are just so much potential scrap metal without the people operating them. The people are the dangerous element. No weapon ever kills without human interaction, no tool causes death or injury without human interaction. It is, indeed, simple. A simple truth that most are uncomfortable with. We, and only we, are responsible (oh that word!) for whatever happens with a tool of any kind that is under our control. Anything else is fiction.
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09-26-19, 05:38 AM
#111
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Though, it is an interesting observation to note that a typical cyclist death news story (in NYC we've had quite a few) headlines will be along the lines of "Cyclist killed by truck" -- and not "Cyclist killed by John Doe who was driving a truck". Not sure if it's a media bias that indeed more often than not, takes the human being out of the offending act.
BTW, I suspect it will be pretty hard to find many "pedestrian kills cyclist" stories that don't involve the use of a weapon.
09-26-19, 06:08 AM
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09-26-19, 06:18 AM
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That's kind of the point, though. Pedestrians misbehaving is a bigger threat to themselves than to others, while the opposite is true for drivers. I'm going back to refuting the premise of the OP. The real goal post in this thread has been from "pedestrians are dangerous" to " pedestrians are less predictable. " I happen to think even that assertion isn't true because of the much greater speeds of motor vehicles.
09-26-19, 12:06 PM
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Though, it is an interesting observation to note that a typical cyclist death news story (in NYC we've had quite a few) headlines will be along the lines of "Cyclist killed by truck" -- and not "Cyclist killed by John Doe who was driving a truck". Not sure if it's a media bias that indeed more often than not, takes the human being out of the offending act.
09-26-19, 03:03 PM
#115
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So far, society doesn't really seem to agree that pedestrians have priority on streets - if drivers were required by law to be prepared for random pedestrians in the street and face criminal negligence charges otherwise, then almost all drivers would drive more slowly and more cautiously, but this is not the case.
09-30-19, 09:01 AM
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Please no gun / NRA discussions. Gun discussions are very emotional and political and only allowed in P&R. If gun discussion continues, this thread will be moved to P&R. Thank you in advance for your compliance.
09-30-19, 04:30 PM
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So far, society doesn't really seem to agree that pedestrians have priority on streets - if drivers were required by law to be prepared for random pedestrians in the street and face criminal negligence charges otherwise, then almost all drivers would drive more slowly and more cautiously, but this is not the case.
Prior to this the roads belonged to the people for whatever transport choice they wished to use.
https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-26073797
And in my country drivers ARE required by law to be prepared for random pedestrians in the street and face criminal negligence charges otherwise.
09-30-19, 05:00 PM
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Though, it is an interesting observation to note that a typical cyclist death news story (in NYC we've had quite a few) headlines will be along the lines of "Cyclist killed by truck" -- and not "Cyclist killed by John Doe who was driving a truck". Not sure if it's a media bias that indeed more often than not, takes the human being out of the offending act.
09-30-19, 05:02 PM
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Media bias?? Headlines need to be short, while conveying the most important information. "Cyclist Killed by Truck", "Cyclist Killed by Drunk Driver", or "Cyclist Killed by Runaway Truck" convey important information. "Cyclist Killed by a Person Driving a Truck" includes unnecessary information, because it can be safely assumed the truck was driven by someone when the cyclist was killed.
Not hard.
09-30-19, 05:03 PM
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Headlines need to be short, while conveying the most important information. "Cyclist Killed by Truck", "Cyclist Killed by Drunk Driver", or "Cyclist Killed by Runaway Truck" convey important information. "Cyclist Killed by a Person Driving a Truck" includes unnecessary information, because it can be safely assumed the truck was driven by someone when the cyclist was killed.
09-30-19, 05:08 PM
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09-30-19, 06:52 PM
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How about "Dentist killed by Soccer Mom"? "Landscaper runs over cycling schoolteacher" ? Lots of ways both parties in a story can be represented by a person and not imbalanced where only one is a type of person, the other is a type of vehicle.
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09-30-19, 06:59 PM
#123
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"Cyclist killed by drunk driver" and "cyclist killed by runaway truck" imply vastly different kinds of things - one puts criminal guilt squarely on a driver who may not even have been convicted, while the other actively seeks to absolve a driver (the truck just ran away...) who may yet be charged with criminal negligence or manslaughter
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09-30-19, 07:26 PM
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The occupation of the perpetrator or the victim is not usually considered noteworthy enough to be headline-worthy. An exception might be something like "Cyclist Killed by Senator" or "Judge Killed on Bicycle". But, those are all much different from a headline of the type, "Cyclist Killed by a Person Driving a Truck", which contains information that is unnecessary.
"Cyclist killed by drunk driver" and "cyclist killed by runaway truck" imply vastly different kinds of things - one puts criminal guilt squarely on a driver who may not even have been convicted, while the other actively seeks to absolve a driver (the truck just ran away...) who may yet be charged with criminal negligence or manslaughter
Yes, those hypothetical headlines are different, as they contain additional information that likely would be considered important and headline-worthy.
My only point is that you don't see headlines like "Cyclist Killed by a Person Driving a Truck" because headlines are meant to short and to-the-point, and they only contain the most important information. It has nothing to do with media bias, as suggested earlier.