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P
C
P is pedestrian, C is car. Equal signs are cars going right.
Pedestrian is crossing the road going left. Pedestrian has a green light/cross walk. The car C isn’t looking at P; the car C is looking at the gap in the equal signs.
So a pedestrian walks in front of a car that has pulled into a crosswalk while the driver is looking the other way? And then after all of these specific conditions are met, a pedestrian is hit by a car that is starting from a dead stop and, given the width of a crosswalk (which it’s already pulled into), travels three feet before impact?
My point is given how many actually dangerous traffic conditions that exist that inhibit walkability, this statistically unlikely (see the report to congress on “RoR” accident frequency below) and extremely specific scenario seems like a stupid one to focus on.
I’m surprised you’re surprised that people are talking about it. I have personally experienced this multiple times as a kid, and judging from the downvote ratios going on, it seems like other people have had similar experiences.
Tl;dr it’s a very common occurrence
My point, which I will repeat one more time, is that there are significantly more dangerous and more commonly occurring issues created by the interface between pedestrian and car infrastructure in urban environments.
Our current conversation is about a relatively rare and less pressing concern, and our attention would be better spent addressing more dangerous scenarios, of which there are many, and about which there will be less resistance.
