Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:1. Pedestrians like and need to save time just as much as drivers do

2. Just as drivers speed, and do other infractions, peds will often cross outside a crosswalk

3. Quite often crosswalks are spaced too far apart, and not located at natural crossing points, like bus stops.

4. In many places cars hardly slow down at crosswalks anyway, so its not much safer crossing there

5. Sometimes crosswalks are not located at the spot with the best visibility

6. By crossing midblock (crosswalk or not) peds can avoid the dangers from turning cars. Lots of collisions involving peds happen IN crosswalks, from turning cars

7. IME the worst ped behavior is by people going to or from parked cars - who typically want the absolute shortest path to their car door, even if it involves walking in the street, when there is a sidewalk present.

Well, this is all very valid and beautiful but the problem is, in case of car - pedestrian collision, pedestrian never wins. Not only that but even low speed impact can end up horribly for a person that is not protected by the car.

So in reply to your points 1 to 7.. respectively.. this is the answer:

Just for the year 2015:
In the broader DC Metro area, there were 60 pedestrian fatalities in 2015,
Guess how many drivers of those cars who collided with those pedestrians died in those accidents?

As a pedestrian I try to cross carefully.

As a citizen and advocate I push for change to make walking safer and more comfortable, and I oppose pedestrian shaming and concern trolling of this type.

*do not realize.

Anonymous wrote:Are you high, OP? Have you ever gotten out of your car and walked anywhere? I mean... what?

Do you have a concept of Jaywalking? Do you know how many people have no idea? Do you know why the concept exists?
Do you know how many people does not realize the dangers of the crossing in the wrong area? Ask those who fell victims of those crossings,
each and every person was sure they will be just fine..

Anonymous wrote:1. Pedestrians like and need to save time just as much as drivers do

2. Just as drivers speed, and do other infractions, peds will often cross outside a crosswalk

3. Quite often crosswalks are spaced too far apart, and not located at natural crossing points, like bus stops.

4. In many places cars hardly slow down at crosswalks anyway, so its not much safer crossing there

5. Sometimes crosswalks are not located at the spot with the best visibility

6. By crossing midblock (crosswalk or not) peds can avoid the dangers from turning cars. Lots of collisions involving peds happen IN crosswalks, from turning cars

7. IME the worst ped behavior is by people going to or from parked cars - who typically want the absolute shortest path to their car door, even if it involves walking in the street, when there is a sidewalk present.

Well, this is all very valid and beautiful but the problem is, in case of car - pedestrian collision, pedestrian never wins. Not only that but even low speed impact can end up horribly for a person that is not protected by the car.

So in reply to your points 1 to 7.. respectively.. this is the answer:

Just for the year 2015:
In the broader DC Metro area, there were 60 pedestrian fatalities in 2015,
Guess how many drivers of those cars who collided with those pedestrians died in those accidents?

Are you high, OP? Have you ever gotten out of your car and walked anywhere? I mean... what?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In other countries they design streets to slow down cars, and make them safer for pedestrians. In the US we think shaming pedestrians is a better approach.

youve never been on the beltway near tysons trying to cross the legion bridge on friday afternoon. now theres a road that was designed to slow traffic

and while the picture linked above may look like it is pedestrian friendly, but the red lanes are car lanes too. not sure its any more pedestrian friendly. than any other DC street.

I was talking about traffic calming on streets where people walk, not congested interstate highways, which don't help pedestrians

And yes, that street is more pedestrian friendly - there are multiple pedestrian islands, so you never have to cross more than one lane of traffic at a time. The design of the intersection would slow turning cars. The absence of multiple adjacent lanes will tend to slow cars, esp preventing speeders from swerving around slower cars. And I think the red lanes that are parallel to the main lanes are actually bike lanes, but I am not certain.

If we only crossed at crosswalks, we’d have to walk almost a mile out of our way going to and from school because there are no crosswalks at certain intersections. Not happening. We cross when it’s safe, but we will cross.

In our neighborhood we don't have a lot of sidewalks so no need.

Anonymous wrote:In other countries they design streets to slow down cars, and make them safer for pedestrians. In the US we think shaming pedestrians is a better approach.

youve never been on the beltway near tysons trying to cross the legion bridge on friday afternoon. now theres a road that was designed to slow traffic

and while the picture linked above may look like it is pedestrian friendly, but the red lanes are car lanes too. not sure its any more pedestrian friendly. than any other DC street.

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand. The rules of physics don't apply in other countries? If a car hits a pedestrian in the US, the person dies, but in other countries, they're okay? Is this like Superman having normal strength on Krypton but super-human strength on Earth? Cool!

In other countries they design streets to slow down cars, and make them safer for pedestrians. In the US we think shaming pedestrians is a better approach.

I don't understand. The rules of physics don't apply in other countries? If a car hits a pedestrian in the US, the person dies, but in other countries, they're okay? Is this like Superman having normal strength on Krypton but super-human strength on Earth? Cool!

Anonymous wrote:
if you are a pedestrian and you cant figure out that its not safe or smart to cross in the middle of a block, or try to run across 4 lanes of traffic. then you kind of deserve to be a wet spot on the ground.

If you are new to the county. better get on board with how a first world country operates. You're not in your old shithole town anymore, this is the big leagues.

Here is a real first world country

https://bicycledutch.files.wordpress.com/2018/02/intersection-2018-01.jpg

1. Pedestrians like and need to save time just as much as drivers do

2. Just as drivers speed, and do other infractions, peds will often cross outside a crosswalk

3. Quite often crosswalks are spaced too far apart, and not located at natural crossing points, like bus stops.

4. In many places cars hardly slow down at crosswalks anyway, so its not much safer crossing there

5. Sometimes crosswalks are not located at the spot with the best visibility

6. By crossing midblock (crosswalk or not) peds can avoid the dangers from turning cars. Lots of collisions involving peds happen IN crosswalks, from turning cars

7. IME the worst ped behavior is by people going to or from parked cars - who typically want the absolute shortest path to their car door, even if it involves walking in the street, when there is a sidewalk present.

Anonymous wrote:
I believe something should be done to help pedestrians to figure out where to cross.

I disagree, and I am in the camp that we need to begin removing warning labels not adding them and let Darwin take over.

if you weed out the stupid people, then society as a whole gets better....

if you are a pedestrian and you cant figure out that its not safe or smart to cross in the middle of a block, or try to run across 4 lanes of traffic. then you kind of deserve to be a wet spot on the ground.

If you are new to the county. better get on board with how a first world country operates. You're not in your old shithole town anymore, this is the big leagues.

you cannot legislate common sense. Don't eve bother trying.

And yes I know that I'll get a few post that are calling me a heartless cvnt, but I don't care.

There are so many accidents with pedestrians crossing in the wrong places. Coincidentally there are no information targeting pedestrians where they should cross or not to cross. There should be more signs along sidewalks here and there saying "Crossing the road outside a crosswalk is dangerous and illegal and will be fined XX$" Also occasionally in more dangerous stretches of sidewalks maybe here and there a white lettered singn could read - dangerous area do not cross.. or something in that effect?

It is fascinating how the only place you can see a sing regarding pedestrians is a cross walk and this sign is positioned such that it is for cars not walking people and also it is only where the cross walk is.. so assumption is that those who cross there, don't need any info because they are already tehre and crossing there. .. but many people have no concept of the need to going to the crosswalk and they just cross anywhere they feel fit and end up underestimating the speed and distance. It is that many people come to this country and not everyone is familiar with the system where to cross and also are not used to such a high speed high volume traffic which creates dangerous situations. When you look at the statistics, it is unfortunate that mostly people who are new to this country fell victims of the traffic.

I believe something should be done to help pedestrians to figure out where to cross.