"No, I don't thank you for the fish at all" (notindetroit)
01/02/2014 at 12:07 • Filed to: Drivers Education, Distracted Driving, Distracted Walking, Pedestrians
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"No, I don't thank you for the fish at all" (notindetroit)
01/02/2014 at 12:07 • Filed to: Drivers Education, Distracted Driving, Distracted Walking, Pedestrians | 0
| 11 |
!!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . Distracted pedestrians can lead to their own downfall, too.
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Driving, by its nature, is very distracting and insulating - piloting a two-ton missile equipped with layers and layers of sound proofing, radios, and even an alert driver will be keeping track of multiple objects - principally other vehicles in addition to traffic signals, signage and trying to evaluate the road ahead. Walking is an entirely different experience, if only because the "cage" isn't there anymore. You have a direct connection to your environment, reaction times under normal pedestrian conditions are such that you only need to react to a threat instantly rather than attempting to evaluate and predict a threat (or you simply see an obstacle coming with enough time to casually avoid it) and the most demanding and distracting environments usually contend with other pedestrian traffic. Sidewalks, pedestrian/vehicle traffic direction devices, the rising popularity of pedestrian malls and other means to carefully segregate pedestrian and vehicle traffic make the deadly interaction of pedestrian and vehicle traffic a relatively rare occurrence relative to the national interaction of each. That said, there are far too many cases of pedestrian injuries or fatalities from vehicle collisions (you can, for example view 2010 statistical data !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! in PDF format), and nearly 100% of all those accidents are perfectly preventable on the part of the pedestrian.
I've made a big deal about how wholly inadequate driver's education is in the United States. Pedestrian education is just as every bit as equally important, as the linked PDF suggests, but such education is even more nonexistent and effectively ends upon graduation from kindergarten. You'd think it'd just be common sense - but once again, official statistics suggest otherwise.
I'm far from an expert and I can't readily consult one at the time of this writing, so I can only offer my own uneducated guess based on observation. One such guess is that pedestrians are perhaps so desensitized to vehicle traffic that they fail to simply notice it. Another such guess is that pedestrians (and, really, by pedestrians I mean practically everyone living on the planet right now, author included) are just accustomed to operating obliviously. !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! Paying attention isn't necessarily being aware but knowing when to be aware.
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A potential solution would be to integrate pedestrian education into driver's ed curriculum. As important to the education itself would be teaching it in a way that doesn't insult the student's intelligence and make him or her feel as if the main purpose is to wax nostalgic about daycare. As I've said, I have no idea how to accomplish that.
But it's important enough of an issue that it must be pressed. Many hit-and-run fatalities can, in fact, be traced to a chain of events that could have been broken if the pedestrian had exercised simple yet better judgement. Crossing when traffic signals give the right-of-way to pedestrians, at crosswalks where pedestrians actually do have the designated right-of-way. Not assuming vehicle traffic will stop once the bus stops (or assuming that vehicle traffic will resume once the bus leaves). Not crossing the street when conditions are blatantly dangerous for crossing, such as at night or when visibility is poor. The latter two seem like no-brainers, but seem to be contributing factors !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!!
Honestly, if people are just that stupid that they need what is in essence remedial toddler-level education in something that should be common-sense, so be it. Having two lives potentially ruined, with one quite possibly snuffed out, and economic damage from such blatant acts of stupidity is, statistically speaking, inevitable. But it's happening at far too large a scale. If this isn't an indication that there is a complete lack of care in how people operate around dangerous machinery, I don't know what is.
Victorious Secret
> No, I don't thank you for the fish at all
01/02/2014 at 12:10 |
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Pedestrian education is simple.
Go to crosswalk/safe area. Look both ways. Briskly walk across.
Driver education is more important. Like you said, I have a 1.5 ton smart missile at my disposal. I can KILL someone at 50km/h. I can KILL multiple people. A pedestrian can't do that. A pedestrian is usually the one who dies.
Do I act as a pedestrian anymore? No. I drive. I can't tell you the last time I crossed a road, even a controlled intersection.
Teach the guys like us how to drive properly and maybe you'll have less 6PM news stories about a 12 year old being torpedoed at a crosswalk by a inattentive driver.
If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent
> No, I don't thank you for the fish at all
01/02/2014 at 12:22 |
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If you're out walking at night, DON'T WEAR DARK COLORS!!!
Also, the video thumbnail looks like the "Leave Brittney alone!" guy.
Raphael Orlove
> No, I don't thank you for the fish at all
01/02/2014 at 12:24 |
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I quite like the point about pedestrian education, but I'm not seeing any data backing up your claims. Could you provide any evidence that poor decisions from pedestrians are major factors in many, if not he majority, of vehicle-on-pedestrian crashes? Or that nearly all of these crashes are preventable on the part of the pedestrian? That many hit-and-run fatalities can be traced to a pedestrian's bad judgement?
Gamecat235
> No, I don't thank you for the fish at all
01/02/2014 at 12:36 |
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Having been a pedestrian for many years longer than I have been a driver, I find your post very biased. Pedestrians have not failed any moreso than drivers have. In nearly every case (with some obvious, but limited exceptions) driver awareness plays a role in nearly every ped vs auto incident.
The amount of responsibility that comes with piloting a mass of glass and metal at fatal velocities can be crippling for a portion of the population. And is treated with far too little respect by the majority of the country (and several other countries as well). By piloting a vehicle you are directly capable of inflicting an amazing amount of damage to persons and property with the smallest of inattentive moments.
However I do agree with you on the general concept of your post. Education of how to be a functional human within the laws of your region/state is an area which is often overlooked from the perspective of the region/state and is left to the parents/guardians of children, rather than the region/state itself. Not all guardians are equal, and there should be better checks to ensure that these life skills and knowledge are not overlooked.
themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles
> Victorious Secret
01/02/2014 at 12:38 |
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I've started "active driver's education" when I am a pedestrian to the people of the city. If I have the right of way to cross according to the very obvious white light stick dude, I cross. If you attempt to cut me off, I take my keys or one of the sleeve brass things on my jacket and leave a nice reminder as to who had right of way. Or one time I just punched a jeep that almost ran me over when I was crossing, then stopped, then acted like I was the biggest inconvenience in the world. That was fun.
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Gamecat235
> Gamecat235
01/02/2014 at 12:49 |
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As an addendum to my post above, here is a post from nearly a year ago which goes into a personal experience from the drivers point of view (mine) which nearly led to a vehicle (which I was driving) vs pedestrian accident (only luck prevented it).
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desertdog5051
> No, I don't thank you for the fish at all
01/02/2014 at 12:56 |
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I agree that pedestrians do not pay enough attention to their surroundings. I can't tell you how many times I have almost had a collision with one who was only paying attention to their phone as they walked. (Are these the same people who drive like that? Probably).
I used to just get out of their way. Now, I either let them run into me and then say something nasty to them or I yell something like "pay attention, idiot" yo get their attention as they get close.
EL_ULY
> No, I don't thank you for the fish at all
01/02/2014 at 13:03 |
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ummm.....
the chick that survived had some nice perky tats :]
Trin-Engr
> No, I don't thank you for the fish at all
01/02/2014 at 13:44 |
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I think that significantly (at least in the US), rights-of-way are almost always given to pedestrians, even when maybe they shouldn't, the reasoning that an inattentive pedestrian will probably cause damage/injury to themselves, whereas an inattentive driver can wipe out a whole sidewalk full of pregnant women/children/nuns. That factor combined with the general inattentiveness of folk altogether (pedestrians, drivers, everyone) inexorably leads to crappy pedestrians to go with the crappy (but more legally liable) drivers.
After living in a place where pedestrian rights are less so enforced (or perhaps less present altogether), I can tell you that I am a lot more aware of cars on the road when i'm walking - if you have it ingrained into you that stepping off the curb into traffic will only lead to you getting hit (at fault), you tend to pay better attention.
Just sayin'.
911e46z06
> Trin-Engr
01/02/2014 at 14:10 |
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Well said. When I'm walking it's not about who has the legal right-of-way, it's about who wins if a car runs in to me.
Sinanigans
> No, I don't thank you for the fish at all
01/02/2014 at 18:23 |
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There's truth to this. Early last year, a girl was texting in the town next to where I live and got struck by a car. The driver didn't even see her coming. She died on impact.
As for me, I remember almost getting mowed down by a limo in midtown because I looked down to check my phone and didn't look both ways. He grazed me he was so close. Thank God nothing happened but I learned my lesson...