Comments by "SmallSpoonBrigade" (@SmallSpoonBrigade) on "U.S. Pedestrian Deaths Are Soaring... Here's Why" video.

  1. We used to make people that were cited for jaywalking attend educational classes to help stop the practice. I've been driving late at night and seen people dressed completely in black crossing the street. Well, not so much seen as inferred their presence as the only thing I could see is the retroreflective lane markers disappear briefly as they walk past. But, we've decided to stop enforcing all traffic laws except the ones that apply to cars.
    4
  2. One of the things that they've done around here is change the timing on some of the intersections so that all directions get a red light for a few seconds to allow pedestrians to get far enough into the street to see and be seen. It is somewhat less effective if you've got people turning on red and doing so without properly looking though.
    4
  3. TBH, as long as you do a real stop, right turn on red isn't much of an issue except right when the light is turning and pedestrians step into the crosswalk. That's a pretty narrow scenario and not one that lacking a right turn on red is likely to do much about.
    3
  4. True, although that should rarely happen as very little power is used when a car is just sitting there.
    2
  5. I was intrigued by the idea of ending 4 direction intersections and designing cities on a grid of hexagons so that basically all intersections meet at a 120degree angle, and you can see all other traffic more or less at once. There's the obvious issue that you'd have to tear down entire cities to make it happen, which is why it likely won't happen unless we somehow get and survive WWIII. Locally, we've had tiny roundabouts for decades, but over the last 20 or so years they've become more common as folks get tired of people t-boning each other because they can't be bothered to stop on rural roads. The roundabouts are making in roads into the cities as well, but there's the issue of finding space in already built cities that makes it a bit of a problem.
    2
  6. I'm not personally a fan of banning the turn on red. I think it makes more sense to do things like extending the sidewalk to the traffic side of the parking lane. It both prevents cars from parking too close to the corner and gives the pedestrians a more protected place to stand where they can see and be seen.
    2
  7. I haven't personally noticed people being more aggressive with their right turn on red over the last couple decades. I could be wrong, but I think it's a lesser factor than a lot of other things.
    2
  8. You mean like nearly every other country?
    1
  9. Probably not htat many, but that being said, we clearly need more mental health services and for them to be easier to access.
    1
  10.  @tunneloflight  It doesn't remove the lag, it gives the pedestrians more visibility both to see and be seen. If pedestrians are being run over because of that, there are so many things that need to be fixed. Perhaps in the past when vehicles were smaller, but the end of my parents' street is incredibly dangerous because large vehicles are often parked there and you can't see the pedestrians and the pedestrians can't see the cars.
    1
  11. I hate those. I can legally turn, but who knows if it'll be safe to do so at any point during the cycle.
    1
  12. That's what right turn on red is now and always was.
    1