This post has actually quite annoyed me. It seems OP caused a car accident, and made no mention of the inconvenience and possible injuries to the two drivers / passengers affected. Instead made it...
This post has actually quite annoyed me.
It seems OP caused a car accident, and made no mention of the inconvenience and possible injuries to the two drivers / passengers affected. Instead made it a life lesson about themself.
FYI: nobody was hurt and I left my phone number to the guy who hit the rear end and told him I’d help paying the damages, even though I didn’t have to — he was indeed driving too close to the car...
Exemplary
FYI: nobody was hurt and I left my phone number to the guy who hit the rear end and told him I’d help paying the damages, even though I didn’t have to — he was indeed driving too close to the car in front of him.
I think it's debatable that he caused the accident, typically whoever was following too closely is considered at fault, at least in the US, not sure the local laws for OP. If the first vehicle...
I think it's debatable that he caused the accident, typically whoever was following too closely is considered at fault, at least in the US, not sure the local laws for OP. If the first vehicle stopped the second should have been able to. However I understand your point, it sounds like there was some shock involved too.
There are situations where I would or wouldn't feel comfortable stopping as a pedestrian and engaging with drivers in a nearby accident.
Yes that's true where I live as well. There is definitely blame on the car as well, I just felt as though this all could have been avoided if OP had looked both ways and not made assumptions.
Yes that's true where I live as well.
There is definitely blame on the car as well, I just felt as though this all could have been avoided if OP had looked both ways and not made assumptions.
Sure, there were multiple decision points there, which is what I think OP is addressing. (Reasons I dislike being linked to a post rather than discussion here include that it feels far less...
Sure, there were multiple decision points there, which is what I think OP is addressing. (Reasons I dislike being linked to a post rather than discussion here include that it feels far less personal and thus easier to not talk about OP as a person.)
Like "oh shit glad you're ok" would be my gut response to a person's post, you know?
When I walk with ear buds I'm rarely listening to something and I keep them on transparency mode and look both ways and gauge which part of the intersection to cross, but our one busy street is a 30mph section of a state highway with lots of truck traffic and one stop sign, so I stick to the stop sign for crossing that street rather than risk misjudging a semi (or lifted pickup) who hasn't slowed all the way down.
It's ok article. But I have feeling that it should be blog post, and not a article for general public... And now I feel nostalgia for Live Journal twenty years ago.
It's ok article. But I have feeling that it should be blog post, and not a article for general public...
And now I feel nostalgia for Live Journal twenty years ago.
Join the club buddy. That happens about once every three times I walk more than 15 blocks. Even when using crosswalks 100% legally, walking dude light, no headphones, and pushing a stroller. The...
Join the club buddy. That happens about once every three times I walk more than 15 blocks. Even when using crosswalks 100% legally, walking dude light, no headphones, and pushing a stroller. The USA is a terrifying place for pedestrians.
It's insane how many cars will try to bank a left or right turn into you at 20 mph. Doubly insane the number that will just veer around the cars that do stop on non-traffic light crosswalks and nearly slam into you in the shoulder.
OP isn't in the USA. I'm not sure throwing rocks at cars will solve anything, but in the USA it might get you shot. You may want to reconsider your choices.
OP isn't in the USA.
I'm not sure throwing rocks at cars will solve anything, but in the USA it might get you shot. You may want to reconsider your choices.
I'm aware. I still have better odds of surviving a gunshot than a hit from a pickup. I class it as an acceptable risk. Might not do anything for me, but maybe they'll slow down at intersections...
I'm aware. I still have better odds of surviving a gunshot than a hit from a pickup. I class it as an acceptable risk.
Might not do anything for me, but maybe they'll slow down at intersections next time.
Related: 3 kids died in this small town alone this year to cars. 0 gunshot deaths.
Just Midwest things: line of cars stopped in the (controlled) right turn lane, idiots drive on the shoulder to go around. Which is a hazard to pedestrians and cars in the actual lane. Every damn...
Doubly insane the number that will just veer around the cars that do stop on non-traffic light crosswalks and nearly slam into you in the shoulder.
Just Midwest things: line of cars stopped in the (controlled) right turn lane, idiots drive on the shoulder to go around. Which is a hazard to pedestrians and cars in the actual lane. Every damn time.
The city has put up posts at the end of the shoulder at some intersections, but they get run over eventually.
It's crazy going and driving in Denver, where there's a lot more traffic, but being consistently less stressed.
Come on over to Aurora if you want to see crazy shit. My kids have nearly been hit and when we swore at and confronted the driver, she got mad and insisted she was in the right. Another time I...
Come on over to Aurora if you want to see crazy shit. My kids have nearly been hit and when we swore at and confronted the driver, she got mad and insisted she was in the right.
Another time I yelled at (making fun of) a guy who ran a Stop sign and he got all mad too and that developed into a swearing match between the two of us.
I stay still at green lights for several seconds, because people will often blow through the red 5+ seconds after it turned.
I like my town, but the way people drive here is fucking maddening.
That's tempting, especially when people hit their horn in an unprotected left turn (having no way to see if it's even safe). But there have also been a few road rage shootings in recent years... I...
I stay still at green lights for several seconds
That's tempting, especially when people hit their horn in an unprotected left turn (having no way to see if it's even safe). But there have also been a few road rage shootings in recent years...
I also frequently see:
Someone reverse because they missed a turn way too often
Cars hung up on the center median of a divided road, with the left wheels on one side and the right wheels on another. If I had a nickel for every time, I'd have 3-4 nickels
Temp tags months or years expired, and often no license plates at all. I see several every day. People just don't ever pay their tax or register it...which means they're probably among the 20-25% who are uninsured motorists. Where I'm from, not having plates is probably a "the car gets towed and you come down to the station" offense. Not something that's broadly ignored by the heavy police presence.
This past week I saw a car blocking an intersection because they had driven up onto the crosswalk and crashed into the pole the button was on, so one pair of lanes was obstructed while the traffic safety team dealt with it.
Before my commute shortened, there would probably be a road-closing accident on my route back at least two days out of five...and I saw more happen during those closures. (Once, a 50s or 60s looking car's tires were screaming while they tried to avoid hitting the cop directing traffic during the closure, hit the median, bounced over, went across the lane and crashed into the ditch.)
I know there's craziness everywhere on the road, but the Midwest seems to have a special brand of inscrutable chaos. Definitely worse than New England, where I grew up.
I think I briefly passed through Aurora on a trip, but I wouldn't have been there enough to get a good read on the driving situation.
I don't think Aurora is doing worse than Denver or the rest of the state on those fronts, sadly. I finally broke down and bought a dashcam because of the insane shit I see on the daily. I watched...
I don't think Aurora is doing worse than Denver or the rest of the state on those fronts, sadly.
I finally broke down and bought a dashcam because of the insane shit I see on the daily. I watched someone whipping around everyone and running nearly every single red light on Colorado one morning, and had the audacity to honk at everyone when they got stopped behind cars in every lane for a red at Alameda.
One morning when I was driving up I25 to Erie a while ago, I saw a woman drifting into the lanes next to her repeatedly, only to discover that she was holding a whole ass iPad in front of her steering wheel and was watching a video while we were all doing 70+. It's infuriating because we had passed two Thornton PD officers who were running enforcement on the highway, but didn't do a damn thing about her.
I also had a woman clip me when turning from Grant onto EB Speer, even though I was in the middle lane and followed the lane markings into my designated lane. Another case where she and her passenger had the audacity to start yelling at me about how I wasn't paying attention, even though I was clearly in my lane. Luckily it didn't damage my car at all, but still-- how is it that we can be the only two cars on an otherwise empty road early on a weekend morning, and she still beelined it for the side of my vehicle?
I just had a week of using transit to get to work while my car was getting a clutch and timing belt replacement, and if it wasn't for RTD having the light rail by my place shut down for track maintenance (necessitating a bus -> train -> bus transfer to get to my job that's also within city limits and takes over an hour, instead of a train -> train transfer that takes maybe 40 minutes end to end), I'd give up driving to work outside of the times I have to be there before transit is running.
Driving here in Colorado is absolute insanity sometimes.
I think it's just because we had such a population boom in the last ten to fifteen years. Just that we're far more likely to see terrible driving because there are just more people here in...
I think it's just because we had such a population boom in the last ten to fifteen years. Just that we're far more likely to see terrible driving because there are just more people here in general, so it's a certain percentage of that.
But I'm also happy I drive my crappy looking 22 year old van, because people tend to avoid me and leave me alone.
Driving a beater is a low-key superpower on the roads. I often get pushed around (and generally just let it happen, because eh, why bother) by fancy BMWs and Mercedes, but sometimes I just don't...
Driving a beater is a low-key superpower on the roads. I often get pushed around (and generally just let it happen, because eh, why bother) by fancy BMWs and Mercedes, but sometimes I just don't bother helping them fix a problem (like they've not seen the bus slowing in their lane ahead and are now trying to escape by barging into the next lane, and no I will not stamp on my brakes to create a space for them) that they've not helped mitigate, because respraying one panel on their car is worth more than my whole car, so who's going to be the real loser here? Another scratch on my car now is no biggie, like battle scars. It's going to hurt when I have to get a new car, at least for the first few years until it's worn in.
Similarly, I drive a 25 year old Subaru that, despite being in good shape and working order, definitely qualifies for shitbox status based on age alone. Unfortunately it seems to result in things...
Similarly, I drive a 25 year old Subaru that, despite being in good shape and working order, definitely qualifies for shitbox status based on age alone. Unfortunately it seems to result in things like people tailgating me even in the right lane while I'm going above the speed limit, as often as it does people avoiding me.
The population boom hasn't helped the bad driving, but my parents have plenty of stories of people reading books, eating bowls of cereal, shaving, and applying makeup while driving I25 from the 90s, so it's not a new problem, sadly. Hell, my stepdad got hit and run off the road by a distracted driver on 285 back in 92, causing him to careen down a hillside in Conifer and somehow miraculously walk away with a totaled car and a broken nose, but no other injuries.
I also had a roommate in college who came back to Denver with me one summer to visit his brother before he flew home. I drove us, and due to timing we arrived in Denver in the middle of morning rush hour. At one point, he looks over at me and goes "well, I see why you drive the way you do, people are absolute maniacs here!", and this is a guy from back east who saw traffic we never do here.
We weren't exactly starting from a great place before the influx either.
FYI, Wikipedia lists at least 27 towns called Aurora in the US, depending on what you count as a town. But I'm going to assume you meant Aurora, Suriname.
FYI, Wikipedia lists at least 27 towns called Aurora in the US, depending on what you count as a town.
But I'm going to assume you meant Aurora, Suriname.
I remember a few years back I was going for a jog around our local lake. It's mostly side streets but the streets can be busy. I come to an intersection at the same time another car does. They...
I remember a few years back I was going for a jog around our local lake. It's mostly side streets but the streets can be busy. I come to an intersection at the same time another car does. They have a stop sign. I continue jogging into the crosswalk as normal, expecting them to you know, slow down at the very least, and STOP at the STOP sign.
Nope. They rolled right through it and almost hit me, and then had the gall to give me a death stair and raise their hands in the air as if I was the one at fault.
Drivers out here are something else and it was a lesson for sure. It doesn't matter if you're right when you're dead. Look both ways, assume other people are going to be idiots and not follow the rules of the road.
People tend to dismiss safety advice they instinctively feel is overblown. I think that was me, when it came to wearing headphones outside. Anyway, no damages on me and lesson learned.
People tend to dismiss safety advice they instinctively feel is overblown. I think that was me, when it came to wearing headphones outside. Anyway, no damages on me and lesson learned.
You sound like you've internalized car dominance.... Come on! The burden of making the world safe is on the person driving around at ludicrous speed in their 2 tonne climate controled sarcophagus,...
You sound like you've internalized car dominance.... Come on! The burden of making the world safe is on the person driving around at ludicrous speed in their 2 tonne climate controled sarcophagus, while listening to the radio. Not on the pedestrian to not wear headphone... (Also, kids, who should be safe to walk outside unsupervised)
Of course do whatever you can to be safe, but remember that cars are FORCING (edited to remove proinflammatory component) you to abandon your freedom to walk carefree.
You even mentionned higher in the comment that you offered to pay part of the damages, and it seems needlessly submissive to me... (Edited to remove bullying)
Disagreed; living life with a chip on your shoulder gets tiring fast. I don't know OP but intentionally generating outrage seems like a great way to burn out. Vote accordingly, acknowledge the...
Disagreed; living life with a chip on your shoulder gets tiring fast. I don't know OP but intentionally generating outrage seems like a great way to burn out.
Vote accordingly, acknowledge the problem, push for changes in your community. Flipping out or actively avoiding de-escalation seems like a strategy for making enemies quick, too.
Edit:
[...] how hard can you simp?
Can we slow down with the insults while attempting to encourage people to join our cause? Bullying people into agreeing with you is a bad look.
I remember seeing similar wording in the r/fuckcars subreddit and it turned me off that community altogether. They'd throw insults at people simply commuting in their cars and then act surprised...
I remember seeing similar wording in the r/fuckcars subreddit and it turned me off that community altogether. They'd throw insults at people simply commuting in their cars and then act surprised when people get aggressive back at them.
I do understand the aggression since many people who do drove dangerously do so without caring about those around them.
I've probably picked up some stuff from there then. They are sometime over the top. But it is a breath of fresh air to have a space where you can finaly mention how bad cars (and also many...
I remember seeing similar wording in the r/fuckcars subreddit and it turned me off that community altogether.
I've probably picked up some stuff from there then. They are sometime over the top. But it is a breath of fresh air to have a space where you can finaly mention how bad cars (and also many drivers) are, and not get someone reminding us how accident happen and are acceptable, and really who hasn't answered the phone while speeding a little?
I do understand the aggression since many people who do drove dangerously do so without caring about those around them.
I really think the waterline for sane driving is way too low. Even normal driver consider a little speeding acceptable, or parking for "short" time on the bike lane... It's not just a few driver, it's somewhere around 50% of drivers.
When everyone around you tries to gaslight you into thinking driver's behavior is acceptable, the apropriate level of aggression can seem too high to those who identify as drivers.
Oh I 100% agree. As we've normalized driving to be the main (and in many places only) mode of transportation, we've given too much grace to drivers. It's still insane to me that if you murder...
When everyone around you tries to gaslight you into thinking driver's behavior is acceptable, the apropriate level of aggression can seem too high to those who identify as drivers.
Oh I 100% agree. As we've normalized driving to be the main (and in many places only) mode of transportation, we've given too much grace to drivers. It's still insane to me that if you murder someone deliberately, you can get life in prison. But if you murder someone while in your car and claim that you had a lapse in focus, you can get off easy and only spend like a year in prison.
As a person that doesn't own a car and walk as much as possible, I share your sentiment. Cars are an aggressive thing normalized beyond believe. Unfortunately, if one hits me, the major damage...
As a person that doesn't own a car and walk as much as possible, I share your sentiment. Cars are an aggressive thing normalized beyond believe. Unfortunately, if one hits me, the major damage would be on me, so… yeah, sad, we can try to change things, but until there we better be cautious and alert when walking among them
It just makes sense to me that if you're going to be around traffic, you should be able to hear it - I choose over-ear or bone induction for my cycling, it lets me hear traffic including other...
It just makes sense to me that if you're going to be around traffic, you should be able to hear it - I choose over-ear or bone induction for my cycling, it lets me hear traffic including other cyclists.
Choosing something to reduce outside noise without eliminating it, as mentioned in the article, is a great choice to deal with the noisy outdoors when we'd rather be at home in the quiet
That's a major goal of the Adaptive mode in Apple's AirPods: turning down harmful or obnoxious noise, but not fully eliminating it, and dynamically restoring the volume of things that could be...
That's a major goal of the Adaptive mode in Apple's AirPods: turning down harmful or obnoxious noise, but not fully eliminating it, and dynamically restoring the volume of things that could be hazardous (like alarms), while still keeping them in a won't-damage-your-hearing level. Full noise cancelling mode is for suppressing office chatter or whatever, and isn't recommended for walking outside.
Personally, I always look both ways, regardless of the road. It takes very little time. I could be confused about the road, as happened here. Or a driver could be confusedly or intentionally going...
Personally, I always look both ways, regardless of the road. It takes very little time. I could be confused about the road, as happened here. Or a driver could be confusedly or intentionally going the wrong way or otherwise not following traffic rules correctly. Maybe the roads are actually terribly designed, and legally being safe does not mean that you are practically safe (the one time I was lightly hit by a car, I couldn't blame the driver: thinking about the intersection, even though I had right of way, in order to see and stop for me, the driver would have risked being hit by cars in the opposite direction; she could not look both directions at once, but was practically required to). Even ignoring cars, in some cities, bicyclists and people on foot scooters, especially delivery people, will often ignore traffic rules.
The very slight time savings from ignoring directions because of traffic rules is not worth the risk.
Not sure how I feel about the conclusion being to switch from noise cancelling headphones to a Loop. If noise reduction in general is supposed to reduce pedestrian reaction time, isnt it still the...
Not sure how I feel about the conclusion being to switch from noise cancelling headphones to a Loop. If noise reduction in general is supposed to reduce pedestrian reaction time, isnt it still the same issue? Plus it seems like the problem was more a result of not looking both ways than the sound thing, since you mention that cars and ebikes and stuff are getting quieter regardless.
I’ve spent the majority of my life living in sprawling car centric Metroplex areas. Walking, for me, is usually a deliberate activity that takes place in a designated area set aside specifically...
I’ve spent the majority of my life living in sprawling car centric Metroplex areas. Walking, for me, is usually a deliberate activity that takes place in a designated area set aside specifically for that purpose.
About a decade ago I had a job in downtown Fort Worth, Texas, which is actually fairly walkable surprisingly enough. For the first few weeks that I was working there, I would wear my headphones as I walked to and from the train station and my office, or I’d slip them on as I walked from the office to some spot for lunch.
But the number of times I couldn’t hear somebody approaching me on a bicycle as I was stepping out into the lane to cross the street, or would have a vehicle suddenly appear from nowhere that I would’ve heard just fine, but that the music was blocking was enough to dissuade me from ever doing that again.
If I were ever to move to a walkable city again, I would never in my life wear headphones while I was out and about, based on prior knowledge. Even on the train, I don’t think I’d wear headphones, just so I don’t miss announcements and so that I’m aware when people are around me.
I feel like this desire for recency is unwarranted. There are plenty of scientific studies from 100 or even 500 years ago that don't need to be replicated every year seems like a somewhat...
though, to my surprise, the handful of studies I found are all at least a decade old
I feel like this desire for recency is unwarranted. There are plenty of scientific studies from 100 or even 500 years ago that don't need to be replicated every year
just 16 decibels
...
an 11 dB difference is far greater than it sounds on paper
seems like a somewhat contradictory conclusion?
I like those Neckband style speakers. It's still easy to hear everything on the road and it isn't very loud to other people so it's not like carrying a boombox where everyone can listen to what you're listening to
Nah, it all depends on how decibles work, which is not at all intuitive. Decibles are logarithmic, meaning that 18db has twice the power of 15db. A +10db increase is 10x the power but only...
seems like a somewhat contradictory conclusion?
Nah, it all depends on how decibles work, which is not at all intuitive. Decibles are logarithmic, meaning that 18db has twice the power of 15db. A +10db increase is 10x the power but only perceived as about twice as loud.
The upshot is that 17db is very quiet - 25db is a whisper - but the increase from 70db to 80db is extremely significant.
Right... my point is that the OP is arguing that he is "just" reducing 16 decibels and then at the same time saying that an 11 dB difference is far greater than it sounds on paper. So the...
Right... my point is that the OP is arguing that he is "just" reducing 16 decibels and then at the same time saying that an 11 dB difference is far greater than it sounds on paper. So the conclusion should be that 16 decibels is probably too much to reduce as it is a 5.3x increase in noise floor
I was surprised with the lack of recent studies due to the emergence of active noise cancelling phones since those linked were published. None of them, as far as I read, analyzed ANC phones.
I was surprised with the lack of recent studies due to the emergence of active noise cancelling phones since those linked were published. None of them, as far as I read, analyzed ANC phones.
This post has actually quite annoyed me.
It seems OP caused a car accident, and made no mention of the inconvenience and possible injuries to the two drivers / passengers affected. Instead made it a life lesson about themself.
Am I missing something here?
FYI: nobody was hurt and I left my phone number to the guy who hit the rear end and told him I’d help paying the damages, even though I didn’t have to — he was indeed driving too close to the car in front of him.
I think it's debatable that he caused the accident, typically whoever was following too closely is considered at fault, at least in the US, not sure the local laws for OP. If the first vehicle stopped the second should have been able to. However I understand your point, it sounds like there was some shock involved too.
There are situations where I would or wouldn't feel comfortable stopping as a pedestrian and engaging with drivers in a nearby accident.
Yes that's true where I live as well.
There is definitely blame on the car as well, I just felt as though this all could have been avoided if OP had looked both ways and not made assumptions.
Sure, there were multiple decision points there, which is what I think OP is addressing. (Reasons I dislike being linked to a post rather than discussion here include that it feels far less personal and thus easier to not talk about OP as a person.)
Like "oh shit glad you're ok" would be my gut response to a person's post, you know?
When I walk with ear buds I'm rarely listening to something and I keep them on transparency mode and look both ways and gauge which part of the intersection to cross, but our one busy street is a 30mph section of a state highway with lots of truck traffic and one stop sign, so I stick to the stop sign for crossing that street rather than risk misjudging a semi (or lifted pickup) who hasn't slowed all the way down.
It's ok article. But I have feeling that it should be blog post, and not a article for general public...
And now I feel nostalgia for Live Journal twenty years ago.
Is this not a blog post?
For me there is a thin line between blog post and article for general public. So... answer is "kinda yes" or "maybe"?
This is a post on a personal blog website. The distinction you're making here is hard to follow.
Join the club buddy. That happens about once every three times I walk more than 15 blocks. Even when using crosswalks 100% legally, walking dude light, no headphones, and pushing a stroller. The USA is a terrifying place for pedestrians.
It's insane how many cars will try to bank a left or right turn into you at 20 mph. Doubly insane the number that will just veer around the cars that do stop on non-traffic light crosswalks and nearly slam into you in the shoulder.
I carry a rock to throw at cars that do that now.
OP isn't in the USA.
I'm not sure throwing rocks at cars will solve anything, but in the USA it might get you shot. You may want to reconsider your choices.
I'm aware. I still have better odds of surviving a gunshot than a hit from a pickup. I class it as an acceptable risk.
Might not do anything for me, but maybe they'll slow down at intersections next time.
Related: 3 kids died in this small town alone this year to cars. 0 gunshot deaths.
Just Midwest things: line of cars stopped in the (controlled) right turn lane, idiots drive on the shoulder to go around. Which is a hazard to pedestrians and cars in the actual lane. Every damn time.
The city has put up posts at the end of the shoulder at some intersections, but they get run over eventually.
It's crazy going and driving in Denver, where there's a lot more traffic, but being consistently less stressed.
Come on over to Aurora if you want to see crazy shit. My kids have nearly been hit and when we swore at and confronted the driver, she got mad and insisted she was in the right.
Another time I yelled at (making fun of) a guy who ran a Stop sign and he got all mad too and that developed into a swearing match between the two of us.
I stay still at green lights for several seconds, because people will often blow through the red 5+ seconds after it turned.
I like my town, but the way people drive here is fucking maddening.
That's tempting, especially when people hit their horn in an unprotected left turn (having no way to see if it's even safe). But there have also been a few road rage shootings in recent years...
I also frequently see:
Someone reverse because they missed a turn way too often
Cars hung up on the center median of a divided road, with the left wheels on one side and the right wheels on another. If I had a nickel for every time, I'd have 3-4 nickels
Temp tags months or years expired, and often no license plates at all. I see several every day. People just don't ever pay their tax or register it...which means they're probably among the 20-25% who are uninsured motorists. Where I'm from, not having plates is probably a "the car gets towed and you come down to the station" offense. Not something that's broadly ignored by the heavy police presence.
This past week I saw a car blocking an intersection because they had driven up onto the crosswalk and crashed into the pole the button was on, so one pair of lanes was obstructed while the traffic safety team dealt with it.
Before my commute shortened, there would probably be a road-closing accident on my route back at least two days out of five...and I saw more happen during those closures. (Once, a 50s or 60s looking car's tires were screaming while they tried to avoid hitting the cop directing traffic during the closure, hit the median, bounced over, went across the lane and crashed into the ditch.)
I know there's craziness everywhere on the road, but the Midwest seems to have a special brand of inscrutable chaos. Definitely worse than New England, where I grew up.
I think I briefly passed through Aurora on a trip, but I wouldn't have been there enough to get a good read on the driving situation.
Alright, you win.
I'd like to stop winning now. :)
I don't think Aurora is doing worse than Denver or the rest of the state on those fronts, sadly.
I finally broke down and bought a dashcam because of the insane shit I see on the daily. I watched someone whipping around everyone and running nearly every single red light on Colorado one morning, and had the audacity to honk at everyone when they got stopped behind cars in every lane for a red at Alameda.
One morning when I was driving up I25 to Erie a while ago, I saw a woman drifting into the lanes next to her repeatedly, only to discover that she was holding a whole ass iPad in front of her steering wheel and was watching a video while we were all doing 70+. It's infuriating because we had passed two Thornton PD officers who were running enforcement on the highway, but didn't do a damn thing about her.
I also had a woman clip me when turning from Grant onto EB Speer, even though I was in the middle lane and followed the lane markings into my designated lane. Another case where she and her passenger had the audacity to start yelling at me about how I wasn't paying attention, even though I was clearly in my lane. Luckily it didn't damage my car at all, but still-- how is it that we can be the only two cars on an otherwise empty road early on a weekend morning, and she still beelined it for the side of my vehicle?
I just had a week of using transit to get to work while my car was getting a clutch and timing belt replacement, and if it wasn't for RTD having the light rail by my place shut down for track maintenance (necessitating a bus -> train -> bus transfer to get to my job that's also within city limits and takes over an hour, instead of a train -> train transfer that takes maybe 40 minutes end to end), I'd give up driving to work outside of the times I have to be there before transit is running.
Driving here in Colorado is absolute insanity sometimes.
I think it's just because we had such a population boom in the last ten to fifteen years. Just that we're far more likely to see terrible driving because there are just more people here in general, so it's a certain percentage of that.
But I'm also happy I drive my crappy looking 22 year old van, because people tend to avoid me and leave me alone.
Driving a beater is a low-key superpower on the roads. I often get pushed around (and generally just let it happen, because eh, why bother) by fancy BMWs and Mercedes, but sometimes I just don't bother helping them fix a problem (like they've not seen the bus slowing in their lane ahead and are now trying to escape by barging into the next lane, and no I will not stamp on my brakes to create a space for them) that they've not helped mitigate, because respraying one panel on their car is worth more than my whole car, so who's going to be the real loser here? Another scratch on my car now is no biggie, like battle scars. It's going to hurt when I have to get a new car, at least for the first few years until it's worn in.
You describe it like you’re breaking in brand new leather shoes and waiting for them to soften up a bit! 🤣
Similarly, I drive a 25 year old Subaru that, despite being in good shape and working order, definitely qualifies for shitbox status based on age alone. Unfortunately it seems to result in things like people tailgating me even in the right lane while I'm going above the speed limit, as often as it does people avoiding me.
The population boom hasn't helped the bad driving, but my parents have plenty of stories of people reading books, eating bowls of cereal, shaving, and applying makeup while driving I25 from the 90s, so it's not a new problem, sadly. Hell, my stepdad got hit and run off the road by a distracted driver on 285 back in 92, causing him to careen down a hillside in Conifer and somehow miraculously walk away with a totaled car and a broken nose, but no other injuries.
I also had a roommate in college who came back to Denver with me one summer to visit his brother before he flew home. I drove us, and due to timing we arrived in Denver in the middle of morning rush hour. At one point, he looks over at me and goes "well, I see why you drive the way you do, people are absolute maniacs here!", and this is a guy from back east who saw traffic we never do here.
We weren't exactly starting from a great place before the influx either.
FYI, Wikipedia lists at least 27 towns called Aurora in the US, depending on what you count as a town.
But I'm going to assume you meant Aurora, Suriname.
I remember a few years back I was going for a jog around our local lake. It's mostly side streets but the streets can be busy. I come to an intersection at the same time another car does. They have a stop sign. I continue jogging into the crosswalk as normal, expecting them to you know, slow down at the very least, and STOP at the STOP sign.
Nope. They rolled right through it and almost hit me, and then had the gall to give me a death stair and raise their hands in the air as if I was the one at fault.
Drivers out here are something else and it was a lesson for sure. It doesn't matter if you're right when you're dead. Look both ways, assume other people are going to be idiots and not follow the rules of the road.
People tend to dismiss safety advice they instinctively feel is overblown. I think that was me, when it came to wearing headphones outside. Anyway, no damages on me and lesson learned.
You sound like you've internalized car dominance.... Come on! The burden of making the world safe is on the person driving around at ludicrous speed in their 2 tonne climate controled sarcophagus, while listening to the radio. Not on the pedestrian to not wear headphone... (Also, kids, who should be safe to walk outside unsupervised)
Of course do whatever you can to be safe, but remember that cars are FORCING (edited to remove proinflammatory component) you to abandon your freedom to walk carefree.
You even mentionned higher in the comment that you offered to pay part of the damages, and it seems needlessly submissive to me... (Edited to remove bullying)
Disagreed; living life with a chip on your shoulder gets tiring fast. I don't know OP but intentionally generating outrage seems like a great way to burn out.
Vote accordingly, acknowledge the problem, push for changes in your community. Flipping out or actively avoiding de-escalation seems like a strategy for making enemies quick, too.
Edit:
Can we slow down with the insults while attempting to encourage people to join our cause? Bullying people into agreeing with you is a bad look.
I remember seeing similar wording in the r/fuckcars subreddit and it turned me off that community altogether. They'd throw insults at people simply commuting in their cars and then act surprised when people get aggressive back at them.
I do understand the aggression since many people who do drove dangerously do so without caring about those around them.
I've probably picked up some stuff from there then. They are sometime over the top. But it is a breath of fresh air to have a space where you can finaly mention how bad cars (and also many drivers) are, and not get someone reminding us how accident happen and are acceptable, and really who hasn't answered the phone while speeding a little?
I really think the waterline for sane driving is way too low. Even normal driver consider a little speeding acceptable, or parking for "short" time on the bike lane... It's not just a few driver, it's somewhere around 50% of drivers.
When everyone around you tries to gaslight you into thinking driver's behavior is acceptable, the apropriate level of aggression can seem too high to those who identify as drivers.
Oh I 100% agree. As we've normalized driving to be the main (and in many places only) mode of transportation, we've given too much grace to drivers. It's still insane to me that if you murder someone deliberately, you can get life in prison. But if you murder someone while in your car and claim that you had a lapse in focus, you can get off easy and only spend like a year in prison.
Acknowledged, I got caries (damned typo, obviously meant carried) away. Edited my comment accordingly.
I hope you can find a good dentist.
As a person that doesn't own a car and walk as much as possible, I share your sentiment. Cars are an aggressive thing normalized beyond believe. Unfortunately, if one hits me, the major damage would be on me, so… yeah, sad, we can try to change things, but until there we better be cautious and alert when walking among them
It just makes sense to me that if you're going to be around traffic, you should be able to hear it - I choose over-ear or bone induction for my cycling, it lets me hear traffic including other cyclists.
Choosing something to reduce outside noise without eliminating it, as mentioned in the article, is a great choice to deal with the noisy outdoors when we'd rather be at home in the quiet
That's a major goal of the Adaptive mode in Apple's AirPods: turning down harmful or obnoxious noise, but not fully eliminating it, and dynamically restoring the volume of things that could be hazardous (like alarms), while still keeping them in a won't-damage-your-hearing level. Full noise cancelling mode is for suppressing office chatter or whatever, and isn't recommended for walking outside.
Personally, I always look both ways, regardless of the road. It takes very little time. I could be confused about the road, as happened here. Or a driver could be confusedly or intentionally going the wrong way or otherwise not following traffic rules correctly. Maybe the roads are actually terribly designed, and legally being safe does not mean that you are practically safe (the one time I was lightly hit by a car, I couldn't blame the driver: thinking about the intersection, even though I had right of way, in order to see and stop for me, the driver would have risked being hit by cars in the opposite direction; she could not look both directions at once, but was practically required to). Even ignoring cars, in some cities, bicyclists and people on foot scooters, especially delivery people, will often ignore traffic rules.
The very slight time savings from ignoring directions because of traffic rules is not worth the risk.
Cemeteries are filled with people who had right of way.
Not sure how I feel about the conclusion being to switch from noise cancelling headphones to a Loop. If noise reduction in general is supposed to reduce pedestrian reaction time, isnt it still the same issue? Plus it seems like the problem was more a result of not looking both ways than the sound thing, since you mention that cars and ebikes and stuff are getting quieter regardless.
In this case, at least, both cars were very old and loud 🥲
I’ve spent the majority of my life living in sprawling car centric Metroplex areas. Walking, for me, is usually a deliberate activity that takes place in a designated area set aside specifically for that purpose.
About a decade ago I had a job in downtown Fort Worth, Texas, which is actually fairly walkable surprisingly enough. For the first few weeks that I was working there, I would wear my headphones as I walked to and from the train station and my office, or I’d slip them on as I walked from the office to some spot for lunch.
But the number of times I couldn’t hear somebody approaching me on a bicycle as I was stepping out into the lane to cross the street, or would have a vehicle suddenly appear from nowhere that I would’ve heard just fine, but that the music was blocking was enough to dissuade me from ever doing that again.
If I were ever to move to a walkable city again, I would never in my life wear headphones while I was out and about, based on prior knowledge. Even on the train, I don’t think I’d wear headphones, just so I don’t miss announcements and so that I’m aware when people are around me.
I feel like this desire for recency is unwarranted. There are plenty of scientific studies from 100 or even 500 years ago that don't need to be replicated every year
seems like a somewhat contradictory conclusion?
I like those Neckband style speakers. It's still easy to hear everything on the road and it isn't very loud to other people so it's not like carrying a boombox where everyone can listen to what you're listening to
Nah, it all depends on how decibles work, which is not at all intuitive. Decibles are logarithmic, meaning that 18db has twice the power of 15db. A +10db increase is 10x the power but only perceived as about twice as loud.
The upshot is that 17db is very quiet - 25db is a whisper - but the increase from 70db to 80db is extremely significant.
Right... my point is that the OP is arguing that he is "just" reducing 16 decibels and then at the same time saying that an 11 dB difference is far greater than it sounds on paper. So the conclusion should be that 16 decibels is probably too much to reduce as it is a 5.3x increase in noise floor
Ah, right. Sorry, should've put that together. I only read the first paragraph or so of the OP.
Yeah, I’m reconsidering this decision.
I was surprised with the lack of recent studies due to the emergence of active noise cancelling phones since those linked were published. None of them, as far as I read, analyzed ANC phones.
Just posted an update inspired by your comment, @xk3. Thanks!