Crossing the Street Shouldn't Be Deadly (but it is)
Why Hacker News recommends it
Linked in road-safety threads as a good explanation of how street and signal design prevent pedestrian deaths.
What it is
Not Just Bikes explains why crossing streets is dangerous in the US and Canada, where roads are designed to move cars fast, and contrasts it with Dutch designs for pedestrians.
Recommended by 2 HN commenters across 1 different months, 2022 to 2023.
What Hacker News said
Recommends pronlover723 · 2022-09 · on “The most dangerous road for cyclists in America”
You're looking for fault and there's something to that but there's also just re-designing the streets to prevent the accidents in the first place [this video] also [LINK]
Recommends dagurp · 2022-09 · on “The most dangerous road for cyclists in America”
I'm not talking about markings, I'm talking about designing crossings so that pedestrians and cyclist don't have to watch out for turning cars and improving traffic lights so that pedestrians and cyclist don't feel the need to run red lights. Here are two really good videos about this that talk about this: - [this video] - [LINK]
Cites pronlover723 · 2022-09 · on “The most dangerous road for cyclists in America”
Only tangentially related but .... In California, a double white line is supposed to mean "don't cross period" [LINK] . > (b) If double parallel solid white lines are in place, a person driving a vehicle shall not cross any part of those double solid white lines, except as permitted in this section or Section 21655.8. > (d) The markings as specified in subdivision (a), (b), or (c) do not prohibit a driver from crossing the marking if (1) turning to the left at an intersection or into or out of a driveway or private road, or (2) making a U-turn under the rules governing that turn, and the markings shall be disregarded when authorized signs have been erected designating offcenter traffic lanes
Cites jrockway · 2022-09 · on “The most dangerous road for cyclists in America”
Not Just Bikes did a video about the timing/switching algorithm of European traffic lights recently: [this video] They look amazing. Wish we had them here in the US.
Cites gcanyon · 2022-11 · on “The Exceptionally American Problem of Rising Roadway Deaths”
Not Just Bikes on YouTube covers road/pedestrian/bike safety extensively. [LINK] Specific videos: Crossing the street should be safer: [this video] How to quickly build a cycling city: [LINK] Wasting money on car infrastructure: [LINK] The wrong way to set speed limits: [LINK] Safe cycling: [LINK] "Stroads" are dangerous: [LINK]
Cites jodrellblank · 2022-12 · on “P-22 Has Died”
See the youtube channel Not Just Bikes[1], specifically videos like - "Why the Dutch wait less at traffic lights" - [LINK] argues that American traffic engineering is optimised for car movement, at the expense of pedestrians and bikes, whereas Dutch traffic engineering is to minimise conflict between vehicles and maximise movement of people overall. Leading to more complex but more efficient intersections. - "The Dutch solution for safer sidewalks - continuous sidewalks" - [LINK] has crossings at junctions where cars and people intersect designed so the cars visibly have to travel over the sidewalk through the people's area, instead of designed so the people have to visibly travel over the r
Cites Mawr · 2023-10 · on “Automakers invented the crime of jaywalking (2015)”
The best example is that even your curious question comes with a car-minded implicit assumption that it's the pedestrian who is crossing, not the car. In a pedestrian-centric design, cars are the ones who cross. See [this video] .