This post rubs me the wrong way because it shifts blame for a systemic issue onto individual drivers. There are a lot of drivers that should not be on the road but they are forced onto the road by a lack of viable alternatives. The resulting consequences should be blamed on those planning decisions, not on the individuals.
Idk man the community is called “fuck cars,” not “transitioning from a car-based culture to a transit-oriented culture is difficult for which I bear no personal responsibility” so it may just be the case that this isn’t the forum for you 🤷♂️
The problem is car-centric infrastructure, which the description of this community agrees with. Each person’s responsibility to fix the problem is their slice of making policy decisions that change the infrastructure. You can’t fix the problem just by getting mad at people who use the existing infrastructure.
I might also suggest that each person’s responsibility is to watch the road and not kill pedestrians like the graphic says, but I guess whatever helps you sleep at night.
The name of the comm uses aggressive language, which sets up readers for conflict right away. Not ideal, and also a reason that the attitudes in here are so hostile, whether from folks who want things different or folks who rely on or even like cars.
I always wonder how much nicer transit is in other cities. One of the last times I took the train here there was still blood smeared across the wall from a stabbing that had happened a couple weeks earlier (it was one of many that year). Every time I drive by the train stations there’s people smoking meth in the open, or someone screaming at people.
As much as I’d like to take transit, there’s not a whole lot I can do to make it safer. I vote for the parties that might make things better but get outvoted every time here. So how exactly does one “take personal responsibility” in an area where public transit is a safety hazard?
The drivers in this area are all selfish fucks that actively endanger everyone around them… bonus points 60% of them drive a great big emotional support truck. So it really is a choice between the idiots on the road or the methheads on the street, pick your favourite flavour of hazard.
I’ve been hit by a lot more cars than I’ve been stabbed by methheads so I take the bus instead. You might want to look at some actual statistics about the number of people who die from stabbing vs cars before making your decision.
I’m well aware of the statistics. Doesn’t mean I want to go directly to places where highly unstable people congregate. “Cars kill more people so the meth dens are safer” isn’t a great sales pitch. My point is that quality of transit is dependant on where you live and isn’t always the magical solution it’s painted as, as much as I wish it was.
I mean if you really want to get down to it, people have the transportation options they vote for in most cases. I live in an area where people are pretty enthusiastic about transit and cycling and even here people feel like they have a god give right to do 10mph over the speed limit.
We recently had a big push to install speed cameras outside schools, which would only be active for two hours pers day, and the council meeting was still absolutely filled with assholes trying to argue that literally just enforcing the speed limit during the start and end of the schoolday was a violation of their rights.
The older I get the more I realize that people are always at least part of the problem. Especially in a democracy, since democracy is something you do, not something which is done to you.
I can’t meet whatever threshold of proof, but there’s no way “Driving any slower than the speed limit is just as dangerous” ISN’T what the raging lunatics on the road tell themselves when weaving thru traffic before they comment the same thing on posts like these.
It’s such a common brain blind spot. Videos of lunatics flipping their own cars trying to pass someone will have comments blaming the other car.
Absolutely and obviously until you get someone merging at 30 into a highway; merging at far lower speeds is very dangerous. Blind turns not going a reasonable speed limit can also be dangerous. Like, I fuckin hate cars. i bike everywhere. But I’m not going to make a take like “being slower is never as dangerous”
You’re misrepresenting what I’m saying. I just mean it’s not equally dangerous. If we’re comparing comparable speed differences it’s much safer to drive slower. Yes, 30 mph slower is dangerous but less so than driving 30 mph faster.
Generally the safest speed would be the slowest one that doesn’t create a hazard through speed differential with traffic.
Of course people are the problem. But the problem is the people arguing and voting for more car infrastructure, which is a different set of people than drivers. A lot of people drive while being supportive of other modes of transportation, because they have to use the infrastructure that already exists.
This post rubs me the wrong way because it shifts blame for a systemic issue onto individual drivers. There are a lot of drivers that should not be on the road but they are forced onto the road by a lack of viable alternatives. The resulting consequences should be blamed on those planning decisions, not on the individuals.
Idk man the community is called “fuck cars,” not “transitioning from a car-based culture to a transit-oriented culture is difficult for which I bear no personal responsibility” so it may just be the case that this isn’t the forum for you 🤷♂️
The problem is car-centric infrastructure, which the description of this community agrees with. Each person’s responsibility to fix the problem is their slice of making policy decisions that change the infrastructure. You can’t fix the problem just by getting mad at people who use the existing infrastructure.
I might also suggest that each person’s responsibility is to watch the road and not kill pedestrians like the graphic says, but I guess whatever helps you sleep at night.
The name of the comm uses aggressive language, which sets up readers for conflict right away. Not ideal, and also a reason that the attitudes in here are so hostile, whether from folks who want things different or folks who rely on or even like cars.
Cool, man. Fuck cars.
I always wonder how much nicer transit is in other cities. One of the last times I took the train here there was still blood smeared across the wall from a stabbing that had happened a couple weeks earlier (it was one of many that year). Every time I drive by the train stations there’s people smoking meth in the open, or someone screaming at people.
As much as I’d like to take transit, there’s not a whole lot I can do to make it safer. I vote for the parties that might make things better but get outvoted every time here. So how exactly does one “take personal responsibility” in an area where public transit is a safety hazard?
The drivers in this area are all selfish fucks that actively endanger everyone around them… bonus points 60% of them drive a great big emotional support truck. So it really is a choice between the idiots on the road or the methheads on the street, pick your favourite flavour of hazard.
I’ve been hit by a lot more cars than I’ve been stabbed by methheads so I take the bus instead. You might want to look at some actual statistics about the number of people who die from stabbing vs cars before making your decision.
I’m well aware of the statistics. Doesn’t mean I want to go directly to places where highly unstable people congregate. “Cars kill more people so the meth dens are safer” isn’t a great sales pitch. My point is that quality of transit is dependant on where you live and isn’t always the magical solution it’s painted as, as much as I wish it was.
I mean if you really want to get down to it, people have the transportation options they vote for in most cases. I live in an area where people are pretty enthusiastic about transit and cycling and even here people feel like they have a god give right to do 10mph over the speed limit.
We recently had a big push to install speed cameras outside schools, which would only be active for two hours pers day, and the council meeting was still absolutely filled with assholes trying to argue that literally just enforcing the speed limit during the start and end of the schoolday was a violation of their rights.
The older I get the more I realize that people are always at least part of the problem. Especially in a democracy, since democracy is something you do, not something which is done to you.
I can’t meet whatever threshold of proof, but there’s no way “Driving any slower than the speed limit is just as dangerous” ISN’T what the raging lunatics on the road tell themselves when weaving thru traffic before they comment the same thing on posts like these.
It’s such a common brain blind spot. Videos of lunatics flipping their own cars trying to pass someone will have comments blaming the other car.
It’s absolutely and obviously untrue that driving slower is equally dangerous.
Absolutely and obviously until you get someone merging at 30 into a highway; merging at far lower speeds is very dangerous. Blind turns not going a reasonable speed limit can also be dangerous. Like, I fuckin hate cars. i bike everywhere. But I’m not going to make a take like “being slower is never as dangerous”
You’re misrepresenting what I’m saying. I just mean it’s not equally dangerous. If we’re comparing comparable speed differences it’s much safer to drive slower. Yes, 30 mph slower is dangerous but less so than driving 30 mph faster.
Generally the safest speed would be the slowest one that doesn’t create a hazard through speed differential with traffic.
Of course people are the problem. But the problem is the people arguing and voting for more car infrastructure, which is a different set of people than drivers. A lot of people drive while being supportive of other modes of transportation, because they have to use the infrastructure that already exists.