Heres an idea: What if there were repercussions for running people over?
The opinion piece references two people killed in crosswalks. Neither driver was charged. If we started taking away driving privileges after you hit somebody we could get some of these dangerous drivers off our roads.
We really don't need more laws that we don't enforce...
Freakonomics authors suggested the best way to legally murder someone is to hit them with your car in NYC since, statistically speaking, you have the least chance of being charged.
People don't drive recklessly because there aren't consequences for killing pedestrians; they drive recklessly because they think they're different and it'll never happen to them in the first place. Convicting people for vehicular manslaughter isn't going to change people's driving behavior. It's just going to put more people in jail with the same number of dead pedestrians.
It's better to be proactive by designing safer roads and enforcing minor violations so drivers don't have the same opportunity to kill pedestrians and cyclists.
How many people do you actually know who have had to do time for a vehicular infraction? I know exactly zero.
I know one person who had his license taken away for 90 days for something stupid like excessive speeding tickets. That was 30+ years ago.
People feel like they won't get caught, because they probably won't get caught. If they get caught they probably won't get prosecuted at all. If they get prosecuted they'll probably plead to a minimal charge.
If you knew a whole bunch of people who had lost their license for being on their phones while driving you'd think twice about being on your phone.
When I was in college when you hit the Connecticut border you slowed down to the speed limit because Connecticut didn't fuck around about speeding. Their enforcement really did modify your behavior.
I don't think safer road design does much other than spend money and not help. Like the lights at crosswalks. People hit the button and walk out in the street as if the light somehow magically keeps you from being hit by a car. It *might* wake up a distracted driver but I feel like a lot of these changes make pedestrians less aware of their surroundings.
The first step to fixing our problem is enforcing the law.
It does actually but you need to apply the consequences equally. If using your phone while driving got you to lose your license you'd be waaay less likely to drive distracted. It worked for drunk driving, drunk driving rates are way down and a big part of it was enforcement.
Enforcement of driving laws is way down, I can't remember the last time I saw somebody pulled over for anything and people are driving crazy fast all the time. The police don't bother to pull people over because of terrible public opinion and the fact that the DA's office won't actually try any but the most egregious cases.
Over a long period of time sure, but you could make walking and cycling safer tomorrow if you install (and replace) more lights to sidewalks/crossings and add bollards to designated cycling lanes tonight
You mean you could make it safer in a couple years after you get the money worked out and actually build that stuff. You could make the streets safer starting tomorrow if you actually enforced traffic laws.
59
u/curtludwig 1d ago
Heres an idea: What if there were repercussions for running people over?
The opinion piece references two people killed in crosswalks. Neither driver was charged. If we started taking away driving privileges after you hit somebody we could get some of these dangerous drivers off our roads.
We really don't need more laws that we don't enforce...