Why Is It So Hard To Cross The Street? (& What You Can Do To Help)
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- Опубликовано: 9 июн 2024
- Crossing the street can be pretty stressful. Is it a skill issue, or is there something more? And if it's beyond individual behavior, then what can we even do about it?
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Sioux Falls Local Conversation video: • You Don’t Have To Move...
Directed and Filmed by Mike Pasternock
Story Produced By Seairra Jones
00:00 Intro
01:06 Skill Issue?
02:40 Let's Cross The Street!
6:15 Why Are People Being Hit?
8:20 Guest Appearance
10:56 Going to Hoboken
13:00 Change How We Discuss Crashes
15:00 Cutscene & What To Do
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Nope I looked and unfortunately there’s not one near me new Orlando.
There’s one in the county in Fort Lauderdale where I almost got hit in the crosswalk when I had the Greenwalk cross, but maybe it takes the a while to make changes
Hilarious that y'all mention those flexible bollards in the middle of the road! I know that intersection where you're testing - nearby, just over on Wilson & Greenview there *was* a flexible bollard. Keep in mind this is a *side* street, only 2-lane with parking on the sides. Few weeks after that bollard was installed, it got hit so many times it broke off. City replaced it. That one got hit so many times it broke off. They replaced it, broke off again, replaced and broken...
At this point I lost count, but the time between the bollard going back up seems to keep getting longer - it's been missing for half the year at this point. Think they gave up on pedestrians.
100% of collisions at the workplace happen to people wearing hi-vis. I realise this is a fallacy, but it proves this is not the only thing influencing collisions. In the UK, if you get to the ER, you will notice about the same number of people waiting who wear hi-vis as those who don't.
They should stop victim blaming. Drivers should be hold accountable.
Seriously please don't cross the street like this it's not safe. It's not a terrible stroad to do it on but please the nearly likely thing that will happen is someone will get rear ended. I don't want to read one day 'urbanist activist hit by car while filming'
"I have to stick myself out into traffic to see if someone will stop for me. Then, if they do, I have to give them the awkward 'Thanks for not killing me' wave."
I feel so validated.😆
Living in Sweden and I often wonder why some people wave thanking me for stopping. Punch me in the face if I don't stop instead :)
Forgot to mention that you then have to stand in the middle of the road and do that for the traffic going the other way
I do it with my toddler. They wave and say 'bye-bye'. And drivers still cut us off 😮
I can't count the number of times left turning drivers have almost run me over while in a crosswalk with the green light.
@@tiktokjourney8472 Same here!!!
Stay it with me now: STOP Building Stroads. Stroads are unsafe for EVERYONE.
Remind me of the definition of stroad
Generally defined as urban streets with highway like elements like wide lanes, slip lanes, etc. This leads to high speed urban streets with mixed pedestrian and bicycle traffic
This wasn’t filmed in a stroad. It’s an avenue with a 30mph speed limit
@@norlockv It’s an adwised speed limit. 20 over is ok🙃
@norlockv yeah, it doesnt just stop at stroads. But they're obviously the worst, most dangerous examples
9:03 It's amazing that some flimsy signs serve as an obstacle drivers want to avoid hitting, but pedestrians don't.
Oof
Can't expect a sign to dodge out of the way of my 3000 lb machine, after all. It might scratch the paint!
Exactly. It applies in more than one way.
I have only been nearly hit once while brandishing a rock while crossing, versus the 5 ish times without that's actually great.
@@cherriberri8373: yeah, I’ve taken to carrying my large golf umbrella with me, and have it swinging over a shoulder when crossing busy streets. Useful psychological warfare.
I regularly go past these flimsy signs that have been flattened. Then again, at some times of the year at work, we replace handicapped parking sign posts weekly because people just drive through a six foot safety yellow post.
The biggest problem in the US is that many people have 0 experience being a pedestrian, they just can't relate. Every person that once attempted to cross a road like this, will have empathy and be more mindful and stop next time they are driving. I grew up in Europe and was used to constantly watching our for pedestrians. a few years of driving in houston tx, my driving habits changed to typical US driver attitude "pedestrians don't exist". But as soon as I had kids and we were out walking with the stroller, I realized how rough it is walking. So now I'm a much more considerate driver again.
This is the comment 💯
I agree. Most Americans don't walk at all and don't understand that they need to watch out for pedestrians.
I’m from L.A. and now live in Houston. We travel every summer for 2 months to Europe, mostly Warsaw, London, and Paris, with family reunions in Italy, Portugal, and other countries. Pedestrians are the norm, at least closer to city centers, while suburbs ex-urbs are becoming more car-dependent, as bus services are being cut. Bicycling can be very good in the Netherlands, Denmark, and parts of Germany, and while it’s certainly better in Europe than the U. S., it’s still fairly dangerous to ride in many parts.
We can gradually change American drivers’ mentalities with traffic slowing measures: flexible poles separating lanes at crosswalks, flashing red lights when pedestrians are crossing crosswalks, pedestrian-only blocks, especially in dense shopping and restaurant areas, and truly protected bike lanes, especially near school zones (and eventually connecting residential zones to retail zones).
same w cycling
As a native Houstonian, I have to mention that Houston drivers are the epitome of America’s worst drivers
I live in Germany and I can safely cross zebra crossing, knowing cars will stop for me. The same goes for traffic lights, where I can cross, knowing turning cars will stop for me, rather than run me over.
I cannot understand why Americans seemingly struggle with this. If you cannot or won't follow the traffic rules, then you have no business operating a car.
Until people can feel like first class citizens without a car, people will still be forced to drive or be driven whether it’s suitable or not.
The issue is that when you force everyone to drive, you're obviously going to have huge swaths of the driving population who are literal murderers on a ticking timer.
@@yellowhouse5592 It's more about police, checks and punishments. For years Polish drivers were driving terribly in Poland and suddenly offered the laws when crossing to Germany, because the punishments were much harsher there. Recently Poland increased the punishments a lot and it immediately changed drivers behaviour. It is rather uncommon for a car to not yield on pedestrian crossing nowadays.
@@yellowhouse5592 Ireland here, more or less the same as Germany, cars stop at zebra (pedestrian) crossings here too. And any time I've been in the UK, the Netherlands, Spain, New Zealand. I've traveled a good bit and walked a decent amount in a lot of countries including the US, Germany is not the outlier, America is.
It really comes down to the culture of a place. I also live in Germany and I generally agree its done well here. I can safely cross at lights, zebras, and even if I'm doing a cheeky jay walk most cars will stop. But its not the case everywhere. For example in Berlin I find crossing to be dangerous. At lights I'm usually safe and fine, but at mid-block zebras NO ONE stops. They will make eye contact with you and still just keep driving. I guess it's the culture of the city and what drivers are used to.
It is BAFFLING how inconsiderate people are to pedestrians. FEET FIRST!
Love your video you posted today!
@@strongtowns thanks! I thought it was funny timing 🤣 Great minds!
It is seriously baffling, do every driver has that great ensurance for hitting somebody with the US healthcare so expesive? If we take the human aspect of running someone over out of the equation.... isn't it ruining you financially for life? (or if you have mandatory ensurance like we do in CZ enlighten me)
Feet First 🤤
Just stop going outside. Problem solved.
Telling pedestrians they need to wear high-vis clothing for their own safety in a crosswalk is BS when we've got 6,000 lb matte black pickup trucks and SUVs everywhere. No one seems to be demanding that the vehicles be brighter and easier to see. Crossing flags are an admission of street design failure, a demeaning bandaid. They and crossing "beg buttons" should not have a place in a properly designed urbanized area.
I feel like if an intersection needs crossing flags, the shaft ought to be a hammer.
Especially when they have those tinted windows. Transportation is all about communication between intersecting users. I’ve waited to cross a street as a high window tint driver came by. They rolled down their window and shouted at me “my wave means GO”. Well that’s cool and all but I couldn’t see the wave dude. You’re in a black tinted vehicle
That's the back of Chipotle solution? Make cars neon? 😂Oh man. No wonder urbanists never get anything done 😂
@@walawala-fo7ds are you huffing glue? I didn't say bright vehicles are the solution, I said telling pedestrians it's their fault for wearing dark clothes while ignoring dark vehicles is cognitive dissonance and blaming the victim. Urbanists are getting plenty done, soyest of angsty boi.
@@walawala-fo7dsThe point went right over your head, sir.
It's so frustrating how every time there's a news article about a pedestrian grtting hit by a car, the comments are always chock full of "But were they wearing high viz? Was it dark? Did they have a flashlight?" And on and on.
I shouldn't have to put on _special_ _clothing_ to do something as basic as walk to the store or to work. The fact that this is just seen as the norm, that special clothing is needed if you're going to travel by anything other than a car, is just bizarre to me.
I'm totally amazed by this also. How can people make such an easy task so complicated?
Yeah, indeed! Like, in the example in the video, maybe one could argue that it seems sensible for him... But then extrapolate that to EVERYONE walking. Everyone not in a car in that street wearing high vis, carrying a flag, etc etc etc.... and it starts to look pretty ridiculous. Not to mention - at the very least - carrying a flag with you everywhere. Unless you're in a car and the most walking you do is from car to door, I suppose.
it's sickening
If you need special equipment just for CROSSING THE STREET, then you failed awfully at your road design
Some cities in Europe are slowly starting to use another method: continuous sidewalks. These are the cars that have to get on the sidewalk to cross it. For pedestrians, the sidewalk does not stop at the road. For streets with low traffic it is ideal.
When I saw the woman carrying the giant flag while crossing the street at 2:06, and how drivers still didn't slow down, I thought "How unfathomable is it that transportation agencies continue to focus on human error as the main cause of traffic fatalities, while almost never questioning the design of the street?"
Are you talking about the invisible cars or the make believe cars?
The only cars were on the other side of the road. They could easily get through well before she got to that side. What's the point of stopping for her in that instance?
It is also a question of culture. Try crossing the road in the UK. I've had drivers lock their wheels in order to stop at a zebra crossing in London.
Because traffic engineers (and/or their politicians) are not following the standard hierarchy of controls for safety hazard elimination and mitigation.
@@kyle6426 If you are in the car that first sees the pedestrian, you should stop. The car behind you often cannot see that pedestrian as easily as you, especially through your vehicle, giving them even less time to stop. Each vehicle further behind the first one to see the pedestrian has a harder and harder time seeing the pedestrian in time to stop.
Just say these words out-loud. “Here in the US everyone over 16 has the license to operate a machine that weighs between 3,000-6,000 lbs and consistently travels over 60mph… with 0 professional training”
And that’s truly pathetic !!!! that you can be as young as 16 and not even have proper training to drive. When I lived in Germany, the people who were driving were required so many hours with a professional driver, plus pass a test and one of my friends did not pass a test, of course, in Germany, there other ways to get around easily, such as street, cars, bicycle and trains and buses.
Not true. Many states require 6 months of professional and non-professional training, at least for those under 18.
@@microcolonelit's a culture problem, not a knowledge problem. Thus, if the education does not target the cultural side, it won't have an effect. But even then, a single course won't do much to a lifetime of learned behaviour. To really change culture, a lot of small changes are needed. That's why it's important to start with small things and continue implementing them with perseverance.
The reason why the training doesn't work BTW is because we assume that everyone MUST pass. Driving should not be a right. It should be a privledge.
Less and less young people in the US are getting their driver's license. It used to be 40% of 16-18 year olds got their driver's license 20 years ago, now it's down to 25% and steadily dropping because cars have become too expensive, wages have not kept up and young people prefer to be glued to their phones on public transit.
i hate when drivers just assume that i'll be able to cross before they reach me so they do not even attempt to slow down and expect me to walk in front of a speeding car
It's crazy because what if you trip? Or drop something? They won't have time to react and will hit you. It's so inconsiderate and downright dickish. I'm admittedly an American driver and have had close calls because I wasn't paying enough attention but I've never just kept driving when I spot a pedestrian crossing the street. The mindset you need to have to do that is baffling to me
@@organa1626 the thing is every time a driver applies his brake he is damaging his brakes a little
car brakes have only a limited life so you drivers use up that life
if you do not want to cross in front of a speeding car then wait till they go buy
are you going to pay for that drivers brake job
This is happens a lot in Canada 🇨🇦. It’s so scary I have to fully wait for the car to stop 🛑 and make eye contact with driver.
EXACTLY. i had a person SPEEDING all the way up until the VERY last foot before the crosswalk...
like, how am i going to start crossing and save you AND me time, if you look like you are not even going to stop???,
i need to KNOW you're stopping for-sure for me to start running out infront of a moving vehicle,
but noooooo, mr red-car-man thinks he will keep going the same speed before abruptly stopping.
and same as the other person said...like, what if i trip if i WERE to actually have time to go?, -i have tripped a few times, and it's not a good idea to gamble.
(also the person talking about the breaks getting damaged is stupid) -like, wear is going to happen, it's part of the car being a car,
AND, if you are not a knob, you will not wear your breaks much at all if you GENTLY slow down for someone.
HAHA see?, first google search result says
"Since brakes turn energy into heat, the less energy required to stop your vehicle, the less heat your brakes have to endure.
the faster you're going when you initiate a stop, the more heat (and wear) you're applying to your brakes. So, slow down"
-so unless someone's trying to be a racecar driver before he stops for you, it LITERALLY is insignificant in the long run, and from what i looked up, it also says that getting them replaced can cost 300-800 dollars and in the long run google says they can last
"between three and six years for most daily drivers-but some sets may last even longer for those who exercise good habits." EMPHASIS ON GOOD.
and most likely if someone were to step out infront of a speeding vehicle it would not just be out of entitlement, (however if it was, then the pedestrian can be in trouble for that)
-it would most likely out of not actually seeing the vehicle, or the vehicle going way too fast of a speed in the first place,
and therefore if someone did have to SLAM the breaks, it is for a good reason and then everyone avoids disaster,
besides a little wear on the breaks...better than the other things that could happen!.
@@brucenadeau2172 This is a ridiculously selfish take. You have to brake for pedestrians in a crosswalk by law. Period.
"Thanks for not killing me" wave.
😂👍🏻💯
nowhere else in the world (well, at least out of 40ish countries on 6 continents). not even canada or mexico. it's the american wave.
As a cyclist I have witness cars become more aggresive in recent years. I don't know what it is about a car that makes people into lunatics, but they are everywhere!!
A friend in Cali told me a driver got so pissed at having to pass a cyclist on the Pacific Highway he turned around and killed the guy. The cyclist was a doctor no less
They're like unsocialized because they're always isolated from other people. iron cages. humans need each other for interaction. that loneliness makes some forget that everyone else on the road is equal to them.
@@sofiezooms I agree 100%
Look up the old Disney cartoon "Googy - motor mania" from 1950 and you'll see that this is nothing new !
@@TitouFromMars I was just about to recommend that short film!
After living somewhere with lots of yellow flashing light crossings for a few years now, I have found them to be completely ineffective. People drive straight through them all the time even when flashing. If someone stops in one lane, someone else will pass at speed in the other lane. The only way to fix this is to make the street narrower.
They work well enough on narrow, low speed streets. There's a "downtown" (two blocks of overpriced brewpubs and free parking garages) area near me that employs then in a 25mph zone and driver compliance is about 100% from what I've seen. High speed, wide roads in areas where pedestrians need to cross is the problem
Same here. 10 cars will pass and then one car will stop and they will get mad at me for not walking into the next lane were no one is stopping. All this directly under a yellow flashing light. I think a big part of the problem is most Americans actually never walk anywhere except to and from there car..
Have these on small roads. People still speed by 1 lane either way. Ive seen someone killed walking on the same road.
my exact experience as well
It’s not just an infrastr thing, it’s a behavioural issue. We are culturally inclined to believe that cars are king
A study here in TX showed that cars were LESS likely to stop when signs stating “Yield to Pedestrians. State Law.” were put in place.
What if there was a police car behind the crosswalk?
@dziej877 [speculation] White drivers were observed to break the law even more frequently, whereas POC driver compliance instantly spiked to 100% out of sheer terror of being shot.
Depends on where the signs are. I like the depiction in the video of actually putting them in between the lanes.
Probably because of Texans and their love of giant trucks
@@jankoodziej877In the US? In Texas? If there was a cop there, they'd taser and arrest the pedestrian for inconveniencing real Americans.
Europe (Germany): Ignoring a crossing: 80 €. Endagering someone in a crossing: 100 €. Also a "Point". If you get two "Points" at once: 1 month no driving. The Points accumulate. 8 Points: drivers license gone, you need to do a lengthy and expensive remedial course to get it back.
Also: getting a license takes time and money and the rules are drilled into you.
If you get your first drivers license you are on a two year probation. You ignore a crossing in that time: the probation is now 4 years, you have to take an extra course ( expensive and time consuming) and of couse you have to pay the fine and may get a "point"...
So...especially if cars are THE way to get around: It needs better teaching!! Not the pedestrians, the drivers!
Another benefit is that once someone loses their drivers licence they become a pedestrian, and get a much different view of the vehicle/pedestrian relationship,
and still nobody in Germany seems to know driver's have to stop for anyone after they went left or right. And if you want to cross a road like shown in the picture it might also take you five minutes to find someone willing to let you walk, at least most others will slow down after you pasted the first car
I think you should do a video about distractions in cars, like big screens inside. In my country, you get a ticket for using a smartphone while driving, but no one talks about big, distracting built-in car smartphones. I used to be able to change the temperature without looking, but now I have to search for it on the touchscreen, which takes time and diverts my attention from the road
Ugh, I hate the shift to non-tactile controls! I used to be able to change the A/C control without looking because I knew which button did what. Now I have to look at so much stuff to manage basic things in my car. I hate it.
Oh man, I once had a loan car from a repair shop where I brought my car for a routine inspection. There was a freaking huge screen inside that partially blocked my view to the right side, and the screen couldn't be moved. I don't know what the designers where thinking, and I am just glad I only drove this car for a few miles on a straight priority road. It was still very unsettling to have this huge screen in my field of vision all the time.
I think there needs to be a law that requires key functions to be accessed with a physical button, such as:
-front wipers and screenwash
-indicators
-horn
-hazard lights
-windows
-door release
-mute radio
-reject call
The centre screens should be required to lock and either black out or only display essential information above 5 mph, unless a passenger is present.
I'm legally blind and although i have some vision, crossing the road (which have to do to get anywhere independently as a grown adult) is difficult and terrifying.
The fact that sometimes I have to just step out at a crossing and hope cars (that I i can't judge the distance of) stop and don't murder me. Makes trying to go anywhere SO anxiety enducing
This was eye opening as someone living in a capital city in Europe. Not just a normal city either, one with exceptionally wide roads for a European capital city. And I have NEVER felt unsafe crossing the road, because they arent stroads, there are left and right turnings everywhere, and even if not, there's regular crossing with RED LIGHTS if someone presses the cross button. And any smaller crossings without lights, I have never had issues with people not stopping for me.
Unbelievable. This is terrifying, no wonder Americans don't let their kids outside.
If you looked closely, he deliberately picked the most most dangerous place to cross the street. One block away in the background there is an intersection with stoplights and pedestrian crossing lights.
@@willythemailboy2there’s a crosswalk there so it should be safe to cross
@@willythemailboy2 "maybe a dangerous place to cross" should not exist in a place with a lot of residential buildings and businesses, but hey, what should we know!
It seems our streets are the first place we can start improving
Once the streets have visible cues that set an expectation for pedestrians on the street, the culture will start to change. By starting small, you may end up changing everything.
You have inspired me! I live Albuquerque New Mexico. Right after watching this video, I called my state representative, Andres Romero and my county commissioner, Steven Michael Quezada to see if they are agreeable to making the kind of structural changes that you advocate on your channel.
I believe you also have a local conversation in ABQ. Please join up with them if you can.
What astounds me about NM law is that the way the law is currently written drivers aren’t required to yield for pedestrians unless they are already in the road.
Yes you are correct, New Mexico has a long way to go in many areas of safety and transportation. I have just read the Vision Zero Plan by Albuquerque Mayor Tim Kellor’s office. This document has all of the policies that channels like Strong Towns, City Nerd and Not Just Bikes advocate for. I was happy to see at least someone in government has done their homework. Is this document just lip service, or is it an actual commitment to sustainability and safety? New Mexico and Albuquerque are rated as some of the most dangerous places in the country. We have to make changes!@@franklehouillier8865
Yes you are correct, New Mexico has a long way to go in many areas of safety and transportation. I have just read the Vision Zero Plan by Albuquerque Mayor Tim Kellor’s office. This document has all of the policies that channels like Strong Towns, City Nerd and Not Just Bikes advocate for. I was happy to see at least someone in government has done their homework. Is this document just lip service, or is it an actual commitment to sustainability and safety? New Mexico and Albuquerque are rated as some of the most dangerous places in the country. We have to make changes!
lmao ain't shit gonna happen
moving this summer. tired of walking my kid to school where parents drive and park on the sidewalk daily because waiting on people to pull into the drop off loop takes too long or driving 45+mph past when theres no congestion. the school cant even get an employee to do crossing guard because its just not safe.
Omg I saw this at my friends kids school. People literally parked on the effing sidewalk. It’s actually a crime. How can we walk around
Why would parents drive their kids to school? Are they infants? They take busses and trains where I'm from. American cities and suburbs would do well to implement. Not school busses, but all-purpose. Makes the kids behave better
All assumption of risk is placed on pedestrians and bikes and virtually none on vehicles. There is no enforcement of right of way to peds and bikes. A steady supply of tickets to vehicles would make that change very quickly.
They've tried
Just what we need: more traffic tickets.
Ah yes, putting responsibility on the party incapable of damage. I believe it’s known colloquially as “victim blaming”… or something like that.
Build the infrastructure to limit risk, by increasing the need to pay attention and create traffic calming so resource draining enforcement won't be necessary
@@mutestingray
Actually we do need a LOT more traffic tickets.
As you briefly mentioned, just like neighboring Hoboken, Jersey City has also implemented Vision Zero! Jersey City was the first in New Jersey to implement Vision Zero with an executive order signed by Steven Fulop in 2018, and in 2022, the city realized zero car-crash fatalities on city-owned streets, the first city of its size in the country to accomplish this! Rather than concentrate pedestrian safety improvements in a single area downtown, Jersey City worked with Street Plans and pursued interventions across six corridors, one in each of Jersey City’s six wards. Thus, they not only built trust across different constituencies, but was able to experiment and did it fast through tactical urbanism and committed local leadership.
Under Fulop, Jersey City also became the first in NJ to have a bikeshare system when Citi Bike expanded to Jersey City in 2015, while it expanded to Hoboken in 2021. To go with this, Fulop worked with community activists to implement a comprehensive Bike Master Plan that includes a complete protected bike lane system and has implemented the steps to create a safe environment with miles of safe corridors! Jersey City is an example of a transit city in North America done right, and that's not talking about how much development has popped up in Hudson County thanks to both the HBLR and PATH and how pedestrianized downtown Jersey City has become!
I go to college in Hoboken and I absolutely love how easy it is to get around in both cities
Now put yourself as a Chicago (or any other city) crossing guard. When I was drafting the Toledo Vision Zero plan last year, I reached out to these unsung heroes and the stories they shared were heartbreaking and terrifying.
Vision Zero makes dangerous bs bike lanes here in Philly
I believe that any time a city requires crossing guards is a failure of street design.
I read a study that, on an unsignalized crosswalk across two lanes, drivers are 80% likely to stop if they are going up to 20 mph, but less than 20% if they're going 30 or more. Now add higher speeds, wider lanes and more lanes, and it gets dismal quick. Slower speeds, fewer lanes, narrower crossings help with so many things, but I feel like city's are more likely to say "We're keeping all the lanes and speeds high, so we need to build a signal, but that's too expensive, so status quo it is"
Those signals also need to be maintained. Pretty sure the one by where i live is busted. Two of them on separate streets will take about 10 minutes to change and allow a pedestrian to cross. Those buttons to cross the street are decorations most of the time. Stop signs are only slightly better. Plenty stop past the cross walk, most only slow down but never stop, and then there are the ones that stop for a second before continuing regardless if some began to walk.
Given all this, an uncontrolled crossing like the one used for the "experiment" in the video is basically doomed. Higher speeds and multiple lanes just make it very unlikely that drivers are going to stop. Ideally you would have kerb build outs *and* signals at such a location.
It's incredible that signals are seen as too expensive in such a location. What's the cost of maintaining all that tarmac?
Look how long the road he was on is on the map, it's miles and miles long. That's the problem, traffic needs to be diverted to a highway. There probably is no alternative highway for people to take, so to make the street safe to cross, a highway would have to be built and then the local roads could have all traffic slowed down to 20 mph. This is all fundamentally a problem with how cities are designed in the US to take up too much space.
i like how its up to the person moving at less than 5mph to be more aware vs the person going 20-60+ mph in a 2 ton car.
Moreover the fact that pedestrians using their phone is considered an issue by drivers is so dumb. A ped looking at their phone and walking wouldn't kill anyone but distracted drivers are somehow let off with a slap on the wrist for admitting in court they weren't paying attention.
The person moving at less than 5 mph is far more capable of stopping and/or turning to avoid a collision.
The person in the car 1) has enough money to own/lease a car and is therefore more important since money>no money and 2) is traveling faster and therefore the thing they are going to must be more important. /s
car owners lives are more important
because it is harder for a driving at 20-60 mph to see a small person then for a person to see a big car
the car has to be watching sevral directions at once
One thing I like to do as a driver stopping at a crossing is to turn on my hazards as I'm slowing down. It lets the pedestrians know that I've 100% seen them and also makes the person behind me pay more attention so I don't get rear ended.
As a pedestrian crossing the street, I just pray lol.
I used to walk to work a lot and it got to the point where I stopped doing that awkward fast walk or waving or looking both ways or anything. Once the pedestrian crossing light goes on I just walk if I die I die if I make it I make it. Just is what it is in America some stop some don’t
I mostly bike, but when I'm in my car I'm "that guy" who stops when someone is trying to use a crosswalk. I haven't been rear ended yet, but I've had some close calls.
❤
The issue that you have not addressed is apathy/entitlement. I live in a small town, not a big city, and yet the situation is no different. People don't "not notice" the crosswalk or the person who wants to cross. They know that it is there and they DO NOT CARE. They feel entitled to continue their drive without stopping because they feel that the roads are meant to serve cars, not pedestrians, and pedestrians can darn well wait. According to the law where I live, it is not even necessary to step out into the crosswalk to stop traffic; all that is necessary is to stand on the sidewalk and point across the crosswalk and every car on the road is legally obliged to stop, but I have never seen it work, and there is no enforcement. Changing the design of roads may help in some ways, but it will not change the entitlement issue. What needs to change is the norms and values around our the relative priority of vehicles and pedestrians (and probably enforcement). In my small town, there is absolutely no question that additional law enforcement personnel monitoring crosswalks and issuing fines would pay for itself several times over.
Making every crosswalk a speed bump (raised crosswalks or continuous sidewalks) is one way to make sure traffic slows down. True, the entitlement issue does need to change so these can be installed without a minor riot. For me, it started with realizing that I'm going to get to my destination much faster when driving than someone who's walking on foot, so what's waiting a few seconds for their safety? Alternately stated, is shaving a few seconds off my trip worth taking someone's life?
It's not just a small town thing. I live in a city and have seen people speed up to crosswalks with people crossing, slam into the plastic Ballard's and keep going, or just the usual refusing to stop for entire lights. Right turn lanes can make you wait forever sometimes or slip roads. They banned traffic cams in our city so maybe that's part of it but they do not care or are sometimes actively hostile.
You've just described my city.
Changing the design of the road to a street, where things are on a human scale, could help, because it’s understandable that drivers feel like a road that looks like a motorway is _their_ place, whereas a real street (as opposed to a stroad) doesn’t exude the same “this is a place for cars” energy.
entitlement goes both ways ii seen people to lazy to walk to the cross walk just walk out into the middle of road
"If your community is still more concerned about whether or not they'll save 30 seconds on their commute than never having to worry about a child running into the street for the last time then you have work to do"
This quote goes so hard.
it is 30 second for every crossing those 30 second added up get tied up in to many traffic bind and you make driver more dangerous
Urbanism is leveling up! We are sick and tired of being sick and tired.
Stop going outside.
@@peopleofearth6250 You can stop going outside.
@@thetrainguy1 No. YOU stop going outside. Because do that.
@@peopleofearth6250 Nah. I'm going to go and walk to the grocery store now. Thank You for the encouragement to take a stroll.
@@thetrainguy1 Then stop complaining.
This problem is so remote from how it is in my country, Norway. Here everybody stops. Has been that way since the 80s.
This has nothing to do with high viss. Only attitude.
It's an attitude of entitlement and being self centered.
Live in the Netherlands. Here it’s not problem at all,because the infrastructure is designed in a way that it is safe to cross.
Same in Sweden. No problems crossing the road. It's both about the culture and the road design.
When you were standing in the middle of the lane that looked especially dangerous, because most of the car drivers just didn’t care and then even when the ones that stopped for you, the ones in the other lane, could not see you and might hit you anyway if they drove.
This stuff is so radicalizing to me, especially with an infant daughter who I want to raise to not be afraid of the world around her. We have become all too complacent with the risks inherent in ceding our cities to cars. I live in Chicago and travel near the featured intersection often. I always make sure to stop, but others rarely do.
I need to join the local chapter this year and get active, thank you for all you do.
Here's another thing that is common back in my homeland of Ukraine, which I was quite shocked to not see pretty much anywhere in the US: mixed-use resodential-commercial areas that have sidewalks wider than the car road.
You won't find residential-commercial mixed use pretty much anywhere in North America, at least not at any scale. The best you can hope for is 5+1 apartment blocks (3-5 floors of apartments over 1 floor of commercial space) around college campuses, explicitly marketed to college students.
If it benefits humans you prolly won’t find it here
@@willythemailboy2 Sadly...
In Ukraine it's usually huge commie blocks 5-9 floors high, with stores and cafes and stuff on the first floor.
Also, my comment was mainly about the sidewalk sizes.
In San Diego, the typical sidewalk is less than half the width of one lane and the typical neighborhood street is five lanes wide with no daylighting.
@@sdsk8rboi An urban sidewalk like that is typically 6-8 feet wide (1.8 - 2.4 m) with a standoff distance from both the road and the building. In strictly residential areas or smaller cities sidewalks are rarely wider than the 36 inches/90 cm width required by ADA.
I work with young adults with developmental disabilities trying to help them gain life skills. We spend a ton of time teaching them how to cross the street…and there’s just absolutely no way to teach them to do it safely without support. Traffic is just too unpredictable.
Stop going outside then.
@@peopleofearth6250 What an amazing solution, you should run for president
@@organa1626 I should 😎
I guess that's because there's adults of all ages with developmental disabilities behind the wheel too, because everyone is forced to drive in the usa.
Culture and street design will have to change for people to be the priority again, not cars.
@@sirjmo not sure if you're being serious, but yeah you're right. I can technically drive, but anything other than like a rural 2 lane highway or near empty suburban street is usually too overwhelming for me to do well. I still did have to drive to work for awhile before I got a wfh job, and while I never hurt anyone, it definitely was not safe. I bike or walk or take the disappointingly infrequent bus now and It's pretty limiting but certainly safer.
We moved from Portland, OR to Minneapolis a couple years ago and the driving behavior couldn't be more different between the two cities. Both cities are known for their extensive biking infrastructure and outdoorsy parks and walkable areas, but the design speed of the roads and the sizes of the city blocks make a huge difference in driving culture. Portland's streets aren't nearly as wide, and the blocks themselves are much more compact, so crossing them on foot or by bike feels comfortable and you feel more visible as a person who's not in a giant metal box. Cars also tended to be moving more slowly on neighborhood streets because people seemed more accustomed to sharing the road with people who weren't in cars. Walking around our neighborhood in Portland, motorists on both sides of the street would frequently stop to allow my husband and me to cross. I'd never experienced this kind of visibility and courtesy before moving from Texas.
The opposite seems to be the case here in Minneapolis where roads are wide enough to accommodate snowplows and free street parking on either side of major thoroughfares around the city. If you stand at a pedestrian crossing, you wait however long it takes for all the cars to pass before you *might* get a chance to dash across the 3 lane stroad. To be fair, I've had a handful of car drivers pause and wave me across, but I know Minneapolis can do better. So many of our roads look like the pedestrian crossing in this video, and drivers frequently ignore pedestrians.
I think we need to make our roads narrower with plantings, pedestrian refuge islands, bump-outs, chicanes and anything we can get to increase the complexity of the street to make drivers behave more safely.
I have experience mostly as pedestrian but also as a driver, and I have to say: A large part of the problem here is definitely the roads themselves. When a road has more than two lanes, it's very wide, thus harder to cross, and it encourages higher speeds from the drivers. At that point, the only place you can safely cross the road is at traffic lights.
A rule of thumb is that, if cars are going more than 50kph, they are unlikely to stop. Going at that speed, maybe they don't have time to react if they spot the pedestrian at the side of the street relatively late. Heavy traffic exacerbates the issue, because drivers are afraid that they might get rear ended when stopping.
When in moderate to heavy traffic, cars are similar to a river, they just flow and there's hardly anything you can do to stop them. They'll only stop if there is a dam to stop them (traffic lights). That's the pedestrians perspective.
Now, from the driver's perspective, I have to say, having to stop constantly, is a special kind of hell. Stop at traffic lights. Stop at stop signs. Stop at pedestrian crossings. You might need to start and stop four times in 500 meters. That's just uncomfortable. Cars are meant to keep moving.
The best solution I think is to try and limit the interactions between cars and pedestrians. Try to make sure that they only happen at traffic lights or narrower roads. Generally, try to limit traffic in pedestrian heavy environments like city centres and try to make it safer for pedestrians to walk in more car oriented environments.
I agree. Our roads are so poorly designed for both pedestrians and drivers. Drivers often can see pedestrians, can't stop, or don't really want to stop as if feels like an obstacle.
I wonder if it's a little like the way crowd crushes happen at concerts. The incentive to back off from moving forward is negligible compared to the reason to maintain forward momentum.
which you should do
it takes a vehicle several feet to stop
Watching him cross that street was so anxiety inducing. Honestly one of the bravest things I've seen a youtuber do, and I watch urban parkour channels.
As someone living in the Netherlands - the supposed 'bastion of urban planning and infrastructure safety - I can guarantee you that infrastructure will only get you so far.
You _still_ need people to behave properly. This means policing. In the 7 years that I have lived in my current town, I have _never_ seen the police take care of heavy- and repeat-offenders. Hells, the _police are among the worst offenders_ here.
Another big problem is that in big cities, the sense of community is heavily eroding. This is a systemic issue that needs as urgent attention as the infrastructural disaster that is the US.
Been saying since 2010: Treat every driver like they’re blind, drunk and texting
Never mind “the floor is lava” - I play a game of “today I’m Mr Invisible”
There are two very easy ways to lose faith in humanity. Reading history, and driving.
Always assume at every time that drivers around you (doesn't matter if you're driving or on foot) are terrible at driving, have a natural tendency to do something stupid, and they WILL try to kill you.
I got that punched into my brain when I got overtaken in a one lane road, in a blind left turn, inside a populated area.
So it's ok that crossing the street is exactly like the classic game Frogger?
@@SianaGearz It's not okay, just like it's not okay that the homeless population is increasing every month without fail. Unfortunately, the people in power want it this way, so we have no choice but to accept it.
@@agentzapdos4960 The reason it's "not possible" is political apathy. It can be overcome. But it's going to be quite difficult.
@@agentzapdos4960 It can change if you slow down and always stop for pedestrians on zebra crossings. That is the action you can and should take. The first law change needed is to make it legal to cross the road again. Then you need to start prosecuting those who don’t stop for pedestrians at zebra crossings. Finally change the legal penalties so that driving bans rather than fines are the norm for driving offences. That for serious offences you have to go through the learning process and tests again along with all post test restrictions. Then make driving while disqualified an automatic prison sentence longer than the ban.
I’m currently visiting Switzerland and I was shocked that EVERY SINGLE PERSON fully stops their car for pedestrians at any time (even when in the middle of rush hour traffic).
Because I’m American I felt bad, like I had inconvenienced them by making them stop instead of waiting for a pause in traffic
I had almost the same experience when I visited Japan last month. A car had stopped for me and I felt like I had to rush myself across the street so the driver wouldn't have to wait on me.
Pedestrians should always have the right of way and this just shows we value the convenience of cars more than the lives of people.
Even "convenience of cars" is too abstract. Traffic engineering values shaving literal *seconds* off of drivers' trips more than it values people's lives. That is the level of absurdity we're dealing with. I find it's helpful to lay it out plainly like that.
they do but the peds need to also respect the drivers right use the roads
not jay walk
In Sweden (at least in the cities I’ve lived in) we’re fortunate enough to have created a car culture where often, 9/10 cars stop even if they could have made it past a little before you. Don’t really know how we got here but it seemingly is possible and I find it very pleasant. I wish you all good luck with this in other places as well 🙂
I notice that drivers will yield when I am walking my dog, but less so otherwise. And don't get me started on right on red situations. And stop lights don't work, since many drivers will roll right through. Maybe traffic cams so the offenders can be fined?
And booting or impounding cars with invalid plates.
Watching you on the street corner with the hi viz vest and flag made me realize that if I was driving and saw someone like that I would think they were a construction worker. I'd probably slow down, but I doubt I'd realize you were a pedestrian trying to cross the street. I wouldn't stop not because I don't care about pedestrians, but because I wouldn't know what was happening and what your intentions were.
That is what I thought too. The particular intersection he used for the test was the cause more than driver maliciousness. I don't think they're intentionally disregarding a potential pedestrian.
My perspective is that drivers feel bad about obstructing the flow of traffic (which is also a crime in many places) and are stressed about the people behind them.
I've nearly been rear-ended a couple times due to stopping for pedestrians that suddenly appeared.
In the time I spent working in America I got hit by cars twice while crossing the road. It's a totally different mindset to being in the UK. You have to approach every crossing like the car driver is just automatically given priority, even if they don't have priority because they will not stop. The two times I got hit were crossing the minor road at junctions and a car turning from a major road just blasting through without looking. The expectation became that if I saw a car moving I'd best make sure to get out of the way.
So much yes to this! A few years ago my city changed the default speed limit to 40 (from 50 km/h) as part of their vision zero efforts. They're making a lot of pedestrian friendly upgrades too. In summer 2022 I wrote my councillor (and mayor) praising some of the temporary pilot infrastructure at some cross walks I frequent. Fall 2023 construction was complete to make those changes permanent.
When I wrote my councillor I made sure to mention that the changes made it easier for me to drive more safely not only just that it was a better walking experience. It's important for them to hear positive feedback from drivers.
Its great you gave feedback and showed that people care 👍
We were brainwashed into thinking the car was the answer in American trasportation
Is it somehow not?
@@blazingbattlehawk9626yes, refer to video above.
@louisnall3102 What does the video prove? You're the one who's been brainwashed into believing somthing that makes life extremely easier is somehow a bad thing
@@blazingbattlehawk9626No, it's not. Where I live I have most things I need within a 15 minute walk and it would actually be more of a hassle to drive than walk. If I go into downtown for work, a tram gets me door to door in 20 minutes. Driving would take 20-30 before then having to find extremely expensive parking. If I go to a concert or sports event in the arena precinct, the train takes 9 minutes from my nearest station and they run 24 hours, can get home at any time.
All these options are easier, faster, cheaper, safer, healthier and less hassle than sitting in traffic and finding parking.
Do we have a car? Yep. There are obviously some things we need it for including travel to areas not as well connected to PT, but it's not the best answer to 90% of our travel needs.
Disclaimer: I don't live in the US but there's no reason US cities couldn't be the same.
@@JesusManera What happens when you need to go to another town?
I've officially stopped giving the "thanks for not killing me wave" for people recognizing the right of way. It's transitioned into a different hand-shape for the drivers who don't know what right of way is
100% with you. On one occasion I saw someone slap the mirror of a car that egregiously sped past pedestrians trying to cross.
Great video. Highlights the issues that we have to put up with in the UK too. I've long been saying that because the behaviour of drivers isn't improving here, we need proper segregated infrastructure. Paint is not infrastructure.
As an example - my local highways department are widening roundabouts outside my town to address 'congestion'. They have refused to add pedestrian walkways or even signal controlled crossings due to cost and expense. Even though adding a single lane to the roundabouts is costing millions. One of the heads of the highways department even stated that signal controlled crossings will not be added - due to them disrupting traffic flow. I have to cross one of these roundabouts on my bicycle to get to work. The extra wide crossings are going to be a nightmare with no signals.
It's not smart phones; it's not lack of laws; it's not lack of driver education. It's the sense of entitlement to the road and the lack empathy for one's fellow citizens that seems to somehow be generated whenever we climb inside our cars. Maybe once it was just transportation, but now it's a climate controlled, rolling extension of our daily existence, and for many drivers, it is their second largest purchase behind housing. It's a moving statement of tastes, occupation, personal finances, political stances, and personality. With so much invested, it's little wonder that those unlucky (or unworthy) enough to not be piloting one on our streets are barely deserving of notice.
it goes both ways you have people walking that just think they can walk out into trafffic
' Road Guy Rob ' has been talking about and pointing this out for yrs now. Even talking with the civial engineers themselves trying to address this. NIMBYs aren't an issue, its also not regulations either. Its 100% the drivers.
Drivers are an issue, but so are regulations an NIMBYs. Regulations determine what kinds and of roads get built where. They determine and reflect societal priorities. NIMBYs are a problem because there's a big overlap between the drivers that don't want changes and the people opposed to anything that doesn't clearly benefit car traffic.
Hey Chuck, keep this guy. The content he (and I presume a team behind the scenes) produces is phenomenal, and a huge step up from your earlier content.
4:00 "Every single car right now is breaking the law." Nope. "Every single *driver* right now is breaking the law." Thanks for a great video.
In Poland, not stopping for a pedestrian starts at some 500 dollars, with the police actually enforcing the fines on a regular basis.
And that's in a country with a few times lower median income.
It's that easy.
Also, parking within 10m of junction, crossing, etc. is illegal.
Great video and such an important message! Glad I could be a part of it!
Thanks for risking your body for the sake of this video 😆. And I love the call-to-action at the end. Strong Towns continues to inspire!
The most important idea you shared is that behavior doesn’t change unless process and design forces behavior to change
Last week I was in Fort Lauderdale and I was almost hit by a car turning right.
I was in the crosswalk and I had the green signal to cross, and there actually are signs on the main shopping street that say you must yield to pedestrians, apparently they didn’t bother to read the sign.
this happens to me regularly, all over los angeles county... you really have to creep out there and keep a serious eye on people coming up in the turn lane before you cross (on a ped signal!) because there's just zero guarantee that any of them will yield like they're legally obligated to, or even be looking where they're driving. so many drivers trying to make a right turn on a red light will CRANE their necks to the left to keep an eye on through traffic so that THEY don't get hit by a car - and will fully execute a blind right turn, looking over their left shoulder, driving right through a signaled crosswalk without even once looking to see where they're going, or if there might be a pedestrian in that crosswalk 🙄
@@JordanB-zp7ps Wow you described it perfectly why a bad driver would execute a right turn, while , a walker would be in the crosswalk!!
So dangerous for the walkers really needs to be a different design. That’s prevents car drivers from doing that. Such as maybe even a law against turning right on red unless you’re out in the countryside.
the problem is they wore to busy trying to rea the sign they could not see you
As a Hoboken resident i’m proud to see our city featured. I’ve never felt unsafe from cars while walking in our city!
A related issue is that in the vast majority of places in USA, being a pedestrian is practically viewed as a moral failure. Pedestrians are judged for being "too poor" to get a care like everyone else (regardless of one's actual socio-economic background, even if you actually own a car but just aren't using it at the moment). As such, you are "supposed" to suffer.....even crossing the street.
This!!! I have a car out of necessity but I bike within my town wherever I can. There are very few pedestrians whenever I'm out and about, even my closest downtown area, because it's so small now and everything is very not pedestrian friendly. I think this reinforces this assumption that walking or biking is only for people who can't afford a car.
Most of my family works in the auto industry and my unwillingness to drive is thought of as selfish. My grandmother argues with me about why I don't want "freedom" even as I explain the weight all the expenses of having a car would be for me. It's not a class thing, it's that I'm not taking part in their car culture. It's the money I want going towards cycling infrastructure when they want more car lanes, the having to have events where I can access them. It's all the things that inconvenience their vision of how things could be if I just had a car like "everybody else". They will make exceptions if someone's car is in the shop even if it's months. It's literally that I've made a choice to be different then them that makes them angry.
I work at a facility that owns both sides of the street. This crossing is clearly marked with flashing lighs and signs just like in the video. No one stops. I have had people speed past cars that do stop because they are so impatient. It is apparent people are just out of control on the road because the consequences are not severe enough.
When there's a crash in the Netherlands, the road is closed and police is sent out to investigate the crash, explicitly to see what could be done to make the street safer. I've heard in the US, the goal is just to clear the road and get traffic moving again. Almost like crashes and accidents are just to be expected, and a child sacrifice now and then is just the price of doing business.
Not entirely true, it's just done in more of a batch form. At least in my city there's a yearly review to look at the intersections with more collisions or more serious collisions and plans are made to address issues then. From what I could find easily there have been two pedestrian fatalities in the past 3 years, and one of them involved an intoxicated man walking on an interstate highway closed to pedestrian traffic.
That's exactly right. I was raised to be aware of the high risk of driving (and roads in general, to a lesser extent) while simultaneously being told "it's the price of modern transportation." Too many of us simply go along with what we know instead of thinking about how it can be improved. Honestly, there's a great fear of change, especially if other classes or races of people might benefit. It's a fear we all need to teach folks to critically examine and defuse.
I was rear ended when stopped for a pedestrian at a crosswalk while riding my motorcycle a few years ago (totaled the bike, only good thing is that I got a new bike out of it). I'm now afraid to stop at them when on the bike and I don't feel a whole lot better when in my little fiat.
As a European, that was what struck me in this video. At those speeds you have to stop pretty abruptly to allow a pedestrian to cross, so I'd be worried about getting rear ended as well (in a car, never mind a motorcycle). The speed and volume of cars there just seem incompatible with having a pedestrian crossing.
As a longtime Chicagoan, I'm pretty sure I would think the guy waving the giant flag on the roadside is trying to sell something. Those wide streets are really rough on pedestrians. Clark Street in Andersonville used a lot of these traffic calming redesigns, and it is much more pedestrian friendly now.
POCKET ROCKS!!
the solution is pocket rocks.
Everyone taking your right to actually live in a city gets some free rock samples.
OK cam
I am a semi truck driver. Last year, I was driving on a stroad, and a pedestrian was crossing from the island on the left. A car turning left (same direction of travel as me) stopped for the pedestrian, and so did the car traveling in the left lane. I was in the center lane, and so I also stopped. As the pedestrian was crossing, I watched in horror and disbelief as a car came flying up on the right (in a "right turn only except busses" lane). I leaned on the air horn, and considered steering right and mashing the throttle to cut off the idiot that was about to send the pedestrian flying like a rag doll. The man crossing stopped in front of my semi, and the car flew past, narrowly missing him. As a result, I feel I can no longer stop for people crossing the street because stopping is more dangerous than just driving on. It only works if everyone is on board.
😮that is scary
I'm all "thanks for not killing me" waives
When i was younger i never used to stop at crosswalks. Not because i didn’t care about pedestrians, or because i wasn’t educated, but because they were hard to notice especially when when speeds are too high, and i simply never thought about it. there are so many things to think about when driving that unless something is right in your face, or you’re driving slow enough, it’s hard to pay attention to everything. One day i drove past someone at a crosswalk and they yelled at me, in that moment i realized what i had been doing and have been very vigilant about crosswalks ever since.
There's a beg button half a block from my apartment and people still run it half the time. The real solution is to have fewer people driving. Make it HARD to get a license and provide alternatives and stop subsidizing car dependent suburbs and make drivers bear the true cost of their dependency instead of taxpayers making it cheap for them.
It's crazy how people (at least in the US) have no conecept of "cars are dangerous".
When I first got my license, I was terrified. I saw it as me saying "I am willing to risk killing someone over getting somewhere faster"
But my parents acted like I was insane. It was a completely unfounded fear to them, not that I was exaggerating.
people dont care about each other, the news and politics has us all against eachother, this translates into everything we do.
Implement flashing light signs only if they come paired with speed cameras automatically ticketing anyone who drives through a flashing light. We have the technology to stop the casual disregard for traffic law.
Great idea. Ticketing someone for driving through a protected crossing is a great way to make drivers aware, and fast.
this is just a personal theory, but i feel like part of the issue is that authorities in the US feel more of an obligation to give everyone a driver's license, since failing someone on their driving test is basically dooming them to relying on family, or public transportation which is often MUCH slower here or may not exist at all.
in short i really do think we need to be able to more easily deny or revoke licenses when people demonstrate that they are not fit to be driving a vehicle, without having it be the end of their world
I've never heard of a single person getting a ticket for not yielding to a pedestrian. So, if a law is not enforced at all, it's not really a law. There are all sorts of things that are technically the law but aren't enforced. Pedestrian yielding is becoming one of those.
A few years ago I stopped for a crossing pedestrian in a small town center, which infuriated the man driving a pickup behind me. He leaned on the horn then tailgated me to the E-Check station. I got out of the car, prepared for an altercation, but upon seeing me, he turned away like, "Oh, nothing." I was much larger than he, especially then. I let it go. A rather nice bike/pedestrian trail has since been built through that town, which I frequently use. While the crossings are well marked, with large Yield signs and flashing lights, very few drivers stop. I feel a bit guilty when someone stops in one lane but no one does in the other.
Have you ever tried crossing a road with a great long heavy plank of timber? Hold it about windscreen height and in line with the direction of the traffic and you see drivers slow right down for you.
I honestly gasped in horror when the footage appeared showing the same cars who sped right past a human being they ignored were able to modify their behavior to avoid a large sewer grate in the exact same area. This shows how drivers ARE able to pay attention to their surroundings, and thus the problem for pedestrians isn't distractions or visibility it's values. Values of a car culture that let drives believe that they (and the giant potential killing machines they control) are important and deserve priority in the streetscape while the fellow human beings who walk those same streets deserve nothing, not the feeling of safety, and not even their own lives. Until we prove that a driver's right to convenience is not more important than a pedestrian's right to live we will continue to have preventable deaths. No about of fancy flashing lights, neon signs, or waving flags will compensate for what's wrong in driver's hearts and minds.
If you're gonna build a stroad, like you really want to build one, I know how to do it. On each end of the pedestrian crossings, put a button that pedestrians can press when they want to cross. When pressed, those crash proof poles come up out of the ground (the ones that can stop cars when they smash into them). Any cars that attempt to ignore the crossing will immediately run into those poles causing catastrophic damage to the car, the driver, the pedestrian, the traffic, etc. This is how we take the caution from the pedestrian and put it back onto the drivers.
You could also avoid all of this unnecessary infrastructure by just making normal roads as well.
I am happy to see this getting attention here - the amount of risk (and time!) it takes to simply cross a crosswalk in US urban areas is mind numbing. Pedestrians are de-prioritized over and over again. Often, lights at an intersection will even cycle more than once for vehicles before pedestrians get the right of way (Minneapolis, MN).
I invite every mayor and government official to try to just walk in their cities and see for themselves. Politicians are usually very disconnected from the reality of things.
It’s bittersweet to see that I’m not alone in my rising anxiety for crossing the street lately. It’s nice to know I’m not crazy, but it’s also pretty depressing to know I’m right to be worried.
It blows because I’ve been taking much more walks to get the steps up - just for general wellness. And like many people most of my free time is at night, and I often take my walks after the gym. But it’s also extra dangerous. I’ve seen so many drivers at night just blow through red lights going 20 over the limit…couple have been police as well. And god help you if it’s a street without a light. Last year I was inches away from getting struck by an SUV driver who wasn’t paying attention. He owned up to it but that’s not really comforting. Sister had the same experience a few months after that. “Peaceful long walks” are becoming an oxymoron here
the crazy thing is that drivers in america dont stop, or slow down, or even go the same speed, they literally SPEED UP to try and cut you off.
It’s so funny how easy a lot of this stuff is, especially bump outs and daylighting. It gives me hope that we’re coming up with solutions that don’t take millions of dollars, just some paint and plastic! That makes it so much easier to actually convince cities to actually do something
I could tell right away this is filmed in Chicago. My experiences crossing the streets there have been absolutely horrible. I mean it’s not great in other cities either, but in Chicago they just plain don’t yield the way. A crossing attempt is a stressful event.
Walking, running, bicycles, escooters, green open spaces, electric buses, electric commuter trains and trams are all parts of a good transportation system. Speak up for improved transportation options in your city. Every train station needs safe, protected places to park and lock bicycles. Children and older adults should be able to ride bicycles to work, school or for fun safely. Stay active for as long as you can. There should be more options than getting into a car.
I was having this conversation with people just yesterday. As a police car making a left turn hit a pedestrian in Toronto yesterday. The comments on the video were nothing but victim blaming. What a mess of a place we have designed
My neighborhood has tried (much to the chagrin of car owners) to implement things like bump outs using flexible bollards and the signs in the road. They are usually flattened within a couple of weeks. And this is a very pedestrian area. I walk to work every day. This means I'm nearly hit by a car every day. Even when I only cross at signals and when I have the walk signal.. Turning cars will decide they get to go even if I'm already in the street. Some will turn when I'm only a couple feet from their car. Making eye contact the whole time. On occasion I even see folks at red lights inch out until they just drive through it. If a traffic signal won't deter a driver from hitting me, what will? A cyclist was struck and killed by a drunk driver near me. No infrastructure changes were discussed let alone implemented. There were questions if the driver was going to be charged even though it was a hit and run and they were over the limit when eventually pulled over.
I remember a study where wearing a bike helmet causes cars to crowd you more often because, "Drivers assume you're experienced enough to tolerate them crowding you." and/or "you're more likely to survive if they hit you." Probably the same with the hi-viz. Still use it and all, but it might backfire in some cases.
Gosh these videos are so great! Props to the team, good work, very inspiring! 👏
This is in big part a question of infrastructure (traffic calming, narrowing streets to slow speeds etc.), but also driving culture. I lived in Switzerland for a while, and often when I just approached a pedestrian crossing, not even close to stepping to the street, cars would already stop to let me cross. Not everyone, but most. I myself mostly walk or ride a bike, and when I drive, I try to make an effort to keep an eye on the pedestrian and cyclists and give them way, because I know how it is for them on the road. And I'm sitting in a car, basically a sofa on wheels, it's no effort for me to slow down! It's just that if you only drive and never walk or cycle, you don't see how your behavior affects others. So we need better street design, but also to get people out of their cars and walking more.
In Canada ten years ago I sometimes had to wave cars on, to make them speed up again when I was NOT using the crosswalk, just accidentally nearby.
Now, living in Scarborough (inner Toronto suburb) I get almost run over regularly.
Things change fast. Hopefully soon it will be for the better.
Great video, love the mix of relatable examples, stats and action
In 2022 no person below 25 on bike or moped was killed in the Swedish traffic. For sure we are only about 10miljon people but we are doing something right. The question is what is it and how can the Swedish system be used in US?
I just want to say that I love Strong Towns and hiring you as a video producer was fantastic! And not just the producer, but everyone who works on this channel, it’s helped spread the good word so much! Thank you!
I personally am a huge fan of everybody doing their best traffic cone cosplay just to walk to the market.
One time, I was in the pedestrian crossing with my dog. The signal was for me, and someone came up wanting to make a right-on-red. My dog was going after a sandwich or something someone tossed into the road, and the car beeped us, and I was pulling on her leash but she's a big dog, so like we weren't moving much, but it was my signal. The car beeped us again, and just sat on their horn. So once I got my dog off the sandwich, I pointed at the pedestrian light and stood infront of the car for the rest of my light and then for their entire signal. I felt bad for subjecting my dog to their horn, but that driver had it coming to them.
I almost killed a child while driving in Hawaii. It was a relatively remote road - two lanes, two-way traffic, just jungle on one side and a gas station on the other. 50 mph speed limit. I wasn't speeding, I wasn't distracted. A fourteen-year-old boy walking a bike suddenly stepped out of the bushes and was in the middle of the lane. Had to swerve and almost crash to not kill him. In the rearview, I realized there was a crosswalk painted on the road. No signal, no stop sign, no signage of any kind, just white stripes on the road telling people "cross here." I never saw it because I wasn't looking for it - it never crossed my mind that anyone would put a crosswalk on a road like that without anything else to slow down the traffic. So, some kid almost died trying to go buy a candy bar from a gas station.