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Marielle Quinton

@twobiscuits @mbonsma The solution here is just not to drive near Oktoberfest πŸ€·πŸΌβ€β™€οΈ if you can't drive safely, you shouldn't be driving.

52 comments
Twobiscuits

@mariellequinton @mbonsma the form of distraction that has grown massively in recent years is ppl believing they can be deep in their online world while out on the street, and it is a plague that affects both drivers and pedestrians. *of course* drivers have more responsibility, but suggesting that anyone has carte blanche to be competely oblivious to their surroundings while out and about isn't going to end well.

Marielle Quinton

@twobiscuits @mbonsma Somehow no one ever suggests drivers should open their windows, turn off their stereos, slow down, and look around. Modern cars are so soundproof many drivers can't hear sirens from emergency vehicles. But it's pedestrians that aren't paying enough attention? It's drivers not paying attention and going too fast.

Twobiscuits

@mariellequinton @mbonsma I absolutely do suggest that and typically drive with windows open whenever I can. It's a very different point from saying to pedestrians "you have a right to be distracted" in the middle of an epidemic of distraction. Everyone has the obligation to use the senses they have to the best of their ability.

Rodrigo SantamarΓ­a

@twobiscuits @mariellequinton @mbonsma Well, i'd say it is way more assymetrical. If you've the potential to kill a person, your obligation is way higher. That's what is in discussion here imo.

meganisalanis

@efialto @twobiscuits @mariellequinton @mbonsma

It's an interesting debate...

When pedestrians are far more likely to be injured or worse, it may mean we'd expect greater care to be taken with their own safety?

Any noise canceling headphones will alter your experience of your surroundings & I believe should be used when you are in a position to do so without risk - consider cycling, skiing, driving - these are not times to block or mask your hearing in my opinion.

Stay safe people πŸ™ ❀️

DELETED

@meganisalanis @efialto @twobiscuits @mariellequinton @mbonsma Exactly, we are not the problem but it is not wise to be distracted when crossing the street

elizabeth veldon

@meganisalanis @efialto @twobiscuits @mariellequinton @mbonsma some of us need noise canceling headphones to negotiate the world.

should autistic people not leave the house?

Twobiscuits replied to elizabeth

@elizabethveldon @meganisalanis @efialto @mariellequinton @mbonsma The only thing ppl should do is whatever they reasonably can, and that is obviously a whole patchwork of different abilities. How I understand "distracted" is "being less alert to your surroundings than you can reasonably be expected to." That doesn't sound like what you would be doing.

elizabeth veldon replied to Twobiscuits

@twobiscuits @meganisalanis @efialto @mariellequinton @mbonsma yet noise canceling headphones where specificly brought up as a form of distraction.

would you want to check in with the relitives of the person you killed to check if they should have been wearing those headphones?

squifish

@meganisalanis @efialto @twobiscuits @mariellequinton @mbonsma noise cancelling car cabs would be even worse then right? So purchasing a car with that feature is irresponsible and reckless regardless of how it's driven

Alistair K

@meganisalanis @efialto @twobiscuits @mariellequinton @mbonsma

"When pedestrians are far more likely to be injured or worse, it may mean we'd expect greater care to be taken with their own safety?"

I hear this often, but I don't follow the logic – there seems to be a step (or more) missing there, and no one who makes this claim seems able to fill it in.

What makes it different from requiring the target, not the shooter, to take greater responsibility for avoiding gunshot injury?

Madeleine Bonsma-Fisher, PhD

@meganisalanis @efialto @twobiscuits @mariellequinton we tried this already (all road safety campaigns for the last 80 years) and it's not working

elizabeth veldon

@twobiscuits @mariellequinton @mbonsma a pedestrian is way less likely to kill you than you are likely to kill them.

This isn't a semetrical relationship.

Ewan Donnachie

@elizabethveldon @twobiscuits @mariellequinton @mbonsma
No, itt's not, which is why drivers (including Bus drivers, by the way) have a duty to take care at all times. That doesn't mean that padestrians should be entirely care-free.

:tux: LRG :tux: :ve:

@mariellequinton @twobiscuits @mbonsma we tried suggesting they put their phones down and never pick them up, and ppl still get defensive over texting while driving. Walking, u have more time to react, driving u have less. We also can't leave out the ppl that mod their cars to make them incredibly loud, either by adding a pipe to amplify the sound of the exhaust or by drilling holes in their mufflers. Making it even harder for them to hear emergency service vehicles. Just because they can't afford a sports car and want to feel like they own one just from the sound.

@mariellequinton @twobiscuits @mbonsma we tried suggesting they put their phones down and never pick them up, and ppl still get defensive over texting while driving. Walking, u have more time to react, driving u have less. We also can't leave out the ppl that mod their cars to make them incredibly loud, either by adding a pipe to amplify the sound of the exhaust or by drilling holes in their mufflers. Making it even harder for them to hear emergency service vehicles. Just because they can't afford...

NYC Glue

@mariellequinton @twobiscuits @mbonsma I walk around with my fingers in my ears because sirens need to be made loud enough to penetrate closed car windows.

I can't put my fingers in my ears when I'm on a bike.

Ned Yeung

@mariellequinton @twobiscuits @mbonsma No accountability for those who wield all the danger and can cause all the harm to others.

bravado

@mariellequinton @twobiscuits @mbonsma don’t forget to make sure you make eye contact* with drivers when crossing the street!

*likely impossible with modern and illegal window tints all over the place

Michael Hamlin - πŸ³οΈβ€πŸŒˆ

@twobiscuits @mariellequinton @mbonsma I agree. I have to be super diligent against cars to stay safe. I wear a reflector vest at night. I'm even considering getting an air horn to "honk" at people who aren't paying attention when I'm walking. I think we have to be more diligent, not less.

squifish

@twobiscuits @mariellequinton @mbonsma the idea that we need to be on guard at all times in public is unhealthy and a bad idea on a lot of levels. My right to go for a walk should not be limited by someone else's desire to go faster. We're not safe in buildings either - at least 3 cars have run into buildings in my city in the last week or so. Should we avoid being distracted while sitting in restaurants or on the couch?

Twobiscuits

@thesquirrelfish @mariellequinton @mbonsma I think we have some very different environments in mind. I’m in the centre of a historic European city. The modal split of walking and cycling here are both > 20% for the whole city, and higher here in the middle. The first thing that’s gonna happen to you if you are walking along in a daze is walking slap into another pedestrian, and it won't take long. Being out and about is cool here, but if you want to have a daydream you better choose your spot.

ts πŸš‰

@twobiscuits @mariellequinton @mbonsma it’s not β€œof course” though. At least in #America we have a serious case of car brain, which means we consider motor vehicles part of one’s body until they ram into somebody, maiming or killing them, when all of a sudden there was no driver presentβ€”to describe one symptom. It’s really wild when you start to see this for the sickness it is.
#transportation

Nuncio Bitis ✷ βœ… πŸ³οΈβ€πŸŒˆ

@mariellequinton @twobiscuits @mbonsma If you can't look where you're walking, you deserve to fall into a manhole in the middle of the street.
It's a collaboration. Everybody follows the rules. You cannot expect to cross the street on a red light and not get hit.
Period.
Same goes for bicycles, motorcycles, cars, and trucks. Pedestrians don't get a free pass to do whatever they want.
But you knew all this. You're just trolling.

Kevin Boyd

@MaierAmsden @nuncio @mariellequinton @twobiscuits @mbonsma "don't squish the delicate sacks of meat" should be the first rule of driving, but somehow isn't.

The first rule of driving is "don't hit other cars".

Maier Amsden

@kboyd @nuncio @mariellequinton @twobiscuits @mbonsma We all know "pedestrians have the right of way," but physics + reaction times = bad outcomes for inattentive jaywalkers.

Grumpy Grimnir :verified:

@MaierAmsden @kboyd @nuncio @mariellequinton @twobiscuits @mbonsma The very existence of the word "jaywalker" is a symptom of car-centric thinking. It literally didn't exist before cars. Car drivers and car manufacturers decided they should have priority and started criminalising crossing the road in unapproved places.

Maier Amsden

@grumpygrimnir @kboyd @nuncio @mariellequinton @twobiscuits @mbonsma If you don't want to die, you might want to occasionally engage in car-centric observations when stepping into a road where cars drive.

PedestrianError :vbus: :nblvt:

@kboyd @MaierAmsden @nuncio @mariellequinton @twobiscuits @mbonsma Is it? I thought the first rule was don’t slow down other drivers by doing silly things like yielding to pedestrians, obeying the speed limit, or slowing down for inclement weather conditions.

Kevin Boyd

@LouisIngenthron @MaierAmsden @nuncio @mariellequinton @twobiscuits @mbonsma yeah, but most of the time it seems to result in a slap on the wrist or a ticket - often, less than $500.

Louis Ingenthron

@kboyd @MaierAmsden @nuncio @mariellequinton @twobiscuits @mbonsma

Wait, you think accidentally killing people only results in a $500 ticket? You're gonna need to cite a source on that one, because we clearly don't live in the same world.

In my state, vehicular manslaughter is a second-degree felony.

Kevin Boyd replied to Louis

@LouisIngenthron @MaierAmsden @nuncio @mariellequinton @twobiscuits @mbonsma I said squishing, I didn't say the degree of squishing involved. And many vehicle-on-pedestrian incidents fit my description of a slap on the wrist.

That said, I have personally known at least one person who has unintentionally killed someone with their car, and I don't think they even got a ticket.

Kevin Boyd replied to Louis

@LouisIngenthron I do have a bunch of links to news articles of "no charges filed in fatal accident", though I suspect that many of them are (to some degree) the correct call for the situation. But they serve to illustrate that "vehicular manslaughter" is not the panacea you suggest. Cars are still the chosen priority.

indystar.com/story/news/crime/

kingstonist.com/news/kingston-

cbc.ca/news/canada/british-col (motorcycles are dumb, though)

cbc.ca/news/canada/british-col

@LouisIngenthron I do have a bunch of links to news articles of "no charges filed in fatal accident", though I suspect that many of them are (to some degree) the correct call for the situation. But they serve to illustrate that "vehicular manslaughter" is not the panacea you suggest. Cars are still the chosen priority.

Twobiscuits

@nuncio @mariellequinton @mbonsma I think Manhole Guy who left it unprotected is gonna be on the hook for that one.

As for someone crossing on red, etc., as a driver I still have to do my best for them. Our (Austrian) rules of the road begins with (only a light paraphrase) "if you see anybody doing something obviously nutty on the street, slow the fuck down and stop, if you have to, to keep them safe".

Aaronetics :stealie:

@nuncio @mariellequinton @twobiscuits @mbonsma
Exactly. Any one part of a system can be the "problem" if you're not following the system. It's not about right vs wrong or cars vs peds, we ALL have responsibilities . "Our right to be distracted" is just dumb.

Steven Reed

@nuncio
While I agree cars are far and away the biggest danger, I find people in busy public spaces who are not paying attention to their surroundings a huge annoyance. If I had more significant disabilities / sensory impairments than I currently do, I suspect I would consider them an active danger.

Additionally cyclists, scooters, mobility scooters etc are also probably best not collided with, and often behave much less predictably than cars.
@mariellequinton @twobiscuits @mbonsma

@nuncio
While I agree cars are far and away the biggest danger, I find people in busy public spaces who are not paying attention to their surroundings a huge annoyance. If I had more significant disabilities / sensory impairments than I currently do, I suspect I would consider them an active danger.

Andreas K

@mariellequinton @twobiscuits @mbonsma Well, the obvious solution is to avoid the metropolitan area of Munich during September/October.

So simple. At least if you are not one of the poor souls who live there.

πŸ˜€πŸš²

@mariellequinton @twobiscuits @mbonsma close, but IMO the actual solution is to not Engineer traffic near Oktoberfest. If you can't Engineer traffic safely, you shouldn't be Engineering traffic.

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